Support » Themes and Templates » Switch between versions of the same theme?

  • Hi

    As far as I can see:

    1- WP Dashboard > Appearances > Themes > manage Themes does not display the version of the installed themes.

    2- WP does not have a mechanism to have different versions of a theme to co-exist and switch between the two.

    If I’m wrong, I appreciate if someone shows me how the above can be achieved and/or the version number be seen?

    The reason to my request is simple. I want to be able to test the updated theme before committing on it. Often I need to make alterations to a theme which is later updated to have the alteration inbuilt. At present the only option I can see is to over-write the old theme and if the update failed to recover from backup.

    Whereas if WP allowed two themes of the same name but differing versions to co-exists the process would be very simple.

    Thanks in advance for suggestions.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Hi sarumbear,

    In the main folder of each theme is a file called “style.css”. You can open this file in a text-editor like notepad.exe on windows, and change the name of the theme… this should allow you to upload the same theme under a different name, and make your changes to that theme.

    The theme name is generally on the second line of the “style.css” file.

    So, for example if the style.css file said this:

    “Theme Name: Twenty Twelve”

    You could change that line to:

    “Theme Name: Twenty Twelve Custom”

    …then upload the theme to your site. You could then muck around with the “Twenty Twelve Custom” theme as much as you like without breaking the original theme.

    Hope this helps!

    Thread Starter sarumbear

    (@sarumbear)

    Thank you for the reply. I do know how to change the name of a theme but that still doesn’t allow you to use the WP theme upload function to work correctly. You also need to rename the theme folder so that WP does not overwrite the existing theme. If you are using a child theme you then have to edit the style.css file in their as well.

    Recently WP is moving towards making the UI more elegant and user friendly. I think this is one area that is lacking in elegance and useability. The stylesheet has the option to have the version number entered. Why not display that on the theme page and why not offer a one click theme update option?

    As more and more non programmers taking over the admin role, a simple theme update should be considered.

    My 2 pence.

    1.Wordpress notifies you everytime their is a update, it will be shown in the admin bar

    or see Dashboard > Updates

    2. To see the version of the theme that you installed, please check
    Admin Panel > Appearance

    you would then see the version of the theme you have installed, and the name of course

    3. Old version of themes does not have the capabilities to insert “Custom CSS” but as you can see when you search around, updated new themes has the ability/option for you to insert your “Custom CSS.”

    Now this Custom CSS allows you to make alterations to the theme, and when updated, the CSS that you have inputted their, would be saved and still their even after a update.

    4. Why would two themes be installed on one system of WordPress? Just build/GET one theme with all the required capabilities, their are many out their.

    ALso you can use plugins to give your theme some extra kicks / options. 😉

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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