PHP Optimization
PHP version 8 has been proven to impart significant performance gains to WordPress sites. Your theme has been developed for optimal performance with this server configured, which is the official recommendation of WordPress.
Check with your web host to confirm/request that your WordPress site is configured and running PHP 8.
Regenerating Thumbnails
Force Regenerate Thumbnails deletes old image sizes stored on the server and regenerates the thumbnails for your image attachments. This is necessary to ensure that your theme displays image thumbnails with optimal quality.
Running the Plugin
1 — After the plugin has been installed and activated go to Tools > Force Regenerate Thumbnails
2 — Click the ‘Regenerate All Thumbnails’ button
3 — Please be patient while the thumbnails are regenerated
Setting Permalinks
1 — Go to Settings > Permalinks from the left sidebar menu
2 — Select the ‘Post name’ option and click Save Changes
Configuring the Site Title and Tagline
1 — Go to Appearance > Customize > General > Site Identity
2 — Input your Site Title and Tagline
You may also check the box to hide the tagline
The site title and tagline will also appear at the top of web browsers and in search results
Deleting the Sample Page
(Applicable to new WordPress installations only)
1 — Click on Pages from the left sidebar menu
2 — Hover your mouse over the existing default sample page and click Trash
Creating New Pages
1 — Go to Pages > Add New
2 — Give your new page a title (e.g., About) then click Publish
Leave the block editor empty for now
3 — Specify the Projects Page Visibility
The Project Page Visibility drop down menu is located inside the Status & Visibility panel in Document settings
4 — Select the Default Template
The Template drop down menu is located inside the Page Attributes panel in Document settings
5 — Specify the Page Layout Style
The Page Layout options are located inside the Layout panel in Document settings
6 — Click Publish
7 — Repeat steps 1 thru 6
Create as many content pages as needed (e.g., About, Contact, etc)
Display/Hide Page Titles
The Default Template will display the page title by default. However, there is an option to hide page titles, if desired.
1 — Go to Appearance > Customize > Content & Layout > Content
2 — Check the box to Hide Page Title (if desired) and Publish
Creating the Site Menu
1 — Go to Appearance > Menus
2 — Enter “Header” as the Menu Name
3 — Click the Save Menu button
4 — Set the Menu Location
Select the Manage Locations tab and select “Header” from the drop down menu
5 — Click the Save Changes button
6 — Select the Edit Menus tab
7 — Click the Screen Options tab in the upper right corner of the screen
8 — Check the following boxes and close the Screen Options area
Pages • Custom Links • Link Target
9 — Add pages to the menu
Inside the Pages panel, check the box next to each page that you would like to include in the menu and click Add to Menu
You may need to remove any/all existing pages listed in the menu by default
10 — Drag and drop pages to organize menu items
11 — Click Save Menu when finished
Creating Portfolio Gallery Pages
1 — Go to Pages > Add New
2 — Give your new page a title (e.g, Paintings)
Leave the block editor empty for now
3 — Specify the Projects Page Visibility
The Project Page Visibility drop down menu is located inside the Status & Visibility panel in Document settings. See tips below.
If you plan to use the Projects page template (see step 4.5) select ‘Yes’ from the Projects Page Visibility drop down menu and use the Featured Image panel to set a featured thumbnail image for the project
For best results, size featured images to 1000 pixels (longest side) – 72dpi – JPEG format – Save for Web in Photoshop at High Compression quality)
4 — Select a Page Template (e.g., Masonry Gallery, Horizontal Gallery, etc)
The Template drop down menu is located inside the Page Attributes panel in Document settings
5 — Specify the Page Layout Style
The Page Layout options are located inside the Layout panel in Document settings
6 — Set Default Gallery Options
Page specific Gallery Options (i.e., default display, slideshow, transition effect) are Custom Sidebar settings. Click the smiley face icon at the top right corner of the window to configure
7 — Click Publish
8 — Repeat steps 1 thru 6
Create as many portfolio gallery pages as desired
Uploading Portfolio Images
1 — Go to Pages > Select the page you intend to work with
2 — Create a Gallery Block
3 — Select images to upload from your computer or media library
Recommended image size is at least 1000px (longest side) – 72dpi – JPEG format – Save for Web in Photoshop at High or Very High Compression quality
4 — Re-order and/or add image captions
Select the gallery block and click the pencil icon to edit
Image caption and description fields are supported. The image title field will not be displayed.
