Hi,
If you’re now running WP 3.01, you can search for and install new themes right from the Dashboard (via Appearance).
Say you find and then activate a brand new theme. But you don’t like something about it. You can re-select your old theme, and nothing should be changed.
One little thing to remember – WP3 allows you to update an existing theme if an update for it is available. If you did that, it IS possible that customizations in your old theme could be overwritten. I’ve done that myself! But if you simply select a different theme, your old one should remain as is.
Another thought – you mentioned 2007… if you haven’t updated WP in a really long time, then other complications could arise, for the theme, plugins, just about anything. I’ve seen forum posts where someone tries going from, say, WP 2.1 to WP 3.01, and they are suddenly in hot water because they’ve missed so many updates. This may require a pro geek to fix.
Good luck, Dave
Thanks for the info Dave. I ran all the updates I could when I upgraded to 3.01. I guess I will just make a good back up and hope for the best. Thanks for helping me with this. GREATLY appreciated!
That’s a great plan. You’re clearly conscientious and smart! That’s rare. 🙂
To me, here’s the best way to upgrade your theme (if an upgrade is available, and you actually want to do it). If you’re made changes in the theme, place comments with your name (or whatever) in the code so you can actually find them. With me, that’s typically in style.css. Then you back up all your theme files.
These would typically be in something like
/wp-content/themes/bluskytheme,
you get the idea.
Backing up your database tables is good, too, because some themes store settings there. Restoring from these is a somewhat bigger deal, of course, and I won’t broach that here.
Then you do your automatic theme upgrade. Oh! Suddenly it looks different, even though the site isn’t dead. But you’ve saved your theme code, and can peruse it to find your changes, which you put back in. All may be well!
I find that sometimes I don’t even bother with a theme upgrade. Here I keep seeing people with multiple problems whenever upgrading Mystique, for instance, so why invite trouble, unless a change is necessary? 🙂
It is funny to see the multitudes who, despite having no tech expertise at all, will just hit the “upgrade” button no matter what. Human nature.
Good luck, Dave
I’m hosting on Earthlink, installed WP (unsure of version number), and am using WP default 1.8 theme which works ok. I tried to install Arjuna x 1.3.9, then Arjuna x 1.5.3, which shows up in my Theme selection window; but when activated I just get a blank screen.
What now?
