Tutorial on How to Install a Wordpress Theme
PLEASE READ.
If your Wordpress Blog is hosted on Wordpress.com then…
The following tutorial is for “self hosted” wordpress blogs. If you have a blog that is hosted on Wordpress.com (www.yoursite.wordpress.com) check out this brief tutorial on Wordpress.com on how to change your wordpress theme.
If you have Self Hosted Wordpress Blog then…
This is for you! If using Wordpress to power their self hosted website, here is a quick tutorial on how to Install & Activate your Wordpress Theme. If you get lost, feel free to comment and I’ll be glad to answer any questions.
Step 1. Downloading your Wordpress Theme
Once you have found the Wordpress Theme(s) you must download the zip file to your desktop or designated folder. If you’re using a PC you will need to extract the file.
It should look something like this… A single folder with the title of the theme.
If you click into the file you will find all the necessary files that you will need to upload to your site. Here is an example.
Everyone of your themes that you upload should contain a majority of the files shown above.
Step 2. Uploading your Wordpress Theme
Now that have your Wordpress Theme extracted or unzipped you are ready to upload your theme. You will upload your Wordpress theme to your site via FTP. If you don’t have a FTP client here is a completely free one I suggest.
This FTP clients is 100% free! Mac Users & Windows Users - Filezilla
Go ahead and login to your site via FTP. (Open FTP client, enter Hostname, Username & Password.) Find your theme directory.
This is how you get to your Wordpress “themes” directory.
public_html/yoursite/wp-content/themes
Now that you have found your theme directory, go back to your theme folder located on your desktop or designated folder. Using a Mac or Windows you can easily drag and drop the file directly into the themes folder.
Wait for the file to upload completely and also make sure the file is in the themes folder.
Step 3. Activating your Wordpress Theme
Nice, so you have successfully added your Wordpress Theme via FTP. Now all you have to do is activate it.
Login to your Wordpress admin area like you would normally. (http://www.yoursite.com/wp-admin)
Click on the design tab - shown here.
You should now see your already existing themes and of course the new Wordpress theme you just recently upload.
Now that you have located the Wordpress Theme, simply click the theme to activate it.
And that’s it! Congratulations you’re all set. You should now see your new theme activated!
Once you get that down you can browse for other themes and upload them the exact same way.
Hope this helps. Please comment if you need any other instruction, hope this helps!
More to come…
August 4th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Darn, I wish I found this post before. I just had someone asking how to install a theme, and I gave them a quick explanation..but I think you’ve done a better job.
August 4th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Susan,
Thanks for the response. I appreciate you taking to the time to comment. Hopefully your friend got their site up and running
Thanks Again.
Best,
JR Farr