Installation - How do I install a theme: Difference between revisions From Online Manual

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You've just managed to get through installing SMF and, quite naturally, you're extremely proud of yourself! I'm guessing that, now, you'd like to customize your forum, to change the look and feel of it, in line with its subject matter.
To change the appearance of your forum, you can install a new theme. In order to obtain a new theme, follow the steps outlined below:


Let's deal with themes.
Note: if you install a theme '''after''' having installed mods, those mods will not be installed properly in that theme if the mod affected any of the template files used by that theme. Changes for mods will either have to be applied manually or the mod will need to be uninstalled and then reinstalled.


There are several ways of installing themes. Let's deal with the most common way, here. It's as easy as this:
# [[Backup]] your database and files.
# Go to the [https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?action=themes SMF theme site]. Choose a theme that is compatible with your version of SMF. Download the theme to your desktop computer.
# Go to the [[{{Latest docs}}Themes and Layout|''Themes and layout'']] section of your SMF admin panel. At the bottom of the page you will see the "Install a New Theme" section. Click "Choose" to open a dialogue box.
# Within this box, find the theme that you have just downloaded and click the "Install" button.
# An alert will pop up. Confirm that you want to install the theme.
# Your theme is installed.


# I really can't stress this enough. BACKUP! [[Backup]] everything, both your forum, itself, and your database. It's very rare that anything would go wrong, with this. But, it's best to be prepared, just in case.
If you want to make your new theme the forum default, go to "Themes and layout" and select the theme in the dropdown box next to "Overall forum default:", then click 'Save'.
# Download the theme, from the theme site, making sure that the theme is compatible with the version of SMF that you're using. http://custom.simplemachines.org/themes
# Go to the "Themes and layout" section of your SMF admin panel and, at the bottom of the page, you'll see the "Install a New Theme" section. In there, click on "Choose", alongside "From a file". A requester will open, which you can use to navigate to the theme that you downloaded, from the theme site.
# Using that requester, navigate to the theme that you downloaded and click "Install", to the right of that requester.
# Confirm that you want the theme to install, when the alert pops-up.
# Your theme is installed!


Yes, it really is that simple!
Note: if you change the "Overall forum default:" to a new default theme, it only changes the theme for guests and new members that register on the forum after the new theme is made default. Everyone else will stay on the old theme unless you also use the "Reset everyone to:" option, even if they were already on the previous default theme and never changed the option in their profile.


Now, as that was successful, it'd be an extremely good idea to... You guessed it... BACKUP! You don't want all that work, wasted, now do you?
Once you have completed this process, and you are happy with the appearance of your forum, remember to backup.


As I said, at the beginning, there are other ways of installing themes. If you want to read about those ways, have a look here: [[{{Latest docs}}Themes_and_Layout#Install_a_New_Theme|Install a New Theme]]
Alternative ways to install a new theme can be found here: [[{{Latest docs}}Themes_and_Layout#Install_a_New_Theme|Install a New Theme]]
[[Category:FAQ]][[Category:BFG]]
[[Category:FAQ]]

Latest revision as of 09:46, 23 April 2022

To change the appearance of your forum, you can install a new theme. In order to obtain a new theme, follow the steps outlined below:

Note: if you install a theme after having installed mods, those mods will not be installed properly in that theme if the mod affected any of the template files used by that theme. Changes for mods will either have to be applied manually or the mod will need to be uninstalled and then reinstalled.

  1. Backup your database and files.
  2. Go to the SMF theme site. Choose a theme that is compatible with your version of SMF. Download the theme to your desktop computer.
  3. Go to the Themes and layout section of your SMF admin panel. At the bottom of the page you will see the "Install a New Theme" section. Click "Choose" to open a dialogue box.
  4. Within this box, find the theme that you have just downloaded and click the "Install" button.
  5. An alert will pop up. Confirm that you want to install the theme.
  6. Your theme is installed.

If you want to make your new theme the forum default, go to "Themes and layout" and select the theme in the dropdown box next to "Overall forum default:", then click 'Save'.

Note: if you change the "Overall forum default:" to a new default theme, it only changes the theme for guests and new members that register on the forum after the new theme is made default. Everyone else will stay on the old theme unless you also use the "Reset everyone to:" option, even if they were already on the previous default theme and never changed the option in their profile.

Once you have completed this process, and you are happy with the appearance of your forum, remember to backup.

Alternative ways to install a new theme can be found here: Install a New Theme



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