What is a WordPress Theme?
Theme Basics
Preview
Your site's design layer
A WordPress theme is the collection of files that controls how your site looks and how content is displayed. It sits on top of your content — the same words, images and pages can look completely different under a different theme.
What a theme controls
| Aspect | What the theme decides |
|---|---|
| Layout | Where the header, content and sidebar sit |
| Colours | The palette across the whole site |
| Typography | Fonts, sizes and line spacing |
| Spacing | Margins, padding and section gaps |
| Menus | Navigation styling and placement |
| Responsive | How it looks on phones and tablets |
Themes are separate from content
The magic of WordPress is that switching themes never deletes your content — your posts, pages and media stay safe. A theme only changes the presentation layer.
Tip: Think of your content as the furniture and your theme as the room. Moving rooms (changing themes) never throws away the furniture.
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