Theme Change Best Practices

[michaewa]

I am getting ready to re-skin an AbleCommerce site by creating and applying a new theme.

I understand technically how to make the new theme and make the required updates, my question is regarding the suggested approach. Since you can't activate the theme without it displaying to all site users, what steps should be taken to cut over?

Does it require development of the new theme in a sandbox environment and then copying the new theme to the live site? Are there any other alternatives?

Thanks,

Andy

[mazhar]

Idea of doing it on dev setup and then moving to live website is good.

[jmestep]

You can create a test category and use a display page for it that you aren't using on any of the real categories, then change the theme on that display page to your new theme. It won't necessarily the exact way a page might show on the site, but close enough for you to get an idea.

[michaewa]

Thank you both for the suggestions!