Jeff Starr

Theme switching done right.
<blockquote>
Preview any theme privately on the front-end 
 Develop themes privately behind the scenes 
 Enable your visitors to switch themes
</blockquote>
There are many theme-switcher plugins but none of them provide the simplicity, performance, and reliability that I require for my own sites. So I wrote my own plugin using the WP API and kept the plugin as focused and solid as possible. Only essential theme-switching features have been added, along with a simple yet informative UI. This gives you a consistent, quality theme-switching experience that you can optionally share with your visitors.
<blockquote>
Switch to an alternate theme for preview or development while visitors use the default theme 🙂
</blockquote>
What it’s for..
Theme Switcha:
<ul>
<li>Enables visitors to switch themes via the frontend</li>
<li>Enables admins to test alternate themes for debugging</li>
<li>Enables developers to build/customize themes privately</li>
<li>Enables you to create links that switch to specific themes</li>
<li>Enables live private previews of any installed theme</li>
</ul>
What it’s NOT for..
This plugin should not be used together with WordPress features such as the Theme Customizer, Widgets, and Menus. Doing so may result in private changes being made public on the current active theme. <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/important-please-read-3/" rel="ugc">Learn more</a>.
<blockquote>
Theme Switcha = Best Theme Switcher for WordPress
</blockquote>
Plugin Features
<ul>
<li>Develop new themes while visitors use the default theme</li>
<li>Control who can switch themes (admins, w/ passkey, or everyone)</li>
<li>Administrators can switch themes directly via the WP Admin Area</li>
<li>Enable visitors to switch and preview themes on the front-end</li>
<li>Each visitor can choose their own theme</li>
<li>Send preview links to clients via the passkey</li>
<li>Choose your own custom passkey code for preview links</li>
<li>Set the duration (cookie timeout) for switched themes</li>
<li>Enable/disable theme preview in the Admin Area</li>
<li>Enable/disable all theme switching without deactivating the plugin</li>
<li>Provides several shortcodes to enable visitors to switch themes</li>
<li>Shortcodes display themes as a list, select menu, or thumbnails</li>
<li>Changed options are saved when working on switched themes</li>
<li>Dashboard widget to switch themes via select menu</li>
<li>Simple, stylish UI featuring screenshots of each theme</li>
<li>Works with any theme, parent themes and child themes</li>
<li>Works with or without Gutenberg Block Editor</li>
<li>Works with WP Multisite</li>
</ul>
Theme Switcha makes it easy for the site admin to preview and develop new themes without changing the default theme. So visitors will continue to use your site normally without ever knowing that you are testing new themes behind the scenes. And if you want to enable your visitors to switch themes, you can do that as well by adding a shortcode to any WP Post or Page. Then each visitor will be able to select and preview any of your WordPress themes.
Core Features
<ul>
<li>Easy to use</li>
<li>Squeaky clean code</li>
<li>Simple and focused</li>
<li>Built with the WordPress API</li>
<li>Lightweight, fast and flexible</li>
<li>Focused on performance and security</li>
<li>Regularly updated and “future proof”</li>
<li>Works great with other WordPress plugins</li>
<li>Plugin options configurable via settings screen</li>
<li>Plugin cleans up after itself upon uninstall</li>
<li>One-click restore plugin default options</li>
</ul>
Plus you get free, responsive support from a top WP professional 😉
The Theme Switcha plugin is useful for things like:
<ul>
<li>Maintenance mode – display a temporary theme to visitors while you update your primary theme</li>
<li>Theme test drive – preview and test new themes without disrupting anything on the frontend</li>
<li>Debugging Themes – test and troubleshoot issues that may be related to the current active theme</li>
<li>Theme development – perfect for developing new theme templates to fit existing site content</li>
<li>Client presentations – send clients special “theme preview” links to show off new templates</li>
</ul>
I use Theme Switcha to develop new themes for my own sites like <a href="https://perishablepress.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Perishable Press</a> and <a href="https://plugin-planet.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Plugin Planet</a>. The beauty of Theme Switcha is that visitors will never know that you are hard at work testing and building new themes behind the scenes 🙂
Privacy
This plugin does not collect or store any user data. It does not set any user cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations. Thus, this plugin does not affect user privacy in any way.
Theme Switcha is developed and maintained by <a href="https://x.com/perishable" rel="nofollow ugc">Jeff Starr</a>, 15-year <a href="https://plugin-planet.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress developer</a> and <a href="https://books.perishablepress.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">book author</a>.
Support development
I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can <a href="https://monzillamedia.com/donate.html" rel="nofollow ugc">make a donation</a> or purchase one of my books:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wp-tao.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">The Tao of WordPress</a></li>
<li><a href="https://digwp.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Digging into WordPress</a></li>
<li><a href="https://htaccessbook.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">.htaccess made easy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wp-tao.com/wordpress-themes-book/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress Themes In Depth</a></li>
<li><a href="https://books.perishablepress.com/downloads/wizards-collection-sql-recipes-wordpress/" rel="nofollow ugc">Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress</a></li>
</ul>
And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/bbq-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">BBQ Pro</a> – Blazing fast WordPress firewall</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/blackhole-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Blackhole Pro</a> – Automatically block bad bots</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/banhammer-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Banhammer Pro</a> – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/ga-google-analytics-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">GA Google Analytics Pro</a> – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/head-meta-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Head Meta Pro</a> – Ultimate Meta Tags for WordPress</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/simple-ajax-chat-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">Simple Ajax Chat Pro</a> – Unlimited chat rooms</li>
<li><a href="https://plugin-planet.com/usp-pro/" rel="nofollow ugc">USP Pro</a> – Unlimited front-end forms</li>
</ul>
Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂
<h3>Credit</h3>
Thanks to Ryan Boren for the original <a href="https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/wiki/ThemeSwitcher" rel="nofollow ugc">Theme Switcher</a> plugin.

Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing

I dealt with Jeff about 2 years ago, and though his website blog and code snippets, all I have to say he is awesome ! So when I discovered this plugin a few days ago and when I realized who made it, I had to give it a try.

The bottom line about this plugin: If you know what you are doing, and follow his on screen instructions, this plugin is also awesome ! 

What makes me appreciate this developer even more is the fact that on the plugin's options screen he has a small non intrusive link asking for reviews, unlike some others who really turn you off with the constant nagging and begging, or even worse the inclusion of Freemium or other "spying" scripts.

Thanks a million Jeff,
Nick.

Works Perfectly !

Easily switch between themes for development and testing.

Eric Marden

thecuriousfrog

This plugin is the equivalent of a theme switcher for styles applied to the K2 theme. It allows your visitors to re-skin your site from a list of K2 styles that you select.
The default K2 style to be applied to a given post or page can be specified using a parameter added to the URL, post or page meta data, or an overall site default.
Style selections made by the user are persistent for the duration of their visit and override default values, however they can be overridden using a URL parameter.
<h3>Uninstallation</h3>
<ul>
<li>If you wish to stop using the plugin but keep your configuration options then simply use the ‘Deactivate’ link on the WordPress ‘Manage Plugins’ screen</li>
<li>If you wish to completely uninstall the plugin then use the ‘Deactivate’ link followed by the ‘Delete’ link on the WordPress ‘Manage Plugins’ screen. This removes the plugin files and your configuration options</li>
</ul>
<h3>Usage</h3>
This plugin includes a widget that displays either a dropdown menu or an unordered list of the available styles. The title of the widget and the type of menu to use are set in the widget options.
The other plugin options are set using the K2 Style Switcher administration panel (‘Appearance’ > ‘K2 Style Switcher’).
The style to apply to a given post or page is chosen using one of the following methods:
<ol>
<li>A paramter can be appended to the page URL containing the relative path to the style, for example: <code>http://example.com/?k2ss_target_style=style/style.css</code></li>
<li>If a style has already been set in the PHP sessions variables then it will be applied to the post or page</li>
<li>A custom field called <code>k2ss_default_style</code> can be added to the page or post. The field value should be set to the relative path to the style, for example: <code>style/style.css</code></li>
<li>If none of the above methods have set the style then the default style specified in the K2 Style Switcher administration panel is applied</li>
</ol>
<h3>Configuration</h3>
Default Style 
This option sets the K2 style that visitors will see upon first landing on your page unless another style has been specified using one of the methods described in the Usage section. Once they select a style, they will see that style instead.
Default Style Picker Format 
This option sets the type of style picker that will be displayed when the <code><?php k2ss_style_picker(); ?></code> function is called with no parameter set:
<ul>
<li>Unordered List – Displays a list of links</li>
<li>Dropdown Menu – Displays a dropdown menu</li>
</ul>
If you opt to use the unordered list when displaying the style picker you can style the link to the currently selected style using the <code>.k2ss_selected</code> class. For example: <code>.k2ss_selected { border-left: 1px dashed #666; }</code>
Footer Template 
This option sets the text that is displayed in your site footer. This is re-written each time the page is loaded, meaning that it always displays information relevant to the style that the visitor is currently seeing.
For a list of the available macros click the option name (‘Footer Template’) on the administration panel. This will display the list of macros and the information they will be replaced with at runtime.
Display WordPress footer 
This option controls the visibility of the standard WordPress footer (‘Powered by WordPress and K2’). You may wish to hide this footer if you are placing the same information in the custom footer template.
Display feed links 
This option controls the visibility of the feed links footer (‘Entries Feed and Comments Feed’). You may wish to hide this footer if you are placing the same information in the custom footer template.
Display base styles footer 
This option controls the visibility of the active styles K2 footer (‘Styled with by ‘). You probably wish to hide this footer as any base styles that are active will probably be tweaks that do not need crediting.
Display page stats 
This option controls the visibility of the WordPress page loading stats footer (‘ queries. seconds.’). You may wish to show this information, it will appear just above the output of the custom footer template.
Available Styles 
This option displays all the styles currently available in your K2 styles directory. Select the styles you want visitors to be able to use. Note that styles are only shown here if they are not currently in use by K2.
Any styles that are set as active on the K2 options screen will be used as base styles. This means they will be applied in addition to either the default K2 Style Switcher style or the style that the visitor has chosen. This allows any custom CSS snippets to be maintained in one place rather than being added to each style.
<h3>Release Notes</h3>
<ul>
<li>No known issues are present in this version</li>
</ul>

K2 Style Switcher

This WordPress plugin allows site visitors to change the active style in the K2 theme.

Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing vs K2 Style Switcher