WORDPRESS THEMES FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

1.) WordPress: What is It?
WordPress is an open-source, freely available and downloadable, content management system. A CMS, or content management system, is a platform that allows for the management (updating/maintenance) of a website without prerequisite knowledge of HTML. While traditional websites are managed via an HTML editor, WordPress (and other CMS products) provides for website management through a browser-based interface. Users simply login to their WordPress website’s administration section to make edits/changes/updates. Again, the vast majority of these changes are made without accessing HTML code at all. WordPress also allows for dynamic, web 2.0 functionality - such as interactivity with, and between, website users, as well as real-time polls, etc. You can also control which pages on your WordPress-based site allow for comments from your website visitors.

While WordPress was first engineered for use with blogs (web logs), it has continued to add functionality and to streamline its infrastructure over the last few years. As a result, WordPress really has evolved into a state of the art content management system, perfectly suited to the varied needs of churches, organizations, and companies, as well as individual bloggers. We at Christian Templates Online highly recommend WordPress for use with your church, company or charitable organization website. This is because it allows for powerful functionality while simultaneously being easy to set-up, and easy to maintain - even for people with almost no HTML or website management experience.

2.) What is a WordPress theme?
WordPress is set up in such a way that it separates visual display from content and content management. As a result, users can quickly and easily switch out WordPress themes (think of a theme as the skin you dress a site in) without affecting the website’s content.

With the premium WordPress themes offered at Christian Templates Online our goal is to provide themes that not only look great (and unique), but that are also organized in such a way as to make wesbite set-up and management that much easier. We also keep in mind the specific genre needs of our various customers when designing our premium themes. This means our church themes are designed to best meet the specific needs of churches, while charitable organization themes would be set up with those particular needs in mind, etc. Our themes also offer additional functionality that goes beyond typical WordPress theme design.

Choosing a premium theme from Christian Templates Online also ensures that your website won’t end up looking like thousands and thousands of other WP-based websites, that already exist online, and that are using the generic WordPress themes. In short, by using WordPress, and a premium theme from CTO, you can make the most of an incredibly powerful, robust, flexible content management system, while not sacrificing anything in terms of design flare and presenatation. In short, doing so provides you an ideal website solution that allows for the "best of both worlds".

3.) How do I set up my WordPress website using a premium CTO WordPress theme?
Because WordPress is designed to keep visual display separate from content and content management, setting up a WordPress website to use one our premium themes is a snap. We provide an installation guide with each theme purchase. Just follow that to quickly and easily install and activate your theme. We provide a zipped file that you can install directly from your WP admin interface. And from there you simple click on “activate” and Voila!, your new premium theme is installed. Whatever pages you had already created automatically show up, “dressed” in the new theme. And if you have yet to create your pages we provide simple instructions that help you to do that as well.

4.) Do you offer support in setting up my WordPress site? Can you help me set up my website so it looks just like your live preview?
In addition to providing instructions on setting up your theme, we also offer custom set-up services. Simply put, with this service we set up your WordPress-based site using one of our themes, on your server, so that it functions exactly like our live previews. With this service we'll also edit the logo file to reflect your church/organization name. We charge $249 for this service (this includes the theme and the set-up) If you have already purchased a WordPress theme we will credit that amount towards the set-up price. For more information and to move forward with this service, please visit this WordPress Custom Site Set-Up page. We also offer various additional customization services. Please email us with your specific requests and we will respond promptly with a quote.

5.) What is your refund/exchange policy?
In the rare occurance that you run into a problem with one of the themes we sell, and the problem is an actual theme defect, we will provide a full refund within 24 hours if we‘re not able to fix the issue. In all other circumstances, because these are intangible, and thus “unreturnable”, products, we do offer a one-time free exchange (with the understanding you will NOT use the original theme), but we do not provide refunds - again, unless the issue is an actual theme defect.

6.) What kind of support is offered after my purchase?
The customer support provided by CTO is in relation to the smooth functioning of the themes themselves. We help to get your website functioning like our live previews. If your question is related directly to one of our themes, simply email us with your question and our staff will endeavor to respond promptly and thoroughly. If, on the other hand, you have a question about how WordPress itself works, your question is best directed to the excellent WordPress forums that are available online. More information on how best to do that is covered here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_the_Support_Forums#Getting_Your_Questions_Answered_on_the_Forum.

* For common questions that often arise when installing and working with WordPress, please see this page: http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Installation.

7.) Are these themes cross-browser compatible?
We do develop and test thems across browsers to make sure they function correctly in all major browsers. This includes Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari and others. Please note that, along with many other major web-based product companies, while we do support Internet Explorer 7and 8, we no longer support IE 6. This is because IE 6 is well known to be an archaic browser that renders many web functions incorrectly, and others not at all. If you or someone you know is in the small minority of people still using IE 6, we strongly encourage you to join the modern age and upgrade to a more recent version of Internet Explorer - which has really improved its performance and compatibility over its more recent versions.