How to set up a theme viewer

December 11, 2007. Written by Igor.

I have received couple of emails lately with questions regarding how to set up a Theme Viewer. Well, it’s all pretty simple and all you need is Theme Switcher Plugin.

You would also need to install another Word Press version. The best would be to place new WP under a subdomain. When you installed the WP, fill it up with some dummy content, that your themes would share. Upload your themes, and activate the Theme Switcher Plugin.

You can place short code wp_theme_switcher() into your sidebar. This will present a list of all installed themes from which the user can pick and choose, or you can keep your sidebar clean and link your themes from your main site.

Example. I have installed WP under subdomain named “preview”. My theme Cubismo is in the folder named same as the theme name and the link is preview.colorlightstudio.com/?wptheme=Cubismo. Just keep in mind that ?wptheme=theme_name is the name of theme folder and is case sensitive.

10 Replies to "How to set up a theme viewer"

Fath on December 13, 2007

Thanks for the guide :) I’ve emailed you once about this. Hey, what about the theme preview at the right side or your website? I mean the little boxes.

Fath on December 13, 2007

*right side OF your website*… Sorry, typo.

Igor on December 13, 2007

You mean those little thumbnails ? Well, I post my Word Press Themes under Free WP Themes Category, then add a simple tag in the sidebar.php to list the last 4 post under that category.

Then, create a custom field and add a value (in this case link to theme thumbnail) to each post under that category, and that’s about it. :)

If you need more details email me and I’ll help you out.

Fath on December 14, 2007

Oh so it’s custom field. I might do the same for my upcoming Wordpress theme. Thanks for it :)

Simon on January 10, 2008

I’ve downloaded theme-switcher to use for the same purpose. I was wondering if you had any experience with linking a subdomain to a particular theme – eg. theme1.domain.com shows the site with theme1; theme2.domain.com shows the site with theme2?

Igor on January 10, 2008

Hi Simon.
The point of theme switcher is to toggle between the themes on the same domain, not to create dozen of sub’domains in order to display different themes.

Simon on January 10, 2008

OK … just wondered if I could do it with a little jiggery pokery :)

Igor on January 10, 2008

:) If you need any help with theme switcher you can contact me on email.

Wynter on January 11, 2008

Crazy, I had your site open and next thing I needed to do was find Theme Switcher plugin, before I glanced at your recent writings. Thanks!

I like your nice, clean website by the way!

Igor on January 11, 2008

Hi Wynter, Thx. :)

Color Light Studio