How to install a serendipity template

This article is a bit overdue. The days when my serendipity templates
could be installed easily via spartacus are long gone. These days users
have to manually install the themes. So this guide will show you how to
install one of the many templates on this site. The steps are as
follows:

  1. Download the zip file – Each template is packaged as a zip file.
    You will find the link to the zip file in the relevant template’s blog
    post. Download the zip file and save it somewhere on your computer.
  2. Unzip – The template zip file must be unzipped before you can proceed
    to the next step. You will need a program that can unzip zipped files.
    Windows XP can usually do this for you or you can download the freeware
    7-zip program.
  3. Upload – Once unzipped you will find that a new folder or
    directory is created. Inside this folder you will find the theme files.
    You will want to upload the entire folder. For ex: unzipping the freshy
    theme
    zip file will create a "freshy" sub-directory or sub-folder. You
    will want to upload the freshy folder with its contents. To upload you
    will need an FTP program such as filezilla. Upload the theme folder to
    your [serendipity installation directory]/templates/ . For ex: if you
    installed serendipity in /home/username/public_html you will upload the
    theme folder to /home/username/public_html/templates and theme files
    will reside in /home/username/public_html/templates/theme_name.
  4. Select the theme – Login to your blog’s
    administration suite and select "manage styles". You should find the
    theme available for selection on the next page. Click on the disk like
    icon next to the theme name to use the theme. Thats it your done!

Advanced tips

These are time saving tips for advanced users:

  • If you are on a slow internet connection you can use the server to
    server file transfer script
    to directly transfer the theme zip file
    from my webserver to yours.
  • If your website control panel is cpanel or has a cpanel like file manager that can
    unzip files on the server you can skip the unzip step above and upload
    the zip file on to your server and unzip it there.

2 thoughts on “How to install a serendipity template

  1. Von Abdussamad gibt es einige wunderbare Templates für Serendipity/S9y. Über das "Beautiful Day Theme" habe ich vor einiger Zeit berichtet. Nachdem einige Themes nicht über Spartacus herunterladbar sind erklärt Abdussamad nunmehr in einem Beitra

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