TheBlogger Documentation
Overview of the theme, its contents, and how to get started with the theme
Overview of the theme, its contents, and how to get started with the theme
by Pixelwars
Thank you for purchasing our theme! If you have a question that this documentation doesn't answer, ask us on our support forums. If you like the theme, please rate it on ThemeForest.
- Pixelwars Team
Sign in to our support forums to ask your question. To open a new topic, you need your Item Purchase Code (where is my purchase code?).
If you like the theme, you can rate it on your ThemeForest Downloads page.
We assume you have basic knowledge of WordPress. In this documentation, you will learn how to install, set up and customize TheBlogger.
We've assembled some links to get you started:
Learn WordPress: Level up your WordPress skills.
- (Course) Beginner WordPress User
- (Video) How to Find Help with WordPress
- (Video) WordPress Dashboard Overview
- (Video) How to Install a Theme
- (Video) How to Choose and Install Plugins
- (Video) Using the Theme Customizer
- (Video) Using the Media Library
- (Video) Intro to Publishing with the Block Editor
- (Video) Intro to the Block Directory
- (Video) Using WordPress in Other Languages
WordPress Documentation: A variety of resources to help you get the most out of WordPress.
- Where to Start: Learn the basics of WordPress and take your first steps.
- Dashboard: Get to know the control center of your site.
- Administration Screens
- WordPress Block Editor - Blocks
- Pages Screen - Create Pages
- Posts Screen - Posts Categories Screen - Posts Tags Screen
- Comments Screen - Comments in WordPress - Comment Moderation - Avatars
- Media Library Screen - Media Add New Screen - Edit Media
- Settings General Screen
- Settings Writing Screen
- Settings Discussion Screen
- Settings Media Screen
- Settings Permalinks Screen
- Customization: Get the look and feel you want on your site.
- Maintenance: Keep your site updated, backed up, and ready.
WordPress Support Forums: Community-based Support Forums are a great place to learn, share, and troubleshoot.
- Fixing WordPress Forum: For any problems encountered after setting up WordPress.
- Requests and Feedback Forum: Suggest new features and share feedback about WordPress.
- Everything else WordPress Forum: For relevant questions and problems not covered in the other forums.
Note: The WordPress.org forums don't provide support for commercial themes. For questions about TheBlogger, please use our support forums.
Free Plugins: The WordPress Plugin Directory is the largest directory of free and open source WordPress plugins. Extend your WordPress experience with plugins.
You can add the theme to your WordPress site in one of the following ways.
The Envato Market plugin connects your site to your ThemeForest account and installs the themes you purchased.
The plugin also helps you keep the theme up to date (see the Update section).
Note: The "Theme/1 - Parent Theme" folder also has a "Previous Version" folder, with the ZIP file of the previous theme version. Don't install it on a new site. It is there for sites that already use the theme: if your site has a problem after an update, you can go back to the previous version by installing this file (see the Update section).
Note: Your host limits the size of the files you can upload. You can see this limit under Tools > Site Health > Info > Media Handling ("Max size of an uploaded file"). If the theme's ZIP file is larger than this limit, install the theme with one of the ways below, or ask your hosting provider to increase the limit.
A child theme inherits the functionality and styling of the parent theme. If you want to change the theme's code, use the child theme: your changes are kept when you update the parent theme (see the Update section).
This theme is coded to high standards to ensure seamless compatibility with plugins.
Go to Appearance > Install Theme Plugins to install the plugins used on the demo site. Pixelwars Core adds the theme's features, such as the portfolio and some of the custom widgets. Pixelwars Core Shortcodes adds the shortcodes (see the Shortcodes section). The other plugins are:
<p> <label>Subscribe your e-mail address and get to know about fresh stuff!</label> </p> <p> <input type="email" name="EMAIL" placeholder="Your email address" required="required"> </p> <p> <input type="submit" value="Sign up"> </p>
Importing demo data (posts, pages, theme settings, etc.) is the quickest and easiest way to set up your new theme. It allows you to simply edit everything instead of creating content and layouts from scratch.
Before you import the demo, make sure your server meets our system requirements (WordPress and PHP versions, and PHP limits such as memory and upload size). You can check your current values under Tools > Site Health > Info > Server. If you are not sure whether your server meets them, contact your hosting provider.
First, go to Appearance > Install Theme Plugins, and install and activate the plugins listed there. Then choose one of the following methods. A low upload size limit on your server can stop the import. In this case, you need to increase it; see this article for how to do it.
Use this method if the one-click import doesn't work on your server. The files are in the "Sample Data" folder of the theme package. If the theme has more than one demo, each demo has its own folder.
Permalinks are the permanent URLs to your individual pages and blog posts, as well as your category and tag archives. A permalink is the web address used to link to your content.
For more information
This theme supports WordPress's Customizer feature. In the Customizer, related settings are grouped under the same section. Therefore, finding a setting is very easy.
With the Customizer, you can customize almost every aspect of your theme. While doing so, you can see the changes live on your website.
You can set your logo either as plain text or as an image. You can also configure your main navigation menu and widgets with the live preview.
We especially recommend adjusting the color settings to align your website's color scheme with your business or logo. If the default color settings work well for you, there is no need to change them.
You can always access the Customizer by going to Appearance > Customize.
To add small style changes, use Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS. For changes in the theme's code, use the child theme, so that your changes are kept when you update the theme (see the Installation and Update sections).
To control your fonts in a single place, check "Disable Default Fonts" under Elementor > Settings > General (see the Elementor section). Then all fonts on your Elementor pages come from the font settings in the Customizer. When you want to change a font, you change it once in the Customizer, instead of changing each title one by one in Elementor.
