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Awesome WordPress Plugin: Theme Test Drive

Do you ever feel like trying out a new WordPress Theme or hacking your present theme ... but you don't want to make your blog inaccessible - or worse yet, scrambled - while you are in the process of testing new themes.

This plugin is the answer to your prayers: Theme Test Drive by Vladimir Prelovac

Here's how to install and use it.

Download the plugin.

Unzip/extract using your favorite UNZIP utility. My current favorite is CAMUnzip

Upload the plugin folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ folder. I'm using WS_FTP.

In the WordPress dashboard, click the Plugins tab, find Theme Test Drive in the list of plugins, and click activate.

Now click the Presentation tab in the WordPress Dashboard. You will see a new sub-menu tab titled Theme Test Drive. Click Theme Test Drive, and choose the name of the theme you want to experiment with from the drop down list. Then click "enable".

Now when you click View site you will see your blog dressed up in the new theme. But you will be the only person seeing it that way.

All visitors to your site will still see your blog dressed in your currently active theme

When you are ready to go public with the new theme, click the Presentation tab, then the Theme Test Drive tab, and click Disable

Then click the Presentation tab, Themes tab, and set your newly designed theme as Current Theme

Posted by Cheryl Johnson on 01/19/2008 09:08 AM

Comments (18)

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18 Comments on Awesome WordPress Plugin: Theme Test Drive

Cheryl:

I saw this but have not had a chance to check it out. Thanks so much for the post! Some great plugins are being developed now for Wordpress. One of my favorite blogs!

01/19/2008 09:20 AM

by Caryn Webb Digital Coaching by an e-PRO (CD WEBB DESIGN)

I love it...I'll need to give it a test drive. Thanks so much!

01/19/2008 09:30 AM

by Monika McGillicuddy~REALTOR®~ N.H. Real Estate Broker & Trainer (Prudential Verani Realty/Hampstead)

Thanks for the step by step pics. I will check this out

01/19/2008 09:39 AM

by Flagstar Bank

Cheryl - This looks like a great plug-in. I have been messing around with my wordpress blog trying to get it just right, but I am having a hard time finding a theme that I really like.

01/19/2008 10:21 AM

by Ryan Martin - Bellingham Real Estate Agent (Windermere Real Estate / Whatcom Inc.)

Ryan -- Little by little I plan to make some notes and take screen shots on customizing themes ... you know, changing out headers, colors, layout...... Stand by.

01/19/2008 10:24 AM

by Cheryl Johnson, Bob Taylor Properties, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

Cheryl - I was able to take the Hemmed theme and change out the header to an image. I know quite a bit of HTML, so I can go in and edit a lot of stuff. It is just a lot easier to find a good template though. I better stand by ;)

01/19/2008 11:02 AM

by Ryan Martin - Bellingham Real Estate Agent (Windermere Real Estate / Whatcom Inc.)

Ryan, I just took at look at the Hemmed theme. http://www.randomprocess.ca/2006/05/26/hemmed-without-the-ajax/ Yeah, I like it.

Believe me whatever notes I post will just be simple HTML hacks, probably nothing you don't already know.

01/19/2008 11:33 AM

by Cheryl Johnson, Bob Taylor Properties, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

Cheryl - Hmmm. Here is my hacked version of the theme. I like that it is simple and matches my website's general theme, but I am still working on it. I think that I did a lot better with this one.

01/19/2008 12:14 PM

by Ryan Martin - Bellingham Real Estate Agent (Windermere Real Estate / Whatcom Inc.)

Fascinating Cheryl and ya know I 'm going to have to play with this. I wish you could do that with all plug ins!

01/19/2008 07:50 PM

by Carole Cohen Realtor®, ePRO (Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office)

That's a great find!!!! You are pretty relentless once you jump on board with something, aren't you???

01/20/2008 03:31 AM

by Bob Carney Licensed MD/PA Real Estate Agent (Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.)

Bob: Word for the day: Obsessive. Now, if I could only focus my obsessive abilities on stuff that ~really~ needs to get done. :-)

01/20/2008 05:05 AM

by Cheryl Johnson, Bob Taylor Properties, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

Monika mentioned this to me as I missed it and I am always playing with new themes and plug-ins.

01/20/2008 07:47 AM

by Jay McGillicuddy~Real Estate Broker (Prudential Verani Realty)

Cheryl - are you thinking of becoming a wordpress convert? I love changing the themes - thanks to your experiments I changed things around and found one that I love. I think I'm done playing around with it. I'm gonna call 'er done. :)

01/20/2008 08:48 AM

by Maureen Henry - Rockland Home Staging (www.rocklandhomestaging.com)

Maureen -- Not a convert. I just wanna be bilingual. :-)

01/20/2008 11:26 AM

by Cheryl Johnson, Bob Taylor Properties, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

Bilingual? Cheryl, you must be octalingual by now! Thanks for posting this tutorial.

Mike in Tucson

01/21/2008 07:16 AM

by Mike Jones (Tucson Mortgage Company, LLC)

What a great plugin and excellent tutorial too! How nice to test drive before committing to the change!

01/21/2008 02:49 PM

by Ginger Wilcox, Marin County Realtor (Pacific Union, Marin Real Estate)

Thank you for all of your great advice on Wordpress!

03/10/2008 10:06 AM

by Kevin & Monica Ray, Missoula, Superior & Western Montana Real Estate Specialists (Streamside Realty )

Guys now you can forget the wordpress themes for real estate agents or the plug-ins that let you put your listings by hand in your wp theme. Look for the wordpress real estate plugin which imports the listings on a daily basis and you don't have to do a thing. And you can even blog on a particular listing.

10/06/2008 04:21 PM

by jeannie

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