Community Forums › Forums › Archived Forums › General Discussion › How to smoothly change themes
Tagged: Agency Pro Upgrade
- This topic has 9 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 10 months ago by MoodyRiviera.
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April 9, 2015 at 4:47 pm #147257JosieParticipant
Hello,
I am looking to upgrade my site from The Lifestyle theme v2.0.2 to Agency Pro.
Studiopress support suggested I start on a test website then upload once I've ironed out all the kinks. I've never done this before - can anyone provide suggestions, tips or resources on it?
Thanks!
JosieApril 9, 2015 at 5:54 pm #147262coralseaitMemberWe always suggest to invest in UpdraftPlus (no affiliation with them, just love the tool) https://updraftplus.com/ . It allows backup and site migration with ease and is a very reliable tool. In your case you'd want at least the migration add-on, but really the all add-ons is a great buy
Your process would be:
1) Install WP to new site location
2) Install UpraftPlus
3) Install Framework and Child Theme(s)
4) Complete your Development
5) Backup the Site for migration
6) Install UpdraftPlus to your old site
7) Migrate using the new site backup8) Configure UpdraftPlus to take backups to your staging of choice (we use Google Drive and S3) for regular backups, automatic backups of core, theme, plugin updates and peace of mind
If you are asking on specifics on how to have WP on another server / hosting / etc - let us know, we can provide more info there too.
June 22, 2015 at 9:55 am #157168LindaV42Membercoralseait - Thanks for this information. Would all of these steps be necessary to upgrade a site from Agency to Agency Pro?
ThanksJune 22, 2015 at 11:31 am #157176MoodyRivieraMemberOpinions vary, but basically all you have to do is make sure you have a good, safe backup of your site...lots of ways to do that...then get the new theme, activate, and start working. Expect a lot of things to look very different...but depending on how large your site is it might not be too much work to get things straightened out.
There's an excellent article about this on bobwp.com web site.
http://bobwp.com/happens-change-wordpress-theme/And here's another one that might show you what to expect:
http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-properly-switch-wordpress-themes-on-your-site/P.S. Not sure if something is wrong, but right now I'm temporarily unable to access the BobWP site.
*MoodyRiviera*
June 22, 2015 at 1:21 pm #157186LindaV42MemberMoodyRiveria - Thanks for the links. I am following the WPbeginner helps. Got stuck with the upload theme function in WP.
Not able to "choose file" from my download to desktop.
I am also having difficulty opening wpbob. Avast blocked it as unsafe. Maybe the page got hacked.
June 22, 2015 at 2:17 pm #157198MoodyRivieraMemberYes, looks like Bob's site did get hacked. It's a very popular site and I guess someone was out to get him...I hope he'll be back online soon.
About your problem: Are you saying that you have the Zip file for your new theme, but you can't upload it to your site? Here's what to do:
Get the theme's Zip file and put it in a place where you know where it is so you can navigate to it later.
In your Dashboard go to Appearance and then Themes, and then in the Themes page you should see a link (near the top) that says "Add New"...then on the next page you look for the link that says "Upload Theme" and click that...and then you click the "Choose File" button...navigate to where you Zip file is...and after that you click the "Install Now" button.
You've been doing that, but it doesn't seem to work? If it doesn't work, can you describe what does happen?
*MoodyRiviera*
June 22, 2015 at 2:19 pm #157199MoodyRivieraMemberAlternatively, if you know how to use an FTP application, you can upload the theme Zip file to the "themes" folder inside your "wp-content" folder, and after uploading you can activate it from the Themes page of the Dashboard.
*MoodyRiviera*
June 22, 2015 at 4:16 pm #157212LindaV42MemberMoodyRiviera - Thanks so much for all your help. I was able to right click on the file and Zip it and then was able to download to the website. Thanks for your suggestion about FTP installation, but I break out in a flop-sweat everytime I think of doing something like that.
Right now I have a new backstretch image and have found two possible ways to convert the posts on the home page Middle Home to pages. Have my fingers crossed. Again thanks so much!June 22, 2015 at 4:25 pm #157214coralseaitMemberHowdy @LindaV42,
Not all these are required, but I highly recommend all web site owners invest in proper backup. Your change from Agent to Agent Pro is a large change, and issues can occur. What's more we see in this discussion, a popular site and developer has been hacked and backup is the first defense and recovery available.
I feel so strongly about this, that I recommend in any type of thread like this to invest in backup solution you are in control of and not rely on your host's.
Now, there's many ways to skin the backup cat, but in our experience UpdraftPlus is the best for novices all the way to seasoned devs and there will come a time you'd be glad you had the backups!!
You don't have to go to the extent of another staging site, but having a good backup pre and post conversion we feel is a must, not a nice to have. Good Luck!
June 22, 2015 at 5:07 pm #157224MoodyRivieraMemberAs long as people are pushing a backup solution, I'll mention the one I like best. I've used it for a few years now and I think it has the best set of features and definitely *THE* best personalized support...and that is BlogVault...and the price is reasonable, too...and no I'm not an employee or affiliate of BlogVault.
P.S. Of course if you already have a good backup service, just stay with that...there's no need to go completely off the deep end with staging sites, etc. just because you're going to change to a different theme.
*MoodyRiviera*
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