Overview
This article provides information about how to update and optimize your WordPress themes. A theme controls the look and presentation of your website. See the WordPress article for further information.
How to improve your WordPress theme
There are several steps you can take to make your WordPress theme perform at its best.
Using an online tool to analyze your site
Use an online tool to analyze your website. This helps to determine what may be causing your site to load slower than expected and give you insights to troubleshoot further.
Picking a good theme
You should do some research before choosing your theme, including checking reviews to get a better idea of how other users rate it. This site is also a good starting point for locating highly rated themes.
Optimizing your site
In addition to choosing a good theme, there are also several ways to optimize your site. See the following articles for more information:
How to keep your theme up to date
It’s very important to always keep your themes up to date, as it limits the possibility of getting hacked.
Updating a theme in the WordPress dashboard
Log in to your WordPress dashboard. In the left-hand column, click Appearance. The main window displays a list of all your currently installed themes.
Any themes with updates available display Update Available at the top of their box. Click the Update now link to get the most recent version.
Deleting a theme in the WordPress dashboard
It's recommended to always remove themes you are not using. You should only keep the theme you actively use since you can always reinstall removed themes at any time. By removing themes, you keep their files from being used as attack entry points.
To remove a theme:
- In the left-hand column, click Appearance.
- Click the theme you wish to remove.
- On the bottom right, click the Delete link to remove the theme.
Deleting a theme via FTP
If you cannot access the dashboard, you can still delete the theme via FTP:
- Use the steps described in the FTP article to log into your server.
- Navigate to the /example.com/wp-content/themes directory.
- Delete any theme folder you wish to remove.
It's best to leave WordPress's current default theme as well as your active working theme in place, just to be certain that you have a good fallback theme if needed.
Managing a theme via SSH
You can use the WP CLI interface to manage themes via SSH. See this article for further details and examples.
See also
DreamHost links