Every so often, I encounter a website that has many unused themes. While developing a site, it might be that several themes were tried out before settling on one. Here is some news for you:
It’s okay to delete unused themes.
Your website does not reference anything in an unused theme. The theme that your site uses is referenced in your SQL database. The database, and consequently, your website, ignores everything else in the theme library (except the parent theme if using a child theme). The highest number of themes a site would ever use is two: the parent theme and the child theme. The child theme is active, while the parent theme simply needs to exist. The child theme allows overrides to the parent theme for customizations. This is a best practice so that when the parent theme updates, you don’t lose your changes. The Avada theme comes with a child theme all ready to add. If your theme does not come with that convenience, you can look up how to create a child theme, or use a plugin that will create one for you. (I’ve had better results with the plugin route.)
The highest number of themes that you should ever have in your theme library is three. Why three? It can be handy for troubleshooting to have a ‘default’ theme available, to rule out theme conflicts with plugins. Default themes are provided free from WordPress and a new one is released every year, named after its year of release. When updating WordPress versions, these themes often install themselves, resulting in a new theme added to your theme library every year. If you find this annoying, you can edit your config file to block it. Here is a video on how to do just that:
Why would you want to stop these themes from being added? It creates additional maintenance on the site. You can see from the screenshot that all these themes are in need of updates. Updates patch security holes and fix vulnerabilities, so if you let them go without updating, you could be putting your website, and potentially the server it’s on, at risk.
To troubleshoot a site using a default theme, either clone the site and switch to that theme on the cloned site, or use the plugin Healthcheck and Troubleshooting, which allows you, as an admin, to see how the site looks with a default theme and plugins active/deactivated without any disruption to the live site’s public view. The only thing I don’t like about this method is that you have to be logged in to see the results. Often the logged in version of the site looks different from the public view, which might be something you are troubleshooting.
While it can feel scary to hit that delete button, especially when the interface asks you if you are SURE you want to delete this theme, it’s fine to do so if your site is not utilizing the theme. If you are still feeling insecure about it, you can always create a backup first, or know how to create and restore a backup from your server or host if they offer this service.
Sometimes themes, even paid ones, stop getting updates. The problem is, everything else updates: WordPress, your server’s software and PHP version, plugins, and at some point your outdated theme is going to stop displaying your website. This means it’s time for a new theme, preferably one with a child theme available.
Need help re-theming your website? Please get in touch!
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