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Customising the Looks and Settings of Your WordPress Project

One of the advantages of WordPress is the separation of design and content. You can change the look of your website at any time without having to graphically adapt all content again. For a quick start, IONOS setup assistants are available. Alternatively, you can make the changes manually. This article explains both ways.

Setup Using the IONOS Assistant

With the IONOS Setup Assistant for Standard and Managed WordPress, you can create the website design that fits your project in no time. The settings of the assistants can be adjusted at any time.

Manual Theme Setup via WordPress Administration

Logging in to WordPress

Please note that you must be logged into your WordPress installation for all of the next sections. This section walks you through logging in to WordPress through your IONOS account.

An alternative login method is to add /wp-admin to your WordPress URL.
Example: https://www.example.com/wp-admin

  • Log in to your IONOS account.
  • Click on the Websites & Stores tile.
  • If necessary, select the WordPress contract you want to use.
  • Click the Manage Website button on the desired WordPress installation.
  • Click Edit Website.
Changing Themes
  • In the left menu of the WordPress administration, click on Appearance. More sub-items will pop up.
  • Select Themes. An overview page with the themes already installed will be displayed, and the active theme will be marked.
  • Optional: You can get more themes by clicking the Add Theme button.
  • Move the mouse pointer over a theme tile. Additional buttons are displayed.
  • Complete the theme change by clicking Activate on the corresponding theme tile.
Manually Customising a Theme
  • In the left menu of the WordPress administration, click on Appearance. More sub-items will pop up.
  • Select Customise. A preview of your site will appear along with a settings menu.
  • Customise everything as desired. Your changes will be immediately displayed in the preview.
  • Apply the change by clicking the Publish button in the upper left corner.

Note that some themes have a separate section for further customisation.

Global settings

You can make further general adjustments for your WordPress installation in the left menu of the WordPress administration via Settings. In addition to settings for the general behavior of your website, such as the default size of graphics or display of discussion posts, you will find configuration options for various plug-ins here.

Embedding Content

Design elements for your website, such as graphics, videos or animations, can be added in the WordPress administration through the menu item Media. By clicking Add file, you can add the element into your media library, through which it can be integrated when creating pages and posts.

Structuring with Menus

With menus, you can structure your website and guide your visitors through your offering. Typical menu items are Shop, About Us, or Terms & Conditions.

  • Click in the left menu of the WordPress administration on Appearance > Menus.
  • In the Menu Name field, enter an internal name for your menu structure.
  • Using the Add Menu Items data group, add pages, posts, links, or categories as the destination for the respective menu item.
  • Configure the added menu item by displaying the details of the item with the triangle icon.
  • Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have built your complete menu.
  • In the Menu Settings data area, select the location in the theme directly below the menu you created. Note that the options displayed may differ from theme to theme.
  • Complete your entry by clicking the Save Menu button.

Please note that some themes offer their own menu structures.

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