All themes sold on ChurchThemes.com use our Church Content plugin in order to avoid theme lock-in. You can also convert Risen. This means you can switch themes without having to re-enter your content (sermons, events, locations, etc.). Since this is the case, most of the work is already done for you. There are just a few minor adjustments you may need to make.
Install New Theme
You can take advantage of one of our Packages for access to all themes. How to Upgrade
Tip: If you want to switch themes on a temporary website so that changes in progress are not visible on the live site, read How can I make big changes to my site without users seeing until I’m done?
- Log into your Account
- Go to Downloads to download your new theme
- Log into your WordPress site
- Go to Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme
- Install then activate your new theme
Downloading and installing a new theme
After Installation
There are several things you’ll want to check and adjust as needed after switching themes.
Adjustments to make after switching themes
License Key
You will need to activate your license for the new theme in Appearance > Theme License. See Theme License Activation. If you have a package, your license key will work with all themes, but you will still need to re-activate it for your new theme. This enables updates.
Menus
Menu locations are theme-specific so you may need to Re-assign Menus to menu locations (header, footer, etc.). Menu links themselves are retained. Go to Appearance > Menus > Menu Locations to make sure your menus are set to their corresponding locations. If your new theme has an additional menu location then you’ll need to make a new menu for it.
Image Sizes
Themes use different image sizes, so run the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin and/or provide images sized to suit the new theme’s layout as needed. You can install it by going to Plugins > Add New then searching for “Regenerate Thumbnails”. To run it, go to Tools > Regenerate Thumbnails. Wait for it to finish before doing anything else.
Homepage & Widgets
Widget areas (e.g. homepage, footer, sidebar) are theme-specific so you will need to recreate some or all of your Widgets. You can also import the Starter Widgets (downloadable from your Account). This is helpful in populating your new theme’s homepage. Each theme has a different homepage layout (see Homepage Guide), usually made up of widgets. You will need to rebuild or adjust your homepage. You can manage your widgets in Appearance > Customize > Widgets.
Customizer Settings
Because theme appearance differs, Customizer settings will need to be configured. They are set on a per-theme basis. Go to Appearance > Customize to check and adjust your settings as needed.