Themes play an important role in every WordPress website. They are capable of either making or breaking your website. This has naturally led new users to be cautious and ask several questions about them.
In this article, I’ll be providing answers to 13 commonly asked questions that I found about WordPress themes.
1 – What Is The Difference Between A WordPress Theme And A Page Builder?
WordPress themes are a member of the core WordPress file system and they are required for all WordPress websites. They consist of a group of files that together control all of the visual aspects of a WordPress website. This includes but is not limited to the layout, colors, fonts, and how images are displayed on the website.
On the other hand WordPress, page builders are optional plugins that can be installed on a WordPress website. They function alongside an active WordPress theme and are not required to build a WordPress website.
Page builders essentially add another layer of customization that the default Gutenberg block editor doesn’t provide; allowing users to easily modify and create complex web pages with pre-made drag and drop content elements
2 – Do I Need To Update My Child Theme?
No, you will not need to update your WordPress child theme in the same manner in which you will update your parent theme.
However, if you have written custom code or functions in your child theme files you may need to make changes to them depending on if the developers of your theme have made core changes to the files of the parent theme after an update.
3 – Will Updating WordPress Affect The Theme?
Every major WordPress update has the potential of affecting your theme. The effects of these updates are mostly minor and there is a high possibility that you or your website visitors won’t even notice them.
If your website uses a well-supported free or premium theme you will notice that the developers will release a new theme update within the first two weeks of the new WordPress update. The purpose of these updates is to correct any compatibility issue or bug that may have been caused by the new WordPress update.
4 – If I Update My WordPress Theme Will I Lose Everything?
No, if you update your WordPress theme you will not lose everything. Your pages, posts, plugins, media files, and additional CSS added through the default WordPress theme customizer will remain the same.
The only data that you are at risk of losing by updating your WordPress theme are custom functions or code that are written within the files of your parent theme. This is because these files will be overwritten every time the parent theme is updated.
Therefore, if you have made any changes to your theme files without using a child theme, you will first need to create and activate a child theme, then copy all the custom code that you have written to their respectful locations within the file structure of the child theme.
Doing it this way will guarantee that you won’t lose any data when updating your parent theme.
5 – Can You Install More Than One WordPress Theme?
Yes, you can install more than one WordPress theme but you can only have one active theme at a time.
6 – How Long Does It Take To Install A WordPress Theme
It will take approximately 2 – 5 minutes to install a WordPress theme. However, the exact time that this process will take you will depend on the size of the theme and the speed of your internet and hosting server.
7 – Can You Change WordPress Theme After Installation?
Yes, WordPress allows you to change your active theme anytime you wish. However, it is not advised to randomly change the theme on a live website. This is because changing the theme on a live website has the potential to break the design of the website and make it unusable.
Therefore if you would like to change the theme on your live WordPress website you will first need to create a staging version of it. Then on the staging version of your website fix everything that may have been broken when you switched the theme. Finally, once you are satisfied with how the new theme looks and feels you will then need to backup and restore your staging site onto your live server.
8 – What Happens If I Install A New Theme In WordPress?
When you install a new theme in WordPress it will be placed on the themes page of the WordPress dashboard. From this location, you will be able to preview and activate your newly installed theme.
However, as I mentioned in the previous question it is not advised to change the theme on a live website without first testing it on a staging site.
9 – Is It Worth Paying For A WordPress Theme?
Yes, it is totally worth it to pay for a premium WordPress theme. This is because premium themes provide a lot more advantages over free WordPress themes.
The advantages of premium themes are the following:
- Better customer support
- Guaranteed updates and bug fixes
- A wide variety of unique pre-made demos to choose from
- More features and customization options
- Increased uniqueness of a website
10 – Should You Buy A WordPress Theme?
Yes, you should definitely buy a premium WordPress theme if it is within your budget.
11 – Why Are WordPress Themes So Expensive?
The reason why wordpress themes are so expensive is the same reason why other products that provide great value to the end-users are.
Here are some reasons that justify the price of premium WordPress themes:
- Developers spend countless hours designing and coding these themes.
- Premium themes save their users so much time as they won’t have to design or code a website by themselves.
- Customers of premium themes receive priority customer support
- Premium themes constantly receive updates and bug fixes
- Premium themes come bundled with premium plugins.
12 – Can I Use A WordPress Theme On Shopify?
No, WordPress themes are unique to WordPress and are not compatible with the Shopify platform, therefore they cannot be used on Shopify.
However, the creators of Shopify have teamed up with Themezilla and have created Shopify-powered WordPress themes that you can use on your WordPress website.
Additionally, you can integrate Shopify’s eCommerce functionality into your WordPress website by using the Shopify eCommerce plugin. Although the plugin is free to install it will cost you $9/month to use it.
13 – Can I Use WordPress Without A Theme?
All WordPress websites depend on a theme to control all of the visual aspects of the website. Therefore you cannot use WordPress without an active theme.
