What happens with contents when I install a new theme?

Question

Let's say that we have an existing Magento store in 1.9.1

This is a live store with customer accounts and purchases, categories, products etc. etc.

This is using a certain template (which is crap)

Let's say i want to create a new look using the rwd theme as starting point.

Is it (when finished) just a matter of moving the new "theme" files to the correct app and skin folders of the live site and will that have no effect on contents etc. (i guess that's all in dbase while these are just files)

And is it the same when i want to update to new version of Magento?

Answer 1

Basically, in an ideal world, yes, mentioning here that once the theme files are uploaded you'll have to change Magento's configuration in the admin, System -> Configuration -> General -> Design -> Theme section to point to the new theme.

In the real world themes might require content changes as well. Which attributes have the Used in Product Listing flag set to yes comes to mind, maybe comparable or filterable attributes as well, maybe the theme expects some CMS static blocks or pages, some themes might even expect a certain categories structure etc.

So, set up a development environment where you have a database that replicates production as close as possible, install the theme files, configure the development environment to use this theme (as specified above) and.. have fun :)

Cheers