How to Install a Theme in Magento 2

How to Install a Theme in Magento 2

Evolution in eCommerce is constant and new changes are developed so quickly that it becomes essential to be abreast of the updates in order to ensure growth of your online business or eCommerce ventures. One such platform that was designed based on the technology of Open Source is Magento that offers eCommerce stores owners to have a shopping cart system that is flexible, functional and includes quality content. This platform also enabled the online merchants to have control on their online stores in terms of appearance, functions, and content. Magento is a platform that offers very powerful search engine optimization, catalog-management, as well as marketing tools.

Magento has two versions – Magento 1 and Magenta 2. The main difference between these two versions is that the Magento 2 version is SEO friendly, user friendly, and faster than the Magento 1 version. Magento 2 also improves the site’s overall speed, supports the current PHP, loads pages faster, and more orders can be taken in an hour than the Magento 1 version.

In the Magento 2 version, the theme has a consistent appearance, by way of customised templates, styles, layouts and images. These days, appearance and feel is quite essential, and site recognition depends on a beautiful theme and design, along with other factors. The themes of Magento 2 offer a very interactive platform along with a great customer experience. This makes it essential to have the Magento 2 in the infrastructure of your online store. So, how can you install a theme?

There are a few pointers to bear in mind when you select a theme in Magento 2. They are:

  • Select a theme that has a professional appearance and feel as it can not just represent the business well, but also get you a good amount of traffic.
  • Opt for a robust theme that has the advantages of Bootstrap 3, SASS, CSS3, and HTML5. This ensures your store is responsive.
  • Make use of themes that are user friendly, easy-to-navigate, have simple arrangements and have useful buttons.
  • The theme has to be an SEO friendly theme.
  • Always select a theme that suits your business model.
  • Always choose a theme which is compatible with many browsers as this helps you reach a huge audience.
  • Have a theme with a good blend of colours that suit the products and services of your store.
  • Have a theme that is compatible with social media.

Let us now move to the installation process of the Magento 2 theme.

Methods of installing a Magento 2 theme:

  1. Manual Installation

    So, if you have a zipped folder loaded with many files as the new theme, follow the manual installation method. The steps are:

    1. Unzipping the theme

      The theme’s archive has to be unzipped. Have a look at the 2 directories, i.e., app and pub.

    2. Uploading files

      Check out your Magento 2 store’s root directory

      Once you reach the directory, you have to upload the folders there.

    3. Running commands

      First you have to connect the store through SSH. Post this, go to the store’s root directory, and then follow the commands to set up the upgrade.

    4. Admin panel Login

      Once the commands are given, head to Content, select design and then select Configuration. After this you can choose edit in the theme, and from a dropdown menu, choose the required theme, and save the Configuration.

  2. This method can be followed whenever you have a composer package theme. The steps to be followed are:

    • First, you need to buy the desired theme from the Magento Marketplace.

    • After this get the theme’s composer name

    • Head to the store’s root directory and provide the commands.

    • After the commands are entered, wait until all the dependencies get updated

    • Post this, there are a few more commands that have to be entered.

    • Once the commands are given, login to the Admin Panel. Reload the backend pages post installation of the theme.

    • Navigate to the options Content, choose the Design option and then select the Themes option. You can then look into the themes displayed in the list.

    So, why must an eCommerce merchant opt for the Magento 2 platform? Magento 2 comes with plenty of benefits in contrast to its previous version. Let us look into the advantages of a Magento 2 theme. They are:

    • The platform is very responsive and this makes it very user-friendly.

    • The themes are responsive thereby enabling the addition of functions and features to be quite an easy process.

    • They have improved security features.

    • They are SEO-friendly and have been appreciated by search engines like Google, etc.

    • The user-experience is a lot better

    • The installation process is quite easy

    • The free themes of Magento are compatible with all web browsers and latest Magento versions

    • The themes are unique and make your store appear unique

An E-commerce store can be successful if all the required elements, including the right theme, have been integrated with it. We hope this article helps you install the Magento 2 theme successfully!