I recently had a reader question sent via email –

Go to Appearance - Themes. Click “Add New” button. On top of the page, click “Upload Theme” button. Click “Choose File”. Select.zip file from your computer. Click “Install Now”. Wait for a few seconds for WordPress to install the theme. On a new page that will open, you should see a confirmation message. The free responsive business theme is all you need when users ask for tools to make a page business-focused. Headline And Text Columns. Get themes with the best WordPress editor plugin used other plugins if one needs. Modern Music And Technology. Elegant plugin to create the most design with support for the theme. Site Enhancements: We will also install some of the best free WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO (for SEO optimization), Akismet (for spam protection), WP Total Cache (for caching), etc. Contact form: We will also set up a contact form for your website so that you can start receiving queries right away. Dec 30, 2020 How to Install a Free WordPress Theme If you want to use a theme found in the WordPress Repository on your website, the easiest way to do this is on the backend of your website. To start, log into your WordPress website and go to Appearance Themes in the WordPress dashboard and click Add New. Adding a new WordPress theme.

Is there a way to try out WordPress for free before signing up to a hosting site? Maybe a ‘try before you buy’ arrangement, or something which you can download and try out on a laptop? Am just worried about signing up and then finding WordPress isn’t for me.

Installing Temporary Free Wordpress Theme Free

That is an excellent question. Unlike website builder services like Weebly, Wix or Squarespace or even eCommerce platforms like Shopify or Bigcommerce – there’s no real “WordPress free trial” option for self-hosted WordPress.

And no matter how many WordPress setup guides you read or WordPress tutorial videos you watch, there’s nothing quite like messing around with software to see if it “makes sense” to you.

There are 3 ways to try WordPress for free before you actually purchase hosting.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is the commercial arm of WordPress software. They offer free accounts with a subdomain (i.e., yourwebsite.wordpress.com) that you can sign up and use for free (no free trial period – just free forever).

The only catch is that it’s a limited version of WordPress software. You can’t test out all the plugins that you might want to try, etc. But the general feel and format is the same.

In fact, now that WordPress.com allows some 3rd-party plugins (including popular ones like Yoast SEO), you can get a solid sense of whether you like the WordPress experience or not with WordPress.com.

Also, you can even add some content to your WordPress site without worry since you can either sign up for a premium WordPress.com account or easily migrate your content to a self hosted WordPress installation at a hosting provider when you’re done.

5 Things To Try on WordPress.com

Explore the WordPress Dashboard.
Add a “post” and a “page”.
Choose a new “WordPress Theme” under Appearances.
Add a Menu under Appearances.

I wrote a guide on the differences between WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org here and reviewed WordPress.com as a long term solution here.

Public Test Servers

Another alternative is to explore a WordPress installtion on a publicly accessible server. There are some hosting companies & WordPress plugin companies that provide this option. But – it’s very rare due to spam. Plus – you very rarely get a truly blank installation due to other users.

For example, ShivarWeb Sandbox for WordPress was an old service that I ran for setting up a quick, temporary, clean installation of WordPress. The install expired in a week – but until then, you could click around and try a self-hosted install of WordPress exactly as you would on a hosting server.

ShivarWeb Sandbox is shut down due to costs, spam & maintenance issues. However, the team at SandBox CMS has a similar tool with a limited free plan. You can do 1 site before upgrading to a paid plan. Just sign up, select WordPress and you’ll get a temporary install.

To try before you buy, it’s excellent (in my biased opinion). You just click to set up a test site that will expire in 1 week. You can see how to make posts, add plugins, etc – it’s the same software that you’d install on your own host.

3 Things To Try on Your Temporary Install

Make a “post” or a “page” and view your site.
Do a search for a WordPress Plugins and try installing one.
Under Appearances, choose a new “Theme” and see how your design changes.

Free Wordpress Theme Download

Once you are done with your temporary install, you can always go to Tools –> Export and export your data. Then you can set up your own self-hosted WordPress website, click Tools –> Import and you’ll have your test work ready to roll.

On Your Own Computer

It’s a bit more complicated, but just so you know it’s out there – you can download a copy of WordPress on your own computer and install it with your computer set up as a server. Torrent download sites 2017 free.

Here’s how you do it on a Mac w/ MAMP.

Here’s how you do it on a Windows w/ Easy PHP (or setup WAMP and then install WordPress).

Installing Temporary Free Wordpress Theme

Both these setups create a server with PHP/ MySQL (WordPress’s database language). From there you’ll install WordPress on your “server” and access it with your browser.

A better way to do it would be to install WAMP on Windows (ie, a local apache, MySQL, PHP server)…and then install WordPress. Here’s a guide.

Desktop Server is also a really good freemium software that makes the process on both Mac & Windows super-easy.

Everything will work on your computer setup – plugins, themes, everything – since you’ll have an actual server environment on your desktop.

To go live, you can either move your site manually or use a plugin like Duplicator. It’s a bit complex, but that is something you can do to really explore the software before purchasing hosting.

https://browntokyo.amebaownd.com/posts/19441461. 5 / 5 ( 1 vote )If you haven’t already, consider the Facebook app on your mobile app store. With the Facebook, you are able to enjoy the benefits and features of the desktop version, plus a few added extra features, all from the comfort of your own mobile phone.The app is free to download to any user via all the major play stores.

If you plan on doing the process a lot, then something like Desktop Server starts to pay off.

*If you want to get a bit more complex, you can also technically try WordPress on Google’s Cloud hosting service for free. But that’s way outside this post’s intent/scope.

Next Steps

Self-hosted WordPress does not have a ton of “try before you commit” options, but they are out there.

Installing Temporary Free Wordpress Theme Page

The last option I’d mention is that you can take advantage of some hosting company’s generous refund policies. InMotion’s hosting plan includes a 90 day period, HostGator’s is 45 days, and Bluehost’s is 30 days. Pick your web host, purchase, install free WordPress software, and build your WordPress site.

Installing Temporary Free Wordpress Theme 2020

Unlike other platforms, WordPress does make it simple to export and move.

Be sure to check out my WordPress Set Up Guide and my WordPress Beginner’s Tutorials and, of course, t