To open up the customizer, select from the top bar or Dashboard > Appearance > Customizer. The customizer provides a key route to modifying many of the website fundamentals, e.g.:
- Switch template
- Change colour scheme (template dependent)
- Change fonts and font styles (template dependent)
- Modify menus (you can do this also from the Dashboard > Appearance > Menus)
- Modify Widgets (these are the marginalia like the sidebar and footer, if supported)
- Adjust the front page settings
- Add custom styles (for advanced users mainly)
Some templates will open up a raft of other options, sometimes a little bewildering so choose a simple template if this is your first time.
The customizer’s main feature is the ability to preview the changes on screen before you commit to them. Moreover you can save a draft of your changes, share that draft with colleagues, or abandon the changes altogether later if they are not approved. You can also schedule a change to go live at a later time or date.
Rookie errors:-
- To invest in a complicated template feature rich but is too difficult to customize, let alone maintain
- To create a complex architecture of blank pages to fill with content later …
- To believe time is not your enemy … now is the time and it only runs out!