Whenever I download a WordPress theme there’s hardly ever a time that I leave it as is. Almost for sure – I will have to change some things to customize according to the site’s identity. For instance, maybe I’d want to match the heading styles to a company logo, or change the background colors to have the same schema or simply change the link styles to have a sharper look. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to change all of this by switching style sheets from the theme options?

This tutorial will show you how to create a simple style switcher from your themes options panel. It will have a single drop down list with all the available styles to pick from. Once saved – your theme will switch to the selected style. Ready to get started – let’s begin:

Part 1 – Set up functions.php

First thing you need is a functions.php file. A functions file is an optional “plugin” type of file you can include in your theme directory folder. One of its’ purpose is to setup administration options for your theme – which is exactly what we’re doing. Create a file and name it “functions.php” and paste the code below. Note that you need to change variables that define your theme name ($themename) and the short name ($shortname) to match your themes:

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<?php 
 
$themename = "My Sweet Theme";
$shortname = "mst";
$options = array (
array( "name" => "Style Sheet",
	"desc" => "Enter the Style Sheet you would like to use for Sweet Ass Theme",
	"id" => $shortname."_style_sheet",
	"type" => "select",
	"options" => array("default", "green", "blue", "yellow"), 
	"std" => "default"),
);
?>

The above code initializes your theme options structure. First it defines several variables, including a multi-dimensional array (which will become our drop down list containing the four selectable options that will dictate our style sheets). Next is to copy the code below. This code loops through each iteration of the array we declared previously. It assigns a type of form field, displays labels and applies the correct descriptions etc. It also includes several functions that saves the form data, resets information and displays status messages etc. It’s a wee bit technical – so its better if we simply copy and paste the code.

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<?php
function mytheme_add_admin() {
 
global $themename, $shortname, $options;
 
if ( $_GET['page'] == basename(__FILE__) ) {
 
if ( 'save' == $_REQUEST['action'] ) {
 
foreach ($options as $value) {
update_option( $value['id'], $_REQUEST[ $value['id'] ] ); }
 
foreach ($options as $value) {
if( isset( $_REQUEST[ $value['id'] ] ) ) { update_option( $value['id'], $_REQUEST[ $value['id'] ]  ); } else { delete_option( $value['id'] ); } }
 
header("Location: themes.php?page=functions.php&saved=true");
die;
 
} else if( 'reset' == $_REQUEST['action'] ) {
 
foreach ($options as $value) {
delete_option( $value['id'] ); }
 
header("Location: themes.php?page=functions.php&reset=true");
die;
 
}
}
 
add_theme_page($themename." Options", "".$themename." Options", 'edit_themes', basename(__FILE__), 'mytheme_admin');
 
}
 
function mytheme_admin() {
 
global $themename, $shortname, $options;
 
if ( $_REQUEST['saved'] ) echo '<div id="message" class="updated fade"><p><strong>'.$themename.' settings saved.</strong></p></div>';
if ( $_REQUEST['reset'] ) echo '<div id="message" class="updated fade"><p><strong>'.$themename.' settings reset.</strong></p></div>';
 
?>
<div class="wrap">
<h2><?php echo $themename; ?> Settings</h2>
 
<form method="post">
 
<?php foreach ($options as $value) {
switch ( $value['type'] ) {
 
case "open":
?>
<table width="100%" border="0" style="background-color:#eef5fb; padding:10px;">
 
<?php break;
 
case "close":
?>
 
</table><br />
 
<?php break;
 
case "title":
?>
<table width="100%" border="0" style="background-color:#dceefc; padding:5px 10px;"><tr>
<td valign="top" colspan="2"><h3 style="font-family:Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><?php echo $value['name']; ?></h3></td>
</tr>
 
<!--custom-->
 
 
<?php break; 
case "sub-title":
?>
<h3 style="font-family:Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; padding-left:8px;"><?php echo $value['name']; ?></h3> 
<!--end-of-custom-->
 
 
<?php break;
 
case 'text':
?>
 
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="20%" rowspan="2" valign="middle"><strong><?php echo $value['name']; ?></strong></td>
<td width="80%"><input style="width:400px;" name="<?php echo $value['id']; ?>" id="<?php echo $value['id']; ?>" type="<?php echo $value['type']; ?>" value="<?php if ( get_settings( $value['id'] ) != "") { echo get_settings( $value['id'] ); } else { echo $value['std']; } ?>" /></td>
</tr>
 
<tr>
<td><small><?php echo $value['desc']; ?></small></td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="margin-bottom:5px;border-bottom:1px dotted #000000;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
 
<?php
break;
 
case 'textarea':
?>
 
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="20%" rowspan="2" valign="middle"><strong><?php echo $value['name']; ?></strong></td>
<td width="80%"><textarea name="<?php echo $value['id']; ?>" style="width:400px; height:200px;" type="<?php echo $value['type']; ?>" cols="" rows=""><?php if ( get_settings( $value['id'] ) != "") { echo get_settings( $value['id'] ); } else { echo $value['std']; } ?></textarea></td>
 
