www2.gov.bc.ca No paid content found

Go directly to rte.ie in any browser to reach the official RTÉ homepage. That single address is the entry point to RTÉ's Irish and international news, its live TV and radio streams, and the broadcaster's other services. No account or app is required to browse the site; you only need a working internet connection and a browser.

Reaching the homepage

• Type rte.ie into the address bar and press Enter. The site resolves to RTÉ's main homepage.
• If you search instead, look for the result labeled RTÉ Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster and confirm the domain reads rte.ie before clicking.
• Bookmark the page once you're there so you skip search results on future visits.

What the homepage gives you

The homepage is a hub rather than a single article. From it you can:

• Read breaking news — top Irish and world headlines are surfaced on the front page, with up-to-the-minute reports on breaking Irish stories and international news.
• Watch and listen — RTÉ's video and audio streams for Irish news stories are reachable from the site, so live and on-demand TV and radio content sit alongside the written coverage.
• Move into sections — navigation leads to areas such as News, Sport, Entertainment, and Player, letting you go straight to the coverage you want instead of scrolling the front page.

Confirming you're on the official site

Because news brands attract lookalike pages, check two things before trusting a page:

1. The domain is exactly rte.ie — not a variation with extra words, hyphens, or a different ending.
2. The page identifies itself as RTÉ, Ireland's national television and radio broadcaster.

If either check fails, go back and enter rte.ie directly rather than following the link.

Common snags

• Search ads and aggregators can appear above the real result. The domain check is what separates them.
• Live streams may sit behind the Player section rather than the front page, so if you don't see a stream immediately, navigate to Player.
• Regional redirects or consent prompts can appear on first visit; these don't change the underlying address, which should still read rte.ie.

Once you're on rte.ie, everything else — headlines, live streams, and section navigation — is one click away.

A theme is a packaged set of design files—layouts, styles, and often scripts—that controls how a website or blog looks and how its pages are arranged. You choose one when you want a consistent visual identity without building every page from scratch, and you apply it through your site's platform (for example, a static site generator, a CMS, or a site builder). The right choice depends on your platform, how much you plan to customize, and whether the theme is actively maintained.

Theme vs. template vs. plugin

These terms overlap in casual use, but they do different jobs:

A theme usually contains templates. A plugin usually does not change your design unless it's specifically a design add-on. If you only want a new contact form, you want a plugin. If you want the whole site to look different, you want a theme.

What to check before you commit

• Platform compatibility. A theme built for one system generally won't work on another. Confirm it matches your generator or CMS and its version.
• Responsiveness. Check how it behaves on narrow screens, not just desktop. A theme that looks fine on a laptop can break on mobile.
• Customization depth. Decide whether you'll tweak colors and fonts only, or restructure layouts. Some themes expose settings; others require editing files directly.
• Maintenance activity. Look at the last update and whether issues are being addressed. An abandoned theme can stop working after a platform update.
• Dependencies. Note any required plugins, build tools, or asset pipelines. More dependencies mean more places for something to break.
• Content fit. A theme designed for image-heavy portfolios may handle long-form articles poorly, and vice versa.

How to apply a theme

The exact steps depend on your platform, but the general flow is:

1. Get the theme. Download it, install it through your platform's theme directory, or add it as a dependency (for example, a gem or package).
2. Activate it. Select it in your site settings or configuration file so the platform uses its layouts.
3. Preview before publishing. Render the site locally or in a staging environment and check the homepage, a content page, and a list/archive page.
4. Adjust configuration. Set your site title, navigation, logo, and any theme-specific options.
5. Verify the result. Confirm that menus, links, images, and code blocks display correctly, and test on a small screen.

Expected result: the site's appearance changes site-wide while your existing content stays in place. If content disappears or layouts collapse, the theme likely expects a different content structure or configuration.

Common pitfalls when switching themes

• Broken layouts. The new theme may expect different front matter, image sizes, or content fields than your old one.
• Lost customizations. Edits made directly to an old theme's files don't carry over. Keep custom changes separate so they survive a switch.
• Missing dependencies. Some themes need specific plugins or build steps; skipping them causes blank sections or errors.
• Stale caches. After switching, clear any site or CDN cache before judging the result.
• Unverified mobile behavior. Always test narrow viewports; responsiveness is one of the most common failure points.

A note on project sites

If you're browsing a project homepage—such as the OpenBVE Project site—remember that its own design is not a theme you can install elsewhere. Project pages describe software releases and fixes; the "theme" concept applies to the site-building platform you use, not to the project's content. Treat any listed keywords about themes as descriptive of the site's own tooling, not as a product recommendation.

Choosing in one pass

Pick a theme that matches your platform, is actively maintained, and handles your main content type well. Preview it with real content on both desktop and mobile before making it live, and keep your customizations outside the theme files so a future switch doesn't erase them.