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Changing WP theme design without changing theme

by bwh1
11 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Somehow difficult to explain

I have a running membership site at my domain, all works fine.

Point is that I would like to improve my sales page design at my index BUT I can't replace my existing theme as it's a membership script too.

How can I do this?

I thought about redirecting traffic to a simple HTML template outside of WP and when they click at a link to buy the offer they will go back to the WP install.

Would that work in your opinion?

G.
#changing #design #theme
  • Profile picture of the author copilu0
    You can edit your index.php and improve everything from there. You don't need to replace your theme and also you avoid using redirects
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    You could create a a sales page, just a worpdress page and set worpdress to load that page as the default or home page. Dashboard -> Settings -> Reading and choose a static page.

    Go even further, use a template for that salespage, where you could remove sidebar, header, footer, ect.

    That what you mean?
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    • Profile picture of the author bwh1
      Originally Posted by Ron Killian View Post

      You could create a a sales page, just a worpdress page and set worpdress to load that page as the default or home page. Dashboard -> Settings -> Reading and choose a static page.

      Go even further, use a template for that salespage, where you could remove sidebar, header, footer, ect.

      That what you mean?
      But when I add a NEW PAGE, my default theme already gives me the layout and design so how can I make 1 page look totally different from the default theme?

      The theme I use, ProfitsTheme, it is necessary as it runs my membership site. It has plain salespages or a Blog template. I would like to test some like a Parallax theme.

      If I install another WP blog in a folder called /index/ I would have to redirect my main entry index to that landing page, don't know if that is possible.

      But to test different landing page designs without to switch the main WP install I can't figure a better way.

      G.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
        Originally Posted by bwh1 View Post

        But when I add a NEW PAGE, my default theme already gives me the layout and design so how can I make 1 page look totally different from the default theme?

        The theme I use, ProfitsTheme, it is necessary as it runs my membership site. It has plain salespages or a Blog template. I would like to test some like a Parallax theme.

        If I install another WP blog in a folder called /index/ I would have to redirect my main entry index to that landing page, don't know if that is possible.

        But to test different landing page designs without to switch the main WP install I can't figure a better way.

        G.
        Profits theme is just a theme, as you know it doesn't run your membership site, your membership plugin runs your membership site. You can use any theme on your membership site.

        I have the profits theme as well. It's a descent theme and the short cuts to sales elements is a nice feature. I don't use it because it did not do all that I wanted and it was limited for me.

        As Istvan said, when you create a wordpress "page" you can of course choose a template to use for that page, to make it pretty much what ever you want. As said, you just need to install templates in your theme folder.

        For example I have a white paper template which is just the plain salespage layout with the shadow border, no sidebar, no header or footer. When I want to use it, I just choose it from the template options. So easy.
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        • Profile picture of the author bwh1
          Originally Posted by Ron Killian View Post

          Profits theme is just a theme, as you know it doesn't run your membership site, your membership plugin runs your membership site. You can use any theme on your membership site.

          I have the profits theme as well. It's a descent theme and the short cuts to sales elements is a nice feature. I don't use it because it did not do all that I wanted and it was limited for me.

          As Istvan said, when you create a wordpress "page" you can of course choose a template to use for that page, to make it pretty much what ever you want. As said, you just need to install templates in your theme folder.

          For example I have a white paper template which is just the plain salespage layout with the shadow border, no sidebar, no header or footer. When I want to use it, I just choose it from the template options. So easy.
          Thanks and that makes perfect sense.

          But when I went to the tutorial and saw all that code etc...I started to sweat

          I'm a total ignorant when it comes to more techy stuff like that.

          I need it easy and simple so the question would be...

          Do you know any ready made templates available to upload to the template folder in addition to what Profit Theme gives me so when I add a NEW Page I have more options?

          Would I need to mess with my CSS for doing this? If so I quit

          G.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    OK, let's clarify a basic thing about WP: it can create Pages (always caiptal P in WordPress), besides the posts... and all Pages created can use different Page Templates.

    Page templates are .php files in your theme and whenever creating a new Page (or editing it) in the right sidebar of the admin interface you have a dropdown option to select which template to use to display the Page's content.

    What they told you above to CREATE your own Page Template (in this case a sales page template) and use that to display XYZ page. Thehn make that special page your front/main page - in Settings > Reading.

    See more: Page Templates « WordPress Codex
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    I am not in to making templates either, so I know where your coming from. Upload and done, is best for me

    You don't need to know CSS or PHP, just how to upload the template into your theme folder. If it's a valid template and uploaded, it will show in in the "Template" drop down menu when you working with a page.

    I can't think of any links off hand and wouldn't want to post any here. One you can search for is "Best Custom Page", that is a white sales page template, like paper layout. Can't remember where I got my copy.

    Of course, you can search for Wordpress salespage/squeeze page templates.

    Send me a PM if you have trouble finding something.
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  • Profile picture of the author arianna143
    Login to your FTP or cPannel and and there you will find the index.php file. Open it in dreamviewer or in notepad++. Do changes that you want to do according to your requirements.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Here is an old tutorial of mine (attached zip) about adding a html sales page to your WP site/theme.

    Depending on how complicated your sales page's design is - the task could go from very easy to a bit more complicated.

    Let me know if you need further instructions
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    • Profile picture of the author bwh1
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      Here is an old tutorial of mine (attached zip) about adding a html sales page to your WP site/theme.

      Depending on how complicated your sales page's design is - the task could go from very easy to a bit more complicated.

      Let me know if you need further instructions
      Hi Istvan

      I found some time to go over that tutorial and it looks like an easy task, thank you.

      What Still don't understand is, will the php template look exactly like I do design it in Kompozer OR will the WP site load that template into his layout?

      In other words, simply by uploading ANY php template design, then selecting it over the template options, I can display a page looking totally different than the original WP layout I use?

      So my WP Blog could be any default template, blog style and my homepage could be any other designed template I upload myself?.

      The CSS of the WP blog will not interfere in any way how that custom template will be loaded and it's look?

      You can see that I'm a total idiot when it comes to those issues.
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  • Profile picture of the author bwh1
    After a few days of digging around I found a tool which looks cool till now, just started to fiddle around with it

    Page Builder Plugin | SiteOrigin

    I could install it into Profit Theme and it didn't messed up my layout (till now). It let's you drag and drop any kind of widget into a grid layout YOU setup.

    Looks like you can relatively easy build totally different layouts inside your WP theme.

    G.
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