If you have never installed WordPress theme before, then it is highly recommended to start by reading WordPress info about it.
Information: Whenever we use term “themename” we mean name of theme that you use, so it can be rife, fatmoon, starter, etc.
Theme ZIP file
First you need to get theme file that you can install. It is ZIP archive with all theme files.
You can download it from ThemeForest in downloads section. Lets see screen shot:
You have there 2 options:
- All files & documentation – this zip archive file contains theme(in another zip file), child theme, documentation, and other documents. You should extract from it themename.zip before proceeding with install.
- Installable WordPress file only – this is only main theme file named themename.zip. Usually this is what you should choose to proceed without issues.
Install theme
You have basically 2 ways of installing theme:
Upload theme via FTP
This method always work, no matter how is your WordPress configured. To do it:
- Prepare Theme zip file as explained above. It can also be named with version number like themename_1.2.3.zip
- Unpack files from themename.zip. You should now have directory themename
- In themename directory you will have directories and files like images/, js/, 404.php, header.php, index.php etc.
- Upload whole themename directory to /wp-content/themes/ in your WordPress installation.
- Login to admin panel in WordPress, and go to Appearance → Themes and click Activate below theme that you just have installed.
Upload theme via WordPress admin panel
This way usually works fine, but on some weaker WordPress configurations it can fail. Often it is problem with setting of maximum file size limit that can be uploaded via WordPress.
Steps to do it:
- Prepare Theme zip file as explained above. It can also be named with version number like themename_1.2.3.zip
- Go to Appearance → Themes on top you will fin button named “Add New” and on next page “Upload Theme“.
- In file selection window choose Theme zip file from step 1.
- After upload is finished, go to Appearance → Themes and click Activate below theme that you just have installed.
