Picking the Perfect Theme for your Groups Website
Everyone has different tastes and we have tried to make it easier than ever to customize your PTA or PTO website to fit your style. We offer a variety of themes to select from
Want a Suggestion?
Our Favorite Non-Premium Theme is the 2012 Starter Theme. It’s clean and very easy to use. It can be customized quickly to your school’s colors with ease.
Our Favorite Premium Theme (by far!) is the Graphene 3.0 theme. It is loaded with advanced features and creates a very professional site with ease.
Go to APPEARANCE > THEME LIBRARY to open theme options
In your Administrator Menu, click on APPEARANCE and then THEME LIBRARY to access the Theme Options. This will take you to a page listing your current theme as well as all additional themes available down below.
Customizing your Current Theme
If you would like to customize the current theme you are using, click the CUSTOMIZE link to the right of your theme preview. This will open up a new window with all available options for customization.
The Customization Options
Every theme has some sort of customization available. For many themes, it’s only basic options. On a theme like the 2012 Starter Theme, you can completely customize all the color options with a live preview. It’s pretty amazing! To open the different options, click the downward arrow to expand a section. All changes you make are not destructive and will only be saved and published if you click the SAVE & PUBLISH Button. You can always click the CANCEL Button and nothing is saved and your website is left as is. Play around and have fun with the customization options.
Selecting a New Theme
If you would like to Preview or Activate a New Theme, scroll down on the Themes Page to see all of our available themes. If you are not a Premium Plan Member, you will see some themes that are only available to our paying members. When you find a theme you’d like to “try on”, click either the thumbnail for the theme or the LIVE PREVIEW link and it will open up your website using the newly selected theme.
Activate your New Theme or Move On
When the Live Preview opens you will see all of your websites content added to the new theme. Keep in mind that there may be a variety of settings that can be further adjusted to customize the theme (menu’s, widgets, images, columns, colors, etc) that will not be displayed in the Live Preview. Again, feel free to make changes to the settings and play around. Nothing is saved or changed until you hit the SAVE & ACTIVATE button. Remember though, if you do Save and Activate, it goes live immediately, so be sure to make any additional adjustments quickly after activating a new theme. Those are described below.
IMPORTANT! New Theme Checklist
When you activate a new theme, some things you need to double check and possibly adjust as soon as possible.
- Check your Menu’s and Reassign if needed
- Check your Sidebars and Widgets
- Adjust any advanced settings that come with your theme
Checking Menu Settings
It is very possible that your Menu’s might be “unhooked” when you switch to a new theme. The actual menu’s will not be changed, but you might need to re-assign them to the new theme. This can be done by going to APPEARANCE > NAVIGATION MENUS and then click on the MANAGE LOCATIONS tab. You’ll want to check the THEME LOCATION settings. If nothing is selected, be sure to select your main menu and then click SAVE. If your main menu is already assigned, no changes are needed.
Checking your Sidebar & Widgets
In addition to checking your Menu Settings, you will want to go to APPEARANCE > WIDGETS and ensure that the widgets you have assigned and created are still where you want them. Some themes may not carry over widgets, in which case they will be in the INACTIVE WIDGETS section and you will need to assign them again to the side bar.
Additional Settings on some Themes
Some of our Themes will have a set of additional options that can be customized. These are typically found under the APPEARANCE menu, so you will want to check to see if there are additional options after you switch to a new theme. A few of our themes will even add entire menu sections to the Admin Menu, so be on the lookout for those if you select a more advanced theme.
