Appearance: Themes & Customizer

Installing and activating a theme

Go to Appearance → Themes → Add New to search the official theme directory. Click Install, then Activate, and your site's design changes immediately — your content stays exactly the same.

You can also upload a theme .zip file downloaded from a premium marketplace using the Upload Theme button on the same screen.

Real-life example: Activating a new theme is like changing the wallpaper and furniture layout of a room while keeping all your belongings (posts, pages, media) exactly where they were.

The Customizer and Full Site Editing

Classic themes use Appearance → Customize, a live-preview panel where you adjust site identity (logo, title), colors, menus, and widgets, seeing changes before publishing them.

Modern block-based themes instead show Appearance → Editor (the Site Editor), letting you edit the header, footer, and templates visually using the same block system as posts and pages.

• Customizer — for classic (non-block) themes: live-preview panel, Publish when ready
• Site Editor — for block themes: edit templates and template parts with blocks
• Both let you change logo, colors, and typography without code

Child themes — customizing safely

If you need to edit a theme's code directly, never edit the parent theme's files — an update will erase your changes. Instead, create a child theme that inherits the parent's styles and functionality.

Real-life example: A child theme is like writing sticky notes on top of a rented textbook instead of highlighting directly in ink — your notes (customizations) survive even if the textbook (parent theme) gets replaced with a newer edition (update).

/* style.css */
/*
 Theme Name: My Child Theme
 Template: parent-theme-folder-name
*/

/* functions.php */
<?php
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', function () {
    wp_enqueue_style( 'parent-style', get_template_directory_uri() . '/style.css' );
});