It downloads as a zip file, which contains three other files inside of it:
You then need to scroll a little further down and upload those files in their respective areas:
Again, it’s not terribly difficult at all, but it also doesn’t explain it anywhere. For someone like maybe a typical Squarespace user who’s deciding to give WordPress a shot, it could feel confusing.
If WordPress Core included a standardized demo importer that was user friendly, it could streamline demo content imports for everyone.
Having said that, I also realize that from a technical perspective, attempting to create a tool like this could get messy. Importing demo content involves handling various types of data, including posts, pages, media, custom post types, taxonomies, menus, and widget settings. Ensuring compatibility and proper import for all these elements could get rather complex. Even with just the difference in block themes versus classic themes and how they are built would possibly require two tools.
I do think that if the installers omitted auto-installation of plugins and forced users to install and activate their plugins manually that it would make the idea more feasible. However, I’m still not dismissing how challenging the task would be. My suggestion is from the end user perspective only.
Developers’ websites are not always well maintained
I might catch some flack for this one, but hear me out.
I’m not expecting everyone’s website to be 100% flawless with every single thing up to date. I get it. People are working on other things and most companies don’t have a dedicated website auditor who is watching every element, every day.
But when you have a developer with 13 themes that they’ve built, I would hope that the demo page for each theme at least shows the theme.
Having an entirely different theme on the page, with even the live preview link going to the other theme feels careless to me.
I mean someone manually updated this page, right?
Luckily, this issue was not as widespread as some of the others, but I did come across it here and there.
So what’s the solution to all of these problems?
Well, I believe that it is up to all of us who care about WordPress and the internet as a whole to do our part to make things better. Below are my suggestions on how we can do that.
My parting request to theme developers and WordPress users 🙏🏻
At the risk of coming across as overly preachy here, I’m going to share my thoughts on what all of us can do, depending on what hat we’re wearing at any given moment.
For developers
First, to all the theme developers out there, I’d like to say that you greatly inspire me with the amazing creations you come up with. But addressing the issues I’ve raised in this article (if they apply to you) would make a world of difference in improving the WordPress ecosystem:
- If your theme is a commercial theme, be up front about it. Don’t offer blank shell themes by dangling demo content that’s only available behind a paywall.
- Many people love Elementor, but many people is not everybody. If your starter site was built with Elementor, and the user is going to need to use Elementor to build their site, then disclose it. Make it crystal clear. Do it at the top of the funnel, not in the middle or bottom after the person has already invested time installing your theme.
- Create a neat divide between plugins that are required for your theme to work and those that are only recommended. Don’t just bundle them all into one suggestion and prompt people to download and install them all. For minor functions, try to build them into the theme.
- Maintain the important parts of your websites. I understand it’s tough to keep everything up to date all the time, but having the right theme on the right page is a pretty basic ask.
If you go on the starter sites page for our flagship theme, Neve, you will see that we make it easy for our users to search for both Elementor-based demo content and for demo content that we built with Gutenberg (the WordPress editor).
In addition, we label any paid demo content with a “Pro” tag so you know which starter sites are available in the free version of Neve and which ones you need to upgrade to get access to.
Nothing is ambiguous.
This is not only transparency in action, but it’s good practice that wins people’s business.
There’s an SEO agency that I came across randomly not too long ago. I don’t remember the exact context of how or why I ended up on their page, but they made an impact on me with their blunt core values. I’m talking about the first one in particular:
And in a nutshell, that’s what it boils down to.
The only thing I would add to the sub line is “…and our users.”
Care about your users. Stop throwing together low effort niche themes just for the sake of targeting search terms. I know you wouldn’t like it if you were on the receiving end, so why would you give another person that same kind of experience? It’s bad internet karma. Cut it out.
For WordPress users
If you’re reading this, then it’s highly likely you use WordPress in some capacity. And as a WordPress user, you can make a difference with small (or optionally, big) gestures to help developers that actually care about their users.
If you use a theme or come across one that you’re testing out and it’s both good quality and transparent, then leave a positive comment in the repository. This will help other users (just like you) who are browsing for themes that don’t suck, and it will let the developers of the theme know that you appreciate the work they put in to make a solid theme.
Share it on your social media if you think it will help others in your circle. If the developers have one of those “buy me a coffee” things on their site, then consider throwing some coins their way if you can.
These are small actions that won’t take a lot of your time, but they will be appreciated by other WordPress users and developers.
And that’s it. Thanks for taking the time to read.
Do you agree with my observations? Is there anything you’ve observed about WordPress themes that you think could be improved that I didn’t mention? Let me know in the comments.
