Installing a theme from WPMU DEV
- Download the theme file
- Unzip the file into a folder on your hard drive
- Upload the folder to /wp-content/themes/ folder on your site
- If you’re using multi-site you’ll need to visit Network Admin -> Themes and Activate it there.
4.
Make sure your install path is correct for example:
/www/var/site/wp-content/themes/thethemename not
/www/var/site/wp-content/themes/themes/thethemename
5. You’ll see several files and folders depending on the theme
package. Most themes contain a folder for the parent and child theme
within the folder called themes.
6. Launch FileZilla or your FTP client – read more about using FTP and FTP clients here.
7. Enter your domain name, your username and password. NOTE: the
same username and password that you use to log into your cPanel.
8. Click Quickconnect
9. Upload both the parent theme folder and child theme folder to wp-content/themes/
- For example, with BuddyPress Daily theme you need to upload bp-daily and bp-daily-child to wp-content/themes/ (bp-daily folder is the parent theme folder)
- With Network you need to upload network and network-child
to wp-content/themes/ (network folder is the parent theme folder)
- We provide child themes with themes to enable you to customize your own files without having those changes
overwritten when we update a theme.
- To find out more about parent and
children themes please visit our guide to parent and child themes.
10. Dragging the theme folders from your computer into theme folder in
your WordPress directory uploads these new themes to your WordPress
install however they aren’t enabled on a WordPress Multisite install.
11. As Super Admin user on WordPress Multisite you have the choice to enable:
a) The theme network wide so that all users can use the theme
b) Enable access to the theme on a per site basis
c) Use Supporter plugin via supporter-themes.php to make it available as a premium theme for supporter sites only
Enabling The Theme network wide
Here’s how to enable Sleek Photo network wide so that all your users can use the theme:
1. Click on Network Admin > Themes
2. Select Yes next to Network to enable its access network wide.
3. Then click Apply Changes
Enabling themes on a per site basis
Any theme that has not been activated for the entire network can be activated on a site as follows:
1. Locate the site you want to enable specific themes on by searching for the specific site by clicking on Network Admin > Sites
2. Once you have located the site click on Edit (hovering your mouse over the domain name brings up the action menu)
3. Select Network and then click Update Options.
- Only themes that haven’t been enable network wide appear on the site theme list
- Be careful editing information in the left hand column in the Edit
site page. For example, changing the Path URL of a site means it won’t
be able to locate the Site URL of that site.
Using Supporter Plugin for Premium Themes
The supporter plugin allows you to select premium themes for supporter sites only.
The idea is you make the best and nicest themes available on
supporter sites so users will want to sign up to access the themes.
To install:
1. Install the Supporter plugin as per the installation instructions.
2. Upload supporter-themes.php to wp-content/mu-plugins
How it works is:
1. A Premium Themes page is added to Network Admin > Supporter where you can select the themes that you want to enable for Supporter sites only.
- Only themes that haven’t been enabled network wide on Network Admin >Themes will be listed on this page
2. A Premium Themes sub-menu item is added to the dashboard of all
sites under both Supporter and Appearance – but only users using
supporter site can activate a Premium theme.
3. Whereas users on non-supporter sites can see all the Premium
themes but can’t activate them – instead they see a message saying
‘This feature is limited to supporters only’
Problem is, it’s always required additional plugins (like our crowd favorite Post Indexer, if you must know) as well as code editing inside the theme to get things ‘just right’. For many of us, that’s simply not a valid option. We’ve heard our members loud and clear. They’ve asked us for a theme that’s easy to display network-wide content in a way that’s automatic, easy to customize, and just looks good.
Introducing Network! The only ‘front page’ theme you’ll ever need for your WordPress Multisite – and yes, it is completely compatible with BuddyPress and even single-site installations of WordPress as well!
Let’s take a look, shall we?
