How to Change the Default WordPress Theme for Your Website

How to change the default WordPress theme? This is a common question, especially for those who are new to WordPress, as WordPress releases a new default theme every year, which is included each time you install WordPress.

The default WordPress theme usually showcases new features or makes improvements and additions to the platform.

However, the default WordPress theme often lacks essential features for small business websites. This is a common reason why WordPress users choose to change the default theme of their websites.

In this post, Mangcoding will explain everything you need to know about the default WordPress theme and why and how you should change it.

The default WordPress theme is the theme that comes pre-installed when you first install WordPress on your site. As mentioned before, this theme is used to promote new WordPress features.

The current version of WordPress comes with three themes: Twenty Nineteen, Twenty Twenty, and Twenty Twenty-One. The current default WordPress theme is Twenty Twenty-One. This will be the first theme you see after you log in to your WordPress site. Some of its key features include:

• Custom logos and header elements, such as a title header or one with both a title and button
• Two navigation menus: one in the header and another in the footer
• Preset gradients to style your blocks
• Custom cover blocks that allow you to place text on top of an image, making it easier to visually separate sections of your post
• Various custom post formats, including gallery, links, quotes, and even chats
• Built-in block patterns, which are pre-defined block layouts that you can use to quickly create your pages

Additionally, this theme comes with its own set of block patterns, which include areas for links, images, and contact information.

If you’re using the default WordPress theme and you notice that your website feels slow when accessed, there are a few things you can do to optimize your site:

• Optimize the images used on your website using an image compression plugin
• Install a caching plugin
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve images and static files such as scripts and stylesheets
• Use a fast hosting provider

If you’ve tried installing additional plugins to optimize your website’s performance but it’s still slow, Mangcoding can help you optimize your website for better performance.

If you want to change the default theme included with WordPress, it’s quite easy. Simply go to *Appearance > Themes > Add New*. You can then browse the official repository to find another theme you like. Once you find it, click Install and then strong>Activate.

Alternatively, if you’ve downloaded a WordPress theme from a website or third party, you can upload it by going to Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme.

JThen, locate the downloaded theme zip file, select it, and install. After the new theme is installed, click Activate.

After learning about the default theme and its main features, you might wonder why you should change it if it already comes with all the new features WordPress introduced?

The main reason for changing the default theme is that its features are not as extensive and complete as some other WordPress themes.

While the default theme relies on the block editor, the available block patterns and blocks don’t give you full control over your site’s appearance.

There’s no way to fully control how and where you place blocks, and block patterns are limited in terms of available layouts.

Other limiting features include customization options. For example, you can change the background color, but there’s no setting to change button colors, fonts, or header layouts. Similarly, there are no customization options for your site’s header and footer with the default theme.

In other words, if you decide to use the default theme, building a decent website can be quite difficult unless you create a child theme.

Alternatively, you can use page builder plugins like Elementor. These not only give you greater control over your page layouts but also offer more premium widgets, including buttons, star ratings, dividers, icons, and more.

So, you’ve decided not to use the default theme on your WordPress site. However, you can’t find a theme you like, and more advanced themes might feel a bit overwhelming with all the features they offer.

In this case, you can use a blank theme to start your website. A blank theme is one that has the most basic functionality required to be recognized as a valid WordPress theme. Some examples include Hello Elementor, Astra, and GeneratePress.

A blank theme doesn’t include any fancy styles, and the main benefit of using it is that you can create your website exactly the way you want it. It gives you full freedom over your site’s design.

Another benefit of using a blank theme is that you can optimize your website to load quickly and ensure it’s optimized for search engines without relying on third-party plugins for load time and semantically valid code.

However, you still need to install an SEO plugin to help you optimize your blog post content, pages, and product descriptions.

Keep in mind that this blank theme should be used with a page builder plugin. This means that while you won’t need to learn code to build your website, you’ll need to create entire pages and templates (including headers and footers) with the page builder plugin.

That’s the article on how to change the default WordPress theme for your website that Mangcoding shared. Hopefully, this article is useful and provides you with new knowledge. If you have any constructive feedback or suggestions, feel free to comment or send an email or reach out to Mangcoding on social media.

Source : How to Change the Default WordPress Theme for Your Website