Upgrading your theme with WordPress 2.9.1 couldn't be easier ... or could it? Currently, if you're using a theme hosted at the WordPress Theme Directory and a new version comes out you'll see a notice in the Manage Themes section of your backend. You click the upgrade link and presto you have the latest version. While this is a handy feature it comes with a caveat in that the upgrade procedure will wipe out any customizations you've made to your theme. Therefore you need to first download the current version of your theme prior to upgrading so that you can use it as a basis to add your mods to the updated theme.
Thanks to a cool little plugin from iThemes called Easy Theme Upgrades the process just got a little easier. Easy Theme Upgrades installs like any other plugin and once activated adds an option to Upload of the Install Themes area of the backend which allows you to upgrade the existing theme. If that sounds a bit confusing have a look at the screen shot below. (click image to enlarge)
Once the plugin is installed and activated this is how you upgrade your theme:
- Download the latest zip file for your theme.
- Go to Appearance > Add New Themes and click the Upload tab at the top of the page.
- Select the zip file with the new theme version to install.
- Select "Yes" from the "Upgrade existing theme?" option.
- Click "Install Now".
How is this different from the standard WordPress upgrade feature? If you select the "Upgrade existing theme?" option the plugin will automatically zip your current theme and place it in your Media Library from where you can download it if you wish.
iThemes plans to have the plugin housed at the WordPress Plugin Directory but for the time being you can get it directly from their site.
About Len Kutchma
Nice plugin to have. Since I use an iThemes Flexx theme, I will give this a try!
It's definitely handy. Another cool plugin recently released by iThemes is Tabber Widget. I might do a write-up about that one.
Just used the iThemes plugin to update my theme. It worked great, I am happy to say!
I tested it myself and it works great. WordPress should do this out of the box.