risks with theme change?

  • Hi and I hope I’m posting in the right place; if not, apologies.

    I am running a self-hosted site with Twenty Eleven theme, and I’m using the theme as it is – I’ve not made any code changes as I don’t have time for this. I do however adapt a few things (menus, colours) using the standard WP interface options.
    I am now thinking about switching to the new Twenty Seventeen theme, but am not sure what the risks are, if any?
    I imagine that if I am using templates this way – not creating child themes etc – then risks are none? But am I wrong?

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    Do not use Appearance->Editor to modify CSS.

    Work within the customizer, if you can. If you need to modify CSS:

    If you are using WordPress 4.7, use the “Custom CSS” option in the customizer. If your theme has a custom CSS option, use that to add the CSS shown above. If not, install the plugin Simple Custom CSS. Or, if you have Jetpack installed, enable its Custom CSS module.

    Thread Starter Likeims

    (@likeims)

    Sorry, I don’t understand the reply, perhaps my question was unclear. I am asking what are the risks of changing my theme, considering I don’t make any changes to it?

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    No, I guess I don’t understand your question. What is is you think might happen?

    Thread Starter Likeims

    (@likeims)

    That’s what I’m asking;-)
    When I read about doing things like changing themes, it always warns you have to back everything up as if it’s a major overhaul and you are at risk of losing stuff., possibly your entire site. I’m just generally asking, what might go wrong if I change the theme from one installed theme to another? I wouldn’t expect anything to go wrong or to lose any information, images or text – but could it happen?

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    When you change themes, you may need to re-locate widgets and will definitely have to re-assign menus to locations.

    If your theme bundles shortcodes, those may not be part of the new theme. If your theme bundles custom post types, those may not be part of the new theme.

    So there’s lots of things to check, but no serious risk of totally borking the site. Worst case — go back to the old theme.

    Thread Starter Likeims

    (@likeims)

    Thank Steve – that’s what I wanted to know!

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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