WordPress® All-in-One For Dummies®

Installing a Theme

After you find a WordPress theme, you can install the theme on your WordPress site via FTP or the WordPress Dashboard.

To install a theme via FTP, follow these steps:

1. Download the theme file from the Theme Directory.

   Typically, theme files are provided in a compressed format, or Zip file.

   (I discuss how you can peruse the WordPress Free Themes Directory from your WordPress installation in the next section.)

2. Unzip or extract the theme's Zip file.

   You see a new folder on your desktop, typically labeled with the corresponding theme name (revisit Book II, Chapter 2 if you need to refresh yourself on how to use FTP Protocol).

3. Upload the theme folder to your Web server.

   Connect to your hosting server via FTP and upload the extracted theme folder into the /wp-content/themes folder on your server (see Figure 2-2).

Figure 2-2: Upload and download panels in FTP.

To install a theme via the Dashboard's theme installer, follow these steps:

1. Download the theme file from the Theme Directory to your desktop.

   Typically, theme files are provided in a compressed format, or Zip file. Using this method, you do not extract the Zip file because the theme installer does that for you.

2. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard and choose AppearanceThemes.

   The Manage Themes panel appears.

3. Click ...