How do you get a new wordpress theme?

First let me ask this, is your blog at WordPress.com? If so, you can’t install the theme. You need to have your own self-hosted WordPress blog on your own web hosting account.

If you have your own web hosting account and already have WordPress installed, then do this:

Make sure you got it from a trusted source and scan the file for viruses, malware, and spyware.

First, take note of the sidebar widgets that are currently installed. You might want to write down their order. Sometimes when you install a new theme and the layout is different than the current one and you’re widgets will default back to the original ones. But not to worry, the old ones will be available on the Widgets page at the bottom in the Inactive Widgets section. You can just drag them back into place.

Also, do a backup. Install this WordPress backup plugin, activate it and run it. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-dbmanager/ I once installed a theme and it completely blew away the entire blog. White screen of death. Some creep had installed malicious code. Some people suck.

When you’re ready to install it here’s how to do it:

Go to the Dashboard > Appearance > Themes > Click the Install Themes tab > Click Upload > Click Browse to find the .zip file on your computer for the theme you downloaded > Click Install Now > Click Preview to see how it would look. If you like the way it looks, then click Activate.