WordPress theme or template?
A theme is an extension of WordPress that completely changes a visual layer of your page. This change is what your readers can see after visiting the website. Remember, however, that WordPress themes are not the same as templates. WordPress users often identify these two concepts with each other. Meanwhile, the theme is the location of the HTML/CSS code of a given template. And all templates are categorized under a theme.
Where to find free WordPress themes?
There are lots of paid and free WordPress themes available. If you do not have a budget for this change, choose the free version of a theme. You will find a large collection of nice WordPress themes on the official WordPress.org page: wordpress.org/themes/. They are all available also in the WordPress admin area under Appearance – Themes – Add new.
How to install a free WordPress theme?
There are two ways to install a WordPress theme – manual and automatic.
To install a theme manually:
- Choose a theme on the wordpress.org/themes/ page.
- Download the selected theme to your computer.
- Make sure you saved the theme in the .zip folder.
- Log in to your WordPress cockpit.
- Go to Appearance – Themes – Add new – Send the theme to the server.
- Then select the file (the .zip folder with the new theme)
- Click on Install now.
Then you'll see the message: The theme has been installed. Just click on Enable and your website will change the look. Remember that before you enable a new theme, you can check how it will look on your site. Click on Live preview and personalize the new design of the page.
To install a theme automatically:
- Log in to your WordPress cockpit.
- Go to Appearance – Themes – Add new.
- Choose a new theme using categories: Featured, Popular, Last modified. You can also make a choice with the help of the search engine, as well as using search filters.
- Once you've selected the new theme, click on Install.
You can enable the new theme right away, but you can also use the Live preview option and personalize the theme before activating.
If you don’t have an access to your admin panel…
...install a free WordPress theme manually using FTP server. You have to log in to your FTP server and open the wp-content folder. Then go to the themes folder and add the .zip folder with the new theme to the themes folder. Now you should be able to find a new theme in the admin area under Appearance – Themes. Enable a new theme from there.
