Testing new page templates?

[gourmetdelights]

I THOUGHT, incorrectly it appears, that I could test out some new templates on my website simply by copying an existing page, thus creating a new page not linked to other pages, and then use

List of Pages >> Edit Page Layout >> Page Template

alas when I do that the pages look nothing like any of the template themes
https://www.shopsite.com/templates/cookbook/builtintemplates.shtml

For example: Edgewise

Template Cookbook> Built In Themes> Boot Two Templates> Edgewise Theme

So I could change my page template to Boot-Two.sst to see how it looks.

Alas that is not the case. There must be a difference between "Templates" and "Themes" I'm misunderstanding.

So is there any easy way to "test drive" some page templates/themes?

Thank you.

[loren_d_c]

Selecting a theme does change the template, but it also changes some other layout settings of the page, mostly colors. Many of the themes share common template files, and a certain color setting triggers which css file gets includes to style the page. You can see more info for each theme here:

https://www.shopsite.com/templates/cookbook/builtintemplates.shtml

Note that since most of the newer responsive-designed themes use a global color setting to determine which theme css file to use, having one page a different theme that the rest of the store isn't really feasible. I would suggest you open a demo store (https://www.shopsite.com/demo.html) then download your store's pages and products and upload them into the demo store to try out a new theme.

-Loren