WordPress themes make it much easier for the developers to change the entire look, feel, and functionality of their website using an easy and quick process. You don’t have to invest too many efforts or time. It also saves you from several human risks.
However, overconfidence is not a good thing and thus it is advisable to follow reasonable caution while adopting a new theme for your current WordPress website. It isn’t a good thing to realize the same when our site starts misbehaving publicly after changing the theme.
In this guide, we are going to present some basic things that are often neglected during changing the theme of your WordPress website. Here are some of the points that you need to keep in mind before you decide to change the theme of your WP site:
Check your functions.php for Additional Code Snippets
Many times the developers might insert the code snippets to the functions.php file to customize the theme as per the requirements. Forgetting about these snippets while working with your new theme can hinder the desired approach and appeal of your website.
So it is imperative to check your existing theme for all such code snippets and save theme t your system. Copy and paste them to the relevant feels of your new theme to ensure that your website meets the desired criteria. You can also use various plugins to simplify and speed up the task.
Compare the Page Loading Speed
Loading time plays a vital role in building user experience, if your new theme is slower than the existing theme then you risk annoying your users and even losing them in the long run. So, it is highly advisable to look for any significant latency after changing the theme and take a quick corrective measure. Here’s how to do it
Before Changing the Theme
- Go to Speed measurement tools like Pingdom and check the loading speed of your current website
- Carefully note down the speed or save it to your system
Post Changing the Theme
- Repeat the above-mentioned step with your new theme and note down the loading speed
- If you observe added latency after changing the theme, (vs. the previous theme) then you should consider taking the corrective measure
Keep Your Tracking Code Safe
If you have directly inserted the analytics track code to your theme files and forget about it when changing the theme then you will lose the tracking and it can adversely impact your SEO endeavors while hindering other capabilities as well.
Make sure to copy such analytics code from your existing file and save it to your system. Just copy and paste them to the relevant files of your new theme when working with the same.
Pro Tip
However such things can add additional stress. To make sure that you don’t encounter such stress in the future you can use the plugins like Mosnterinsights (for Google analytics installation) and Header and Footer plugins.
Save Your Crucial Elements and Files
While changing your theme, it is possible that the things might go wrong and you may end up losing the critical files, images vital posts or other elements. The best way to prevent this situation is to backup your current website before changing the theme.
Thankfully it is easier and quicker by using the plugins like WordPress backup plug-in. It will make sure that you won’t lose any of your important files or plugins even if the things go awry when changing the theme.
Regarding Widgets and Sidebar
It is common practice with advanced WordPress developers to add custom code into there widget like an advertisement, contact form, social links, etc/ All the widget are added with the help of sidebars. If you have added and custom codes into specific widget of your existing home then don’t forget to save tit your computer to reuse the same to your new thee.
Conclusion
Changing your WordPress theme might not seem to be a daunting experience if you are fairly acquainted with the WordPress CMS. However, due to time constraints or other practical reasons, you might miss some important points or make mistakes that will hinder the functionality and appeal of your new website.
So, it is advisable to first make a checklist of major points to keep in mind before changing your theme. Keep these checkpoints handy when working with the new theme to ensure that you don’t miss any important factor while changing the theme.