Easy way of switching to a new theme

[Petter B]

My old present custom theme is called "Alternativ".
I made a copy of it called "Responsiv" and has been working on it to make it responsive and now it´s time for the members to start using it. I figure the easiest way of switching is just to rename the new folder "Responsiv" to the name of the old theme folder "Alternativ". That way people will keep the settings they´ve made. Is it correct to switch to the new theme this way instead of using the admin interface?

[margarett]

No, don't do that. Just use the admin interface and reset everyone to your "new" theme.

[Petter B]

Why?
Don´t they loose all private settings?

[Illori]

what settings do you consider private? they may need to reset some settings like going back to a topic after posting but that is not difficult.

[Petter B]

Yes, stuff like that. No big things, but if 1% of 20.000 members ask me why things are behaving different or need help with changing settings, I'll have many mails to answer.

What would be bad with just changing the folder names ?