How to Install WordPress Themes
One of the most popular CMS systems going around the world today is WordPress. Much of it’s success is down to ease of use, and how beginner friendly the whole platform is. This ease of use also extends to installing WordPress themes, but sometimes you need a bit of a hand.
Starting from WordPress Version 2.7 onwards. You can now install WordPress themes straight from your admin section. Once logged in into the backend, go Appearance –> Add Themes. From here you can search through WordPress own back catalogue of templates. After choosing one it is just a few simple clicks and follow the steps to install it.
However you may not always be able to find the template you are looking for through this catalogue. Often it is hard to gauge just how well it will look on your site from a tiny thumbnail. In instances like this you can surf around the web looking for free WordPress themes.
Once you find a theme you like, you will need to download it to your own PC. It will likely be in either RAR or ZIP format, so you will need a unzipping tool. WinRar is free to download if the file has a.rar extension. Once unpackaged, you will need to FTP/Upload the files to your own webhost. Most webhosts put your files into the “”public_html”” folder so that is a good place to start. If your WordPress installation is in the root directory, you should be in the right place instantly on connection, otherwise you will need to navigate through the folders.
You then need to navigate through to the themes folder. The directory tree goes something like: public_html –> *WordPress installation folder* –> wp-content –>themes.
You can upload your unpackaged theme to this folder.
Then it is is a matter of logging back into your admin panel. Going Appearance –> Themes and activating your new theme. If on this screen you cannot see a thumbnail picture of the the theme you just uploaded. Try doing a refresh of the page by pressing f5 on your keyboard. If it still doesn’t show, make sure that when you uploaded the new theme, that it was placed into it’s own folder. If this still doesn’t resolve the problem you may have downloaded a dud package and you can either try downloading it again, or finding another theme.
Learning how to install WordPress themes just becomes second nature after a while. Especially once you work out the WordPress directory structure. Plus don’t forget that once you settle on a nice looking theme, you rarely change it again!