Vimeo and YouTube embeds are supported. Go to step 4.8 of the documentation for more information
5 — Click Publish
Adding Portfolio Pages to the Menu
1 — Go to Appearance > Menus
2 — Add portfolio page(s) to the menu
Inside the Pages panel, check the box next to each portfolio page and click Add to Menu
3 — Drag and drop pages to organize menu items
To nest pages and create a submenu follow the steps below or watch video tutorial (no sound):
3-a) Inside the Custom Links panel, replace http:// with the # symbol
3-b) Enter a menu section name (e.g., Portfolio, Projects, Work, etc) in the Link Text field
3-c) Click Add to Menu
3-d) Drag and drop your new custom link to a desired location within the menu
3-e) Drag all desired projects on top of the custom link until they indent slightly indicating that they have been properly nested
4 — Click Save Menu
Displaying Portfolio Descriptions
Portfolio gallery page templates (i.e., Masonry, Horizontal, Thumbnail, Vertical) support the addition of unique text descriptions. Use the Sidebar Content Editor located below the Block Editor to add a portfolio description.
The projects page template is designed to display a thumbnail image and title to represent each project or gallery in a portfolio.
Using the Projects Template
1 — Go to Pages > Add New
2 — Give your new page a title (e.g., Projects)
Leave the block editor empty
3 — Specify the Projects Template
The Template drop down menu is located inside the Page Attributes panel in Document settings
4 — Specify the Page Layout Style
The Page Layout options are located inside the Layout panel in Document settings
5 — Click Publish
6 — Go to Appearance > Customize > Projects
7 — Use the customization options to specify page styles including number of columns and padding
8 — Click Publish
Adding Thumbnail Images to the Projects Page
1 — Go to Pages > Select the page you intend to work with
2 — Set the Projects Page Visibility to ‘Yes’
The Projects Page Visibility drop down menu is located inside the Status & Visibility panel in Document settings
4 — Upload a featured image using the Featured Image panel
The Featured Image panel is located on the right side of the screen
Recommended featured image size: 1000 pixels (longest side) – 72dpi – JPEG format – Save for Web in Photoshop at High Compression
5 — Click Update
6 — Repeat steps 1 thru 5 to add as many image thumbnails to the projects page as needed
Organizing Projects Page Thumbnails
The Simple Custom Post Order plugin allows you to re-order pages using a drag and drop interface. See Step 10.1. After the plugin has been installed and configured go to Appearance > Customize > Projects and set the Item Order to ‘Ascending Order’.
Gallery Display Options
Gallery display options are available via Appearance > Customize > Galleries. Custom gallery display options are organized according to each gallery template.
Embedding Videos
Vimeo and YouTube embeds are supported.
1 — Go to Pages > Select the title of the page you intend to work with
2 — Select the gallery block and click the pencil icon to edit
3 — Click Add to Gallery
4 — Upload an image to act as the video thumbnail
Recommended image size is at least 1000px (longest side) – 72dpi – JPEG format – Save for Web in Photoshop at High Compression
5 — In the image Attachment Details area use the available field to provide the video URL
6 — Drag and drop images to organize and/or add image captions
Image caption and description fields are supported. The image title field will not be displayed.
7 — Click the Update Gallery button
8 — Click the Update button
Adding or Re-Ordering Portfolio Images
1 — Go to Pages > Select the page you intend to work with
2 — Click to select any image within the Gallery Block
3 — Click the ‘Select Gallery’ option from the settings toolbar (far left button)
4 — Click the ‘Add’ option from the settings toolbar
5 — Click ‘Open Media Library’
6 — Click Edit Gallery to re-order images and/or add image captions
7 — Click Add to Gallery to upload new images or select images from the media library
8 — Click Update Gallery
9 — Click Update
Creating the Homepage
1 — Go to Pages > Add New
2 — Give your new page a title (e.g, Home)
Leave the block editor empty for now
3 — Set the Projects Page Visibility to ‘No’
The Projects Page Visibility drop down menu is located inside the Status & Visibility panel in Document settings
4 — Select a Page Template (e.g., Masonry Gallery, Horizontal Gallery, etc)
The Template drop down menu is located inside the Page Attributes panel in Document settings
5 — Specify the Page Layout Style
The Page Layout options are located inside the Layout panel in Document settings
6 — Set Default Gallery Options
Page specific Gallery Options (i.e., default display, slideshow, transition effect) are Custom Sidebar settings. Click the smiley face icon at the top right corner of the window to configure
7 — Click Publish
Creating the Homepage Gallery
1 — Go to Pages > Select the Homepage
2 — Create a Gallery Block
3 — Select images to upload from your computer or media library
Recommended image size is at least 1000px (longest side) – 72dpi – JPEG format – Save for Web in Photoshop at High or Very High Compression quality
4 — Re-order and/or add image captions
Select the gallery block and click the pencil icon to edit
Image caption and description fields are supported. The image title field will not be displayed.
Vimeo and YouTube embeds are supported. Go to step 4.8 of the documentation for more information
5 — Click Publish
Gallery Display Options
Gallery display options are available via Appearance > Customize > Galleries. Custom gallery display options are organized according to each gallery template.
