Automattic

Lance Willett

Michael Fields

The Monster widget consolidates all 13 core widgets into a single widget enabling theme developers to create multiple instances with ease. It has been created to save time during theme development and review by minimizing the steps needed to populate a sidebar with widgets. The Monster widget is not designed for use in production.

Monster Widget

This is a great tool for theme testing.



Works Great

Provides a quick and easy method of adding all core widgets to a sidebar for testing purposes.

martenmoolenaar

Zodan

When we are developing themes, we quite often like to switch between the old (active) and the new (to develop) version of a theme. Sometimes without other people noticing. 
This plugin does exactly that.
<h4>What does it do?</h4>
It lets users with certain roles see another (than the currently active) theme, by 
* Selecting a theme from the list of installed themes 
* Selecting which user roles are permitted to switch themes and 
* Optionally, selecting user roles that can use a ‘switch theme/back’ button on the front-end
This plugin is under active development. Any feature requests are welcome at <a href="plugins@zodan.nl" rel="nofollow ugc">plugins@zodan.nl</a>!

Zodan Theme Switcher


Z Theme Switcher has quickly become one of my favourite tools when working on new WordPress themes. It solves a very specific problem in a clean and effective way: being able to preview a different theme — just for yourself or selected user roles — without changing the live site for visitors.



What I really like:




It’s lightweight and easy to set up



You can control exactly who sees the development theme



The optional front-end switch button is handy during testing



It keeps everything safe and invisible to regular users




I often need to develop or fine-tune a new design while a site stays online. With this plugin, I can work directly on the live server, test things in context, or share previews with clients — all without setting up a separate staging environment.



It’s clear the developer understands real-world needs. The plugin is actively maintained and feels reliable. If you work with custom themes, this is definitely worth adding to your toolkit.


A simple but very useful tool for theme developers

Allow (certain) users(roles) to easily switch to another theme. Non-persistent, so regular users won't be bothered.

Monster Widget vs Zodan Theme Switcher