Wordpress- Trouble replacing old theme with new theme

Question

I am trying to figure out what the best way to add a new Theme to an existing wordpress site.

The current site is fairly complicated and robust.

I duplicated the current site and moved it into a development server, used Thematic and created a child theme then integrated the new design. The design and structure is slightly different from the current one, some additional widgets, features, and a custom menu as well.

My hope was to take the new site and just replace the current one. Turns out that the client has been adding posts etc. In short, the content on the old site and the new site do not match.

SO am not sure really what the best way to proceed is? I would appreciate any insight.

Answer 1

The basics of Wordpress: the content and the design are separate. Upload the new theme and it won't effect the post/page content, because that's content in the database. The new design may display the content differently, but that's design, not content. See http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Themes