Theme developer guide to updating after the initial theme release

  • Trek Themes

    (@trek-themes)


    9 years ago

    Hi,
    There is a ton of information out there about testing a theme for initial release but I have been unable to find anything about best practices for a developer to keep their theme updated after it has been released (I have a theme in the repository and hope to keep it updated for users).
    How often is it advisable to test the theme if nobody is reporting any bugs – just at the time of each core update?
    What is the process that most developers would use to test their theme? Would it be the same process as that used when testing a theme for initial release e.g. theme check, using debug, deprecated functions… or do people use other methods? Keeping my theme secure is my no. 1 priority.
    Would love any advice, many thanks

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  • Matthew

    (@kidsguide)

    How often is it advisable to test the theme if nobody is reporting any bugs – just at the time of each core update?

    Generally you should test your themes (and plugins) with every new WordPress release. You can also test you theme with WordPress beta releases (which I do with my plugins). This gives you early access to the new WordPress version about to be released. Currently WordPress 4.4 Beta 2 is out. A good place to start would be to test your theme with that.

    I just want to add that if no one is reporting bugs you should still regularly test your theme. Like it is said, for every few hundred people, only one may report a problem. So if you get a bug report take it seriously. Also if you don’t get any bug reports that doesn’t mean that your theme doesn’t have bugs.

    What is the process that most developers would use to test their theme? Would it be the same process as that used when testing a theme for initial release e.g. theme check, using debug, deprecated functions… or do people use other methods?

    I personally don’t have any themes on the WordPress directory. Although yes, I would recommend that you use the Theme Check plugin. Also you should ALWAYS have debug enabled when developing/testing the theme.

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