WordPress Plugins – Theme Test Drive

A WordPress plugin that’s well worth checking out is Theme Test Drive by Vladimir Prelovac.

With this plugin, you can install a new theme simply by copying and pasting the link to the theme’s zip file into the plugin’s dialog box and clicking Install Theme. Once you have installed the theme, just refresh the page or click the Theme Test Drive link in the Appearance section of the WordPress menu. Then select your new theme from the drop-down list on the Theme Test Drive page, scroll down and click Enable Theme Drive. Then, at the top of the page click Visit Site, or browse to your site in a new window or tab while logged in as an admin, and you will see the main page of your site with the new theme.

To make matters more interesting,you can also set the Access Level to determine who can see the new theme when logged in (i.e. Administrators, Editors, Authors, or Users).

Additionally, you can add the theme’s folder name to your site’s URL to see the site in that theme without being logged in. If you want to see this site with the Professionally Done theme, the URL becomes http://johnnasta.com/blog/?theme=professionally-done (assuming I have the plugin enabled when you try this).

This makes it very easy for someone who does not know how to download and install a theme via FTP to change the look of his or her blog. It’s great for people who have a hard time envisioning how their site will look without actually seeing it and/or people who do not want to have to hire a webmaster to install a theme. It’s also great for developers who want to create or customize a theme because they can see their work or demonstrate a theme to a client without activating it.

Try it!

This article copyright © John Nasta 2009 – All Rights Reserved

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