Customizing a template – then upgrading WP

  • gopanthers

    (@gopanthers)


    15 years ago

    I installed WP using Fantastico and began fiddling with the header and footer files in the default theme, customizing the theme to embed withing the rest of my website. Then I saw a notice in my dashboard that there was a newer version on WP and I should update to the latest version. I really appreciated how easy it was to update my version, but after doing so all my theme customization was reverted.

    Is that going to happen every time I upgrade to the latest version of WP?
    How is this avoided?
    Did this only happen because it was the default theme that I had customized?
    If I customized an installed theme would I be safe to update in the future?
    I haven’t experimented with widgets yet but would those all get messed up to every time I update WP?

    I’d just hate to put all this effort into making the blog exactly the way I want it to look and then have it wrecked every time a new version came out (or I couldn’t update it).

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Arnold Goodway

    (@arnoldgoodway)

    This happened because it was the default theme. This theme gets overwritten with each WordPress update.

    jrav001

    (@jrav001)

    Sorry to hear this gopanthers….but look on the bright side – you’ll be able to re-do your theme customization much quicker the second time. ?? It is recommended to copy the default theme folder and give it a unique name so this won’t happen in the future.

    Thread Starter gopanthers

    (@gopanthers)

    So if I customize an installed theme (not the default) or if I save my customization as a new theme, then upgrading won’t ruin it again? Is that right? If so, good. Thanks.

    MichaelH

    (@michaelh)

    WordPress, when doing the ‘core’ update will overwrite the default or classic theme files. Only those themes…no others are in the core distribution so you should be safe modifying a different theme.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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