Switching without breaking things.
WHAT CHANGES
Appearance Widget areas and menus, which may not map across Anything the old theme provided
WHAT DOES NOT CHANGE
Posts, pages and media Plugins and their data
WHAT USUALLY BREAKS
Shortcodes from the old theme, which stop working and show as text Content built with the old theme's builder Custom code in the old theme's functions file Widget placements
BEFORE SWITCHING
Back up Note your current settings, menus and widget arrangement Screenshot key pages Test on staging first
THE STAGING STEP
For anything beyond a simple site, do not switch directly on live.
THE SHORTCODE PROBLEM
Content containing theme shortcodes displays raw text after switching.
Find and replace them before or after, deliberately.
AFTER SWITCHING
Check every page type Check menus and widgets Check mobile Check speed
WHAT TO KEEP
The old theme installed but inactive, until you are certain.
