Customising your theme without writing code

Almost everything people want to change about a theme is changed through screens made for it, without touching a file. What differs is how you get to those screens, and that depends on the kind of theme you run.

First, work out which kind you have

If under Appearance you see… You have… And you customise in
Customise A classic theme Appearance, Customise. Changes show live in the panel beside you.
Editor A block theme Appearance, Editor. You edit the site the way you edit a page, header and footer included.
Both of them A classic theme with blocks Start in Customise and use the Editor for whatever it does not cover.

Where each thing lives

To change Go to
The logo and the browser tab icon Site identity, inside the customiser or the editor.
Colours and fonts The theme style options. Block themes ship ready made style sets.
The menu Appearance, Menus on a classic theme. On a block theme, edit the navigation block in the editor.
Footer and sidebars Appearance, Widgets on a classic theme. In the editor on a block theme.
Which page is the front page Settings, Reading. Choose a page of yours, or the list of latest posts.
Site title and tagline Settings, General. They show in the browser tab and in most themes.
The shape of your addresses Settings, Permalinks.
Change one thing at a time and save. Change ten and then find the site odd, and you will spend longer working out which one did it than you spent making them.

When you really do need code

If what you want is nowhere to be found, there is a middle step before editing files: the Additional CSS box in the customiser. What you write there is stored in the site database and survives theme updates. It is good for nudging sizes, spacing and colours.

Do not edit theme files through the panel code editor. Everything you write there vanishes at the next theme update, with no warning and no way back. And one syntax error in those files takes the whole site down on the spot: see white screen and critical error.

For genuine code changes, the right road is a child theme: a small theme that inherits everything from the main one and carries only your changes. The main theme keeps updating, and your work stays put.

Before you start

Take a backup. Customising is safe, but it is easy to lose half an hour trying to get back to a colour combination you can no longer remember. See restoring a backup yourself.

Touched the theme and broke the site? Tell us what you changed and where.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

WordPress hosting

Website creation

Frequently asked questions

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