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Answers for common setup and support questions
These answers cover themes, child themes, plugins, demo imports, bbPress, AI connectors, and getting help.
What is a WordPress theme, and what does it control?
A WordPress theme controls the public design and presentation of a website: its colors, typography, page templates, headers, footers, archives, and responsive layout. Site-portable features such as sermons, events, forums, and support automation belong in plugins so the content remains available if the design changes.
What is the difference between a parent theme and a child theme?
A parent theme supplies the shared layout system and core templates. A child theme adds a particular design, defaults, patterns, and carefully scoped template overrides. The child theme inherits improvements from its parent while keeping its own identity and customizations separate.
Why do the downloadable child themes require Cheetah Wireframe?
Cheetah Wireframe is the common design engine used by Sanctuary, Heritage, Citywide, Rise, Harbor, Welcome, and the DIY Church Website portal theme. It provides responsive templates, customization controls, accessibility features, demo setup, rollback, and the safe configuration bridge used by the AI companion.
Will a parent-theme or child-theme update erase my content?
Normal theme updates do not delete WordPress pages, posts, media, sermons, events, or forum topics. Store custom code in an appropriate child theme or site plugin and make a tested backup before updating. Never edit the distributed parent-theme files directly because those file changes can be replaced by an update.
Which plugins are required, and which ones are optional?
The child themes require only the Cheetah Wireframe parent theme. DIY Sermons, DIY Church Events, Cheetah AI Site Architect, DIY Support Agent, bbPress, and an SEO solution are optional. Install only the features the website actually needs; each first-party plugin is designed to remain usable with other standards-compliant themes.
How do I install a downloaded theme or plugin ZIP?
For a theme, open Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme, choose the ZIP, install it, and activate it. For a plugin, open Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin. Do not unzip the package first. On a staging site, confirm the current WordPress and PHP versions meet the requirements shown in the product manual.
Will importing demo content overwrite my existing website?
The Cheetah demo importer creates separately marked starter pages, posts, menus, and supported plugin records without overwriting existing page bodies. It records previous site identity, homepage, menu locations, and theme settings so importer-created content can be rolled back from Appearance > Theme Setup. A current backup is still recommended.
What happens to my content if I switch themes?
WordPress content and plugin records stay in the database. The site presentation changes, and theme-specific widgets, menu locations, or page-template selections may need to be reassigned. Sermons, events, forums, and other plugin-owned content remain available because they are not stored in the child theme.
How do I change the logo, colors, fonts, header, or homepage?
Use Appearance > Customize and the Cheetah theme settings for brand colors, typography, layout, header zones, buttons, hero content, blog presentation, and footer options. Replace the demo logo through Site Identity. Edit page content in the WordPress block editor, and set the homepage under Settings > Reading when necessary.
How does bbPress support work in the DIY Church Website theme?
Install and activate bbPress, complete its forum setup, and add the forum index to the site navigation. The child theme supplies a responsive full-width forum wrapper, styled lists and forms, and an optional Forum Utility Sidebar. The forum remains owned by bbPress, so topics and replies survive theme changes.
How do the WordPress AI connector and AI companion protect my site?
Provider credentials stay in WordPress under Settings > Connectors. The Cheetah AI companion works through allowlisted settings and structured content plans; it does not let a model edit PHP, CSS, JavaScript, theme templates, passwords, or connector keys. Review the configured provider's privacy and retention terms before sending site or forum content.
Where should I ask for support, report a bug, or request a feature?
Search the documentation and support forum first, then create a forum topic with the product name and version, WordPress and PHP versions, the exact steps taken, the expected result, and the actual result. Remove passwords, API keys, private member information, and other sensitive data. Label ideas as feature requests and reproducible failures as bug reports.