Setting the Homepage Display
1 — Go to Settings > Reading
2 — Choose ‘A Static Page’ as the your homepage display
3 — Select ‘Home’ from the Homepage drop down menu
4 — Click Save Changes
Creating the Blog
The blog posts page may display left, right, or no sidebar widgets. Follow the steps below to create the blog page and specify the location of sidebar widgets, if applicable.
1 — Go to Pages > Add New
2 — Give your new page a title (e.g., About) then click Publish
3 — Set the Projects Page Visibility to ‘No’
The Projects Page Visibility drop down menu is located inside the Status & Visibility panel in Document settings
4 — Select the Default Template
The Template drop down menu is located inside the Page Attributes panel in Document settings
5 — Specify the Page Layout Style
The Page Layout options are located inside the Layout panel in Document settings
6 — Click Publish
Setting the Blog Posts Page Display
1 — Go to Settings > Reading
2 — ‘A Static Page’ should be selected as the Homepage display option
3 — Select ‘Blog’ from the Posts Page drop down menu
4 — Specify the number of posts to show on the blog posts page at once
5 — Click Save Changes
Using Featured Images
Blog posts support featured images. The Featured Image panel is in Document settings. Click the ‘Set featured image’ link in the panel to upload/select your featured image.
Follow the steps below to specify how featured images are to be displayed and aligned.
1 — Go to Appearance > Customize > Blog
2 — Locate the ‘Featured Image Settings’
3 — Select from the options provided and Publish
Blog Display Options
Blog display options are available via Appearance > Customize > Blog
Uploading the Site Logo
1 — Go to Appearance > Customize > General > Site Identity
2 — Select ‘Logo’ from the Site Identity Display drop down menu
3 — Upload your site Logo and HD/Retina logo (2x) in the Logo section
4 — Click Publish
Displaying the Site Title/Logo as a Font
1 — Go to Appearance > Customize > General > Site Identity
2 — Select ‘Site Title’ from the Site Identity Display drop down menu
3 — Enter your Site Title and Tagline in the fields provided
You may check the box to ‘Hide Tagline’, if desired
4 — Click Publish
5 — Go to Appearance > Customize > Typography
6 — Select a Google font from the Site Title section
Use the controls to set the font family, font size and letter spacing
7 — Repeat steps 5 and 6 for your site tagline, if desired
8 — Click Publish
9 — Go to Appearance > Customize > Color Scheme
10 — Set the color for the Site Title and Tagline
11 — Click Publish
Configuring Theme Styles
Access built-in styling options via Appearance > Customize
Explore the General, Typography, Color Scheme, Content & Layout, Galleries, Projects, and Blog tabs to further customize your website to match your brand.
Advanced Customization
Minimal now offers CSS customization. Email us to inquire about your specific customization request and receive pricing.
Configuring TypeKit (CSS knowledge required)
1 — Go to Appearance > TypeKit
2 — Select ‘Enable TypeKit’ checkbox
3 — Provide your Kit ID in the field provided
4 — Click Update
5 — Replace the font-family, font-style and font-weight for CSS ID and Class Selectors you wish you to use
6 — Input your CSS to Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS
7 — Click Publish
CoBlocks
CoBlocks is a suite of professional page building content blocks, including row and column building, for the WordPress Gutenberg block editor.
Simple Custom Post Order
Simple Custom Post Order allows you to re-order pages using a drag and drop interface.
Configuring the Plugin
1 — After the plugin has been installed and activated go to Settings > SCPOrder
2 — Select the ‘Pages’ option and click Update
Image Display Options
To optimize speed gallery images are restricted by default to a display width of 1024px. However, depending on your audience you may prefer to deliver larger images by default.
Your theme includes 2 options for displaying larger images which may be selected via Appearance > Customize > Galleries:
Full Size
Be advised, if full size images are delivered your site may experience less than optimal page load speed depending on the image size and weight, and the quality of your web host. Therefore, images should always be saved at 72dpi – JPEG format.
Responsive
If responsive support is enabled 1x images will be delivered on non-retina display screens and 2x images will be delivered on retina display screens. To make this functionality effective you will need to upload large dimension images to begin with. We recommend image sizes of at least 2048px – 72dpi – JPEG format – Save for Web in Photoshop at Very High Compression if this option is selected.
Importing Demo Content
Important: As a convenience we have supplied an importable XML file to replicate the menu and page content seen on our theme demo. This is especially helpful for getting started quickly by providing a visual reference for how content is created and organized.
1 — Login to your site
2 — Make sure you have activated your Minimal theme before proceeding
3 — Download the Made theme demo content .xml file – (download XML file)
4 — Install and activate the One Click Demo Import plugin
5 — Go to Appearance > Import Demo Data to Run the One Click Demo Import plugin
The theme demo content file is located inside the downloaded .zip file. You must extract this archive on your computer and only upload the .xml file in WordPress