The WordPress Theme system is a way to apply “clothes” to your WordPress site. WordPress Themes can provide much more control over the visual presentation of your content and other data on your WordPress site, as well as behavior of certain site’s elements while interacting with visitors.
A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the software. Themes may include customized template files, image files, style sheets, custom pages, as well as any necessary code files.
Adding New Themes Through the Dashboard
You can download any theme from WordPress Theme Directory directly to your site by using the "Add New" option in the Appearance sub-menu.
- Log in to the WordPress Dashboard.
- Select the Appearance screen, then Themes.
- Select "Add New" or "Add New Theme".
- Either use the "Search" or "Filter options" to locate a Theme you would like to use.
- By hovering your mouse over a Theme you can either click on the "Preview" button to preview the Theme or the "Install" button to upload the Theme to your site,
- Or use the Upload Theme button at the top of page to upload a zipped copy of a Theme that you have previously downloaded to your computer.
Adding New Themes Though cPanel
In case you have a Theme file in your local computer that you want to use but its not uploading through the WordPress Dashboard you can go through cPanel to upload it.
- Log into your cPanel, from the "FILES" section click "File Manager"
- File Manager, navigate to your Themes folder. Depending on the domain the path to Themes folder can differ a bit but essentially you are looking for public_html or yourdomain.com and insideyou’ll find /wp-content/themes/.
- Once you’re inside the Themes folder in cPanel File Manager, click on Upload and upload that .zip file you have in your local computer.
- Once the .zip file is uploaded, right click on the name of that file in cPanel and select Extract from the context menu.
- When Theme files are successfully extracted, you are now able to see the theme in your WordPress Dashboard under Theme.