</tr>
 
<tr>
<td><small><?php echo $value['desc']; ?></small></td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="margin-bottom:5px;border-bottom:1px dotted #000000;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
 
<?php
break;
 
case 'select':
?>
<tr>
<td width="20%" rowspan="2" valign="middle"><strong><?php echo $value['name']; ?></strong></td>
<td width="80%"><select style="width:240px;" name="<?php echo $value['id']; ?>" id="<?php echo $value['id']; ?>"><?php foreach ($value['options'] as $option) { ?><option<?php if ( get_settings( $value['id'] ) == $option) { echo ' selected="selected"'; } elseif ($option == $value['std']) { echo ' selected="selected"'; } ?>><?php echo $option; ?></option><?php } ?></select></td>
</tr>
 
<tr>
<td><small><?php echo $value['desc']; ?></small></td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="margin-bottom:5px;border-bottom:1px dotted #000000;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
 
<?php
break;
 
case "checkbox":
?>
<tr>
<td width="20%" rowspan="2" valign="middle"><strong><?php echo $value['name']; ?></strong></td>
<td width="80%"><?php if(get_option($value['id'])){ $checked = "checked=\"checked\""; }else{ $checked = "";} ?>
<input type="checkbox" name="<?php echo $value['id']; ?>" id="<?php echo $value['id']; ?>" value="true" <?php echo $checked; ?> />
</td>
</tr>
 
<tr>
<td><small><?php echo $value['desc']; ?></small></td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="margin-bottom:5px;border-bottom:1px dotted #000000;">&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
 
<?php break;
 
}
}
?>
 
<p class="submit">
<input name="save" type="submit" value="Save changes" />
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="save" />
</p>
</form>
<form method="post">
<p class="submit">
<input name="reset" type="submit" value="Reset" />
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="reset" />
</p>
</form>
 
<?php
}
add_action('admin_menu', 'mytheme_add_admin');
?>

Test out your theme options by going under the “Appearance” section > “Your Theme Name Options” tab. You will see the drop down list with the selectors already in place. Once you hit “Save Changes” – it saves your data. While clicking “Reset” sets it back to the default selector. We also see nice status messages appear on top each time we update.

style-sheet-switcher1

Part 2 – Create the Style Sheets

Create four .css files that correspond to the drop down list selections we defined in our functions.php. The names do not have to exactly match the selectors (but is wise to have some meaningful relation to the names). Save these four files in the root directory of your theme:

style.css – this style sheet is for a black background page with white colored fonts.

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/* CSS Document */
body {background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF;}

green.css – this style sheet is for a green background page with white colored fonts.

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/* CSS Document */
body {background:#3bae09; color:#FFFFFF;}

blue.css – this style sheet is for a blue background page with white colored fonts.

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/* CSS Document */
body {background:#038aba; color:#FFFFFF;}

yellow.css – this style sheet is for… you get the picture.

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/* CSS Document */
body {background:#f6f658; color:#333333;}

Part 3 – The Switch Statement

Now that we have our options working in the back end, and we have our four style sheets sitting in the root folder waiting to be called, all we need now is a way to flip the style sheets in our header file. We achieve this by using a standard switch statement. A switch statement in php is an alternative to the the “if…else” statement. It uses the case keyword which we use to match our selectors to execute a statement that calls the appropriate style sheet. In the default header.php file – look for the line of code below and delete it:

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<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?>" type="text/css" media="screen" />

This is the standard call for the default style.css file which we no longer need. Next, paste the code below inside your header.php file:

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<?php
	global $options;
	foreach ($options as $value) {
		if (get_settings( $value['id'] ) === FALSE) { $$value['id'] = $value['std']; } else { $$value['id'] = get_settings( $value['id'] ); }
	}
	?>			
	<?php switch ($mst_style_sheet) {
		 case "default":?>
		<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?>" type="text/css" media="screen" />
	<?php break; ?>	
	<?php case "green":?>
		<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/green.css" type="text/css" media="screen" />
	<?php break; ?>
	<?php case "blue":?>
		<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/blue.css" type="text/css" media="screen" />
	<?php break; ?>
	<?php case "yellow":?>
		<link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/yellow.css" type="text/css" media="screen" />
	<?php break; ?>	
	<?php }?>

The above code is quite self explanatory. First it grabs whichever values we’ve stored in our theme options. Second – is the switch statement for our drop down list, followed by cases for each entry – with its unique statement calling the style sheets.

Now if you go back to your style switcher and select “blue” – your theme style should switch to blue – and so on and so forth.

You can have as many styles as you wish to integrate in your options. As well as the amount of customization in the actual .css files is completely up to you. You can download the source files from this link – simply add these files in your theme folder and change some values – and your theme will instantly have it’s own style switcher.