Wordpress Question's

[frase]

Ok silly question time, just been checking out Wordpress lately. Say I have a site all built with a current theme, everything in place etc. If I change the theme just to try out, though then I want to go back to original theme is that going to berk everything up originally?

Or can I work on a new theme just to see how it looks without "destroying" the original.

Another question as well is Envato Elements any good? Does anyone here use them?

Thanks I am confused as well.

 

[glennd]

Ok silly question time, just been checking out Wordpress lately. Say I have a site all built with a current theme, everything in place etc. If I change the theme just to try out, though then I want to go back to original theme is that going to berk everything up originally?

Or can I work on a new theme just to see how it looks without "destroying" the original.

Another question as well is Envato Elements any good? Does anyone here use them?

Thanks I am confused as well.

It's safe enough to change the theme just to see what it looks like and change it back if you don't like it. I do that a lot when I'm starting a new site. But when you go down the road of making layout changes to accommodate the theme is when things comes unstuck. You get so far making changes then decide it isn't going to work but now when you switch back to the old theme nothing works or looks right.

These days I spend time looking for the closest theme to what I want so that my tinkering is kept to a minimum. Also if you absolutely have to make changes to the actual theme then you should create a 'child theme' cos when that theme gets updated those changes are gone.

 

[frase]

Thanks mate - yea I just bit the bullet and changed the theme nothing exploded

I ended up purchasing the Salient theme, have no idea what I am doing though. I am trying to have a video play like this site here -

Home - Bacchus Marsh Sand and Soil

sandsoil.com.au

 

[glennd]

Thanks mate - yea I just bit the bullet and changed the theme nothing exploded

I ended up purchasing the Salient theme, have no idea what I am doing though. I am trying to have a video play like this site here -

Home - Bacchus Marsh Sand and Soil

sandsoil.com.au

looks like a plugin called Revolution Slider or Slider Revolution

More than just a WordPress Slider

Slider Revolution is more than just a WordPress slider. It helps beginner-and mid-level designers WOW their clients with pro-level visuals.

www.sliderrevolution.com

 

[frase]

Well the site exploded now lol see my other post.

 

[Mick]

Might be a bit late now, but I'd recommend you install a plug-in called 'Updraft'. You can set it to back up the whole site - or just parts of it - so if/when things go fruit-salad, you can just restore back to a known good configuration.

 

[16bwhitt]

Might be a bit late now, but I'd recommend you install a plug-in called 'Updraft'. You can set it to back up the whole site - or just parts of it - so if/when things go fruit-salad, you can just restore back to a known good configuration.

Or, use a staging site.

@frase Envato Elements is very good. It is cheap, unlimited downloads compared to Adobe.

 

[frase]

Might be a bit late now, but I'd recommend you install a plug-in called 'Updraft'. You can set it to back up the whole site - or just parts of it - so if/when things go fruit-salad, you can just restore back to a known good configuration.

Yes I did do that Mick co-incidentally, I cant save to FTP for some reason, it connects though errors with "updraft successfully logged in but was unable to create a file". The folder is there. Is this a security issue on my side perhaps?

@16bwhitt I looked at elements, I downloaded Salient very nice theme.

Am new to WP used to Joomla, after a couple of days have worked a lot out and also thanks to @glennd.

 

[tf76]

Creating a child theme is the 1st thing you should do when using Wordpress for your site.
Finding a web host that provides free backups is also useful. Otherwise Updraft is a good plugin for that.
Some themes are heavier than others in regards to load times. So utilize a CDN like cloudflare if that is the case.
Especially if you want to get listed in google a little higher in the rankings for your specific keywords.

 

[frase]

Or, use a staging site.

@frase Envato Elements is very good. It is cheap, unlimited downloads compared to Adobe.

Subscribed to Elements thanks, will be useful in future.

 

[Mick]

@16bwhitt I looked at elements, I downloaded Salient very nice theme.

Am new to WP used to Joomla, after a couple of days have worked a lot out and also thanks to @glennd.

The FTP error might be a permissions issue on the server itself. This may not be within your capacity to rectify if the site is hosted commercially - you would need to run a bunch of SSH commands through PuttY or something similar if this is the case ('setenforce=0' would be a good start if you're feeling brave) - and they probably won't let you do that. Or it might just be a read/write/ownership thing that you could check using Filezilla or similar.

 

[glennd]

or just go to cPanel and zip it.

 

[frase]

So backup the file locally then upload to Cpanel?

 

[glennd]

So backup the file locally then upload to Cpanel?

I guess that depends on what you're backing up. But actually a file backup isn't enough for Wordpress cos it has a database as well. So a proper WP backup solution is more appropriate.

 

[Mick]

I guess that depends on what you're backing up. But actually a file backup isn't enough for Wordpress cos it has a database as well. So a proper WP backup solution is more appropriate.

@frase If you do decide to use Updraft, it will back up the db as well as the files.

 

[Geeks On Command]

I second the idea of using the website staging area from your web host. Essentially, it's a clone of your website that is not live that you can make changes in. Once you're happy with the changes, you can push the staging site to be the live site with zero downtime. I've found that changing themes makes my custom css disappear, and causes other theme specific issues.

If you don't have a staging area in your web host, you can always do a website backup prior to changing themes, then revert back to the backup if anything breaks.

I use themeforest.com for my wordpress themes. They've got a huge selection that's easily filterable, most have demo content to help you get started, and nearly all come with 6 months of support.

 

[frase]

Thanks all yes will do the staging, currently just playing around on my webhost with WP themes.

In regards to Staging, so can the current website be online and I can do whatever in the background on a new site.
The original site will still be up and not affected, as I want zero downtime.

 

[Geeks On Command]

Yes, the staging site is separate from the current website and when it's ready it's a simple button click to make the staging site the current one, so there is no downtime when you make the switch (well maybe a minute or two). Just be sure to clear the cache after the switch!

 

[frase]

In relation to staging my site is hosted elsewhere. So what is the best Staging plugin?

I have been looking at Stage Coach and WP Staging. I may just use Updraft to clone site I think, though cloning seems to be sub based?

At present I have the site on my subdomain, what is the easiest and best method to move it to another domain?
Or just use Duplicator then transfer the site that way?

I purchased Updraft would it be better to backup everything with that rather than duplicator?

Thanks, sorry for all the questions am new to WP.

 

[Mick]

There is a pretty good guide to doing this on the Wordpress site itself:

Migrating WordPress – Advanced Administration Handbook | Developer.WordPress.org

Changing The Site URL

wordpress.org