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Permo Docs

Active theme

The active theme is the theme your site uses right now. It decides how your content looks: the layout, the fonts, the colors, the header and footer. Every page a visitor sees is built with it.

Why it matters

Section titled “Why it matters”

The theme takes part in every page. It decides which stylesheets, scripts and fonts the browser loads, and much of the HTML around your content. A lean theme leaves room for the content; a theme with many built-in features loads them on every page, whether the page uses them or not.

Like plugins, themes get updates: security fixes, and changes that keep them working with new WordPress versions. A theme that falls behind on updates is a matter of upkeep, not of speed.

What influences it

Section titled “What influences it”

WordPress: What a theme does on each page depends on how it’s built. Themes that come with a page builder, sliders or many layout options carry more code than a simple block theme. Whether WordPress knows about an update depends on where the theme comes from: WordPress checks themes from the WordPress.org directory on its own, while themes bought elsewhere need their own update mechanism, often tied to a license.

Browser: The theme’s stylesheets, scripts and fonts load on every page, often before anything else is visible. They affect First Contentful Paint and Total Blocking Time.

In Permo

Section titled “In Permo”

The Active theme card is in System info, tab WordPress, under Theme. It shows the theme’s name and version.

  • Yellow when WordPress knows of a newer version. The card names it, with a link to the updates screen.
  • Green with Up to date when WordPress has checked the theme and found nothing newer.
  • No color when WordPress’s update check doesn’t cover the theme, so Permo has nothing to compare.

If the active theme is a child theme, the card says child theme and has no color. The updates that count are those of the theme it builds on, on the card next to it; see parent theme.

Under Changes, System info also records when the theme was switched or updated.

Section titled “Related”

Sources