In this article, we will attempt to guide you in preparing your content and working through changes in the new theme. This serves as a basic overview of important changes. Details on widget configuration and theme options are found in their own articles which you can access from the links within this article, or the table of contents at right.

Before You Begin

Handmade Two is not just an update for Handmade, is is a completely new theme based on the look and functionality of the old theme. As such, it includes a lot of changes. It is important to understand how your site will be affected before you install and activate the new theme. Please ensure you backup your existing site or rename your old handmade folder prior to uploading the new one.

The following things will happen upon activation of Handmade 2.0 and will be explained in more detail below:

• All of your widget areas will be reset. This includes your homepage.
• Some of your Theme Options will be reset. Things like your previously uploaded logo and favicon will not be affected.
• Your gallery pages will look different
• Your images may look out of whack
• Any modifications made to Handmade or Handmade eCommerce templates will no longer be in effect and will need to be redone to the new files, if necessary
• Any custom styles will not be in effect and many may need to be updated with new class names

The following will NOT happen by migrating to Handmade 2.0:

• None of your content or products are affected
• None of your previous handmade theme files will be overwritten if you followed the install instructions
• None of your WooCommerce settings will be affected (note that updating WooCommerce to 2.0.3 WILL affect WooCommerce)

Step 1: Backup & Install

1. Before installing or activating the new theme, login to WordPress and visit your Handmade Theme Options page
2. Copy the contents of your Custom CSS field into a text document or temporary loction (a new draft post works too).
   • If you do not have custom styles, skip this step
   • If your custom styles are stored in custom.css, copy the contents of that file into a temp location or download a copy for local reference.
3. Backup your existing theme folder either using an FTP Client or a WordPress backup plugin.
4. Follow the Install Your Theme instructions to upload the new handmade-two_single.zip via WordPress
5. In the WordPress admin panel, go to Appearance → Themes
6. Locate the Handmade Two Theme Thumbnail and click Activate

Step 2: Verify Setup

1. Go to Theme Options → General and confirm your main options. See Handmade: Configure Theme Options for details on each setting.
2. Select your desired Home Layout under the Home Layout tab on the Theme Options page. These settings correspond to the old Theme Options → Home Layout page and should be familiar. If you were previously using the Preset layout, you will need to reconfirm your options and Save.
3. Go to Pages and edit your Shop, Gallery, Archives and any full-width pages to verify the page template is set correctly. For the Gallery page, select a column choice in the Page Options panel below the post editor. See the individual articles for each template at right for details.
4. Go to Appearance → Widgets and setup your widgets. Most of your WooCommerce, default and Obox (purple) widgets may be visible in the Inactive Sidebar panels on the lower-right and can be dragged back into the desired panels for quicker setup. Please expand each widget to verify all settings are configured properly. View Handmade: Setup Your Widgets for details on each widget.
   • Please note that the Featured Post Gallery widget displays products by category. To feature specific products in this widget, you must use a unique category. The stars in the product index only affect WooCommerce widgets.
5. If you had custom styles, copy and paste them into the Custom CSS area in Theme Options and Save.
6. Regenerate your thumbnails. 
7. Review the WooCommerce configuration documentation to verify your shop settings are optimal.
8. Visit the Typography manager to verify any custom settings you may have previously set there
9. Review your site for any further configuration or tweaks needed.

Migrating Modifications

If you have read through this guide, our blog post and the update notes, then you are prepared for a small bit of rework where customization is concerned. Unfortunately it was not possible to retain 100% of the class names or markup structures from the previous versions of Handmade, since improving the code was the main motivator for creating Handmade 2.0.  As a result, we know your customizations and mods may no longer be working perfectly. The only recourse is to update your custom styles with the new class names, and re-apply any changes to the 2.0 template files where absolutely needed.

Tips:

• Use the Custom CSS field in Theme Options and do not edit the style.css
• Use the Typography manager to change the color or font style of most common text elements
• Use Inspect Element in your browser to figure out class names and copy the styles over
• Do not enable WooCommerce CSS Styles, however tempting, as they will cause some theme styles to break and produce layout problems
• Do not restore any template files or stylesheets from older versions of the theme into the new theme folder.
• If you have custom page templates or functions, review the WordPress coding standards to ensure all of the hooks and functions in the file are still compatible with WordPress 3.5+ and Handmade 2.0

If you need to change template files, we strongly urge you to create a child theme. See How To Mod Your Theme The Right Way for details.