What is the best solution for changing WP Themes without losing downtime? I have a site at www.example.com with over 40 pages and 100 posts and I want to change the theme. I tried a behind the scene plugin but it does not work well. Any suggestions? Plus I don't want to break links and lose twitter and facebook likes...thanks! asked 25 Feb '11, 09:33 wesleysoccer |
The best way to change a WP theme is via "Appearance > Themes" in your WP admin. There's no guarantee that a third-party theme will be compatible with all of your plugins, etc, so you should always test themes on a copy of your site before you apply them to the live site. answered 25 Feb '11, 10:15 seanf How can I test my theme? I already now there is a bit of work to be done in the transition.
(25 Feb '11, 10:24)
wesleysoccer
Create a second WP app and site in our control panel. You can then install the theme on the second site for testing.
(25 Feb '11, 10:42)
seanf
sure...after my site is complete on the second site...how will I transfer over to my old domain
(25 Feb '11, 10:49)
wesleysoccer
Add the domain to our control panel, edit the site in our control panel so it uses the domain, then change your domain's DNS records to point it at our servers.
(25 Feb '11, 10:52)
seanf
The domain name is already active in the control panel at webfaction...so just create a site called http://username.webfactional.com/new than after complete change the domain name...how about all the images i have in the my current domain? I know I can import pages and posts...
(25 Feb '11, 10:59)
wesleysoccer
My personal preference would be to create a subdomain like new.username.webfactional.com and use that for the test site. Regarding images, you can copy them from the old site to the new site in a SSH session, eg
(25 Feb '11, 11:03)
seanf
my site now is www.wolverinesocceracademy.com - so you think going with new.wolverinesocceracademy.com would be a good way to go? Create a subdomain than change when complete
(25 Feb '11, 11:06)
wesleysoccer
Thanks so much for the support...
(25 Feb '11, 11:20)
wesleysoccer
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Changing a WordPress theme is instant and won't cause any downtime. As it's only cosmetic, it will also not break any existing links.
Have you seen any downtime or breakages when switching between themes?
thanks for the help...the switching of themes is easy...but when you have a large number or pages and posts there is tons of work to be done with others viewing...plus different custom themes have different ways to develop widgets, frontpages, shortcodes, etc...