If the Customizer doesn't meet your needs, you can also set global colors, fonts and styles for all your Elementor pages in Elementor's Site Settings.
For more information
Widgets are independent sections of content that can be placed into widgetized areas.
This theme has custom widgets. Main Slider, Intro, About Me, Link Box and Social Media Icon come with the theme. Button, Icon Box and Animated Search come with the Pixelwars Core plugin, so make sure it is installed and active (see the Plugins section). In the widget list, their names start with "(Pixelwars)".
Note: Check out the Plugins section for "Subscribe" widget.
The Intro widget can use one of the following backgrounds:
Example embed code: (Vimeo)
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/111529240?autoplay=1&loop=1&muted=1" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
Note: ?autoplay=1, &loop=1 and &muted=1 are optional. Browsers only play a video automatically when it is muted, so keep &muted=1 if you use ?autoplay=1.
Set a featured area for your page with the "Select Featured Area" option in the "Featured Area" box of the page edit screen.
Featured areas are widget areas, like sidebars. You can create new ones from Appearance > Theme Options > Widget Areas (see the Sidebar section).
You can add many widgets to a featured area. See the Widgets section for all widgets of the theme.
Main Slider displays your latest blog posts or your sticky blog posts. Choose this with the "Slides" option of the widget ("Latest posts" or "Sticky posts"). You can also set the number of slides, the ratio and the animation of the slider.
In the post editor, open the settings sidebar and mark the post as "Sticky". You can also use Quick Edit in the Posts list and check "Make this post sticky".
Note: This theme uses custom image sizes. If you have images in your Media Library, run Regenerate Thumbnails plugin once (see the Installation section).
Pages are similar to posts in that they have a title, body text, and associated metadata, but they are different in that they are not part of the chronological blog stream, kind of like permanent posts. Pages are not categorized or tagged, but can have a hierarchy. You can nest pages under other pages by making one the "Parent" of the other, creating a group of pages.
When editing a page/post in the WordPress editor, you will find a Settings sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen. This panel contains various options and settings related to the page, such as:
These settings control how the page is displayed. You can find more information about the Settings sidebar in this article.
The theme also adds its own boxes to the settings sidebar, like "Page Style", "Sidebar", "Featured Area" and "Title Visibility". With them, you can change these settings for a single page (see the Posts section).
You can assign a custom template to any page by editing it in the WordPress admin area. To select a custom page template, open the Template dropdown in the settings sidebar.
The theme's page templates:
When the Elementor plugin is active, you can also choose its "Elementor Full Width" and "Elementor Canvas" templates (see the Elementor section).
Some page templates include a sidebar area that can display widgets such as recent posts, categories, or custom content.
By default, sidebars are disabled for pages. If you want to display a sidebar on a specific page, open that page in the WordPress editor and select a sidebar in the "Sidebar" box. The theme has a "Page Sidebar" widget area for pages, and you can also choose any other widget area, including the ones you create in Appearance > Theme Options > Widget Areas (see the Sidebar section).
After selecting a sidebar, go to Appearance > Widgets and add any widgets you want to the sidebar you chose for that page (see the Widgets section).
Managing pages is very similar to managing posts, and the screens can be customized in the same way. You can also perform the same types of actions, including narrowing the list by using the filters, acting on a page using the action links that appear when you hover over a row, or using the Bulk actions menu to edit the metadata for multiple pages at once.
Learn more about Managing Pages.
Useful Resources
Learn how to get the most out of the WordPress block editor when publishing your content.
WordPress allows you to choose what your homepage displays. You can use a classic blog page showing your latest posts, or you can assign a static page. If you don't want a blog page on your site, you can set a static homepage only. Creating a blog page is optional. To set a static homepage, simply create (or choose) a page and assign it as the Homepage in Settings > Reading.
Note: Like the demo site, your homepage shows your latest posts by default. The widgets in the "Blog Featured Area" widget area (for example a slider) are shown above your posts (see the Featured Area section).
If you want a static homepage instead:
You can also design your homepage with Elementor (see the Elementor section).
You can also show your latest posts on any page with the theme's "Latest Posts" page template.
Here, you will find the information you need to create a blog post. Once you have created your blog post, you can publish it on your blog page. Blog posts have a title, body text, and associated metadata, and they are part of the chronological blog stream. Posts are categorized and tagged, but can not have a hierarchy. Post categories can have a hierarchy. You can nest categories under other categories by making one the "Parent" of the other, creating a group of categories.
If you have any questions about blog page and blog posts, feel free to reach out to us on our support forum. We are happy to assist you!
Let your creativity flow and craft engaging blog posts to share. This will enhance the value of your website and also help it rank higher in search engines.
When editing a page/post in the WordPress editor, you will find a Settings sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen. This panel contains various options and settings related to the page, such as:
These settings control how the page is displayed. You can find more information about the Settings sidebar in this article.
The theme adds the following boxes to the settings sidebar. With them, you can change these settings for a single post or page. The default value, "Inherit from Customizer", uses the setting from the Customizer.
Creating a blog page in WordPress is simple, and you can do it in just a few steps. Here's how (see also the Homepage section):
Now, whenever you publish a new blog post, it will automatically appear on your blog page. Happy blogging!
You can use categories to define sections of your site and group related posts. The default category is "Uncategorized" until you change it in the WordPress Writing settings.
You can assign keywords to your posts using tags. Unlike categories, tags have no hierarchy, meaning there's no relationship from one tag to another.
The Post Formats feature in WordPress allows you to use different styles and layouts for various types of content. This feature helps your theme make posts more dynamic and user-friendly.
On the post edit screen, you can choose the format of a blog post. To do this, open the edit screen of a post and locate the "Format" option in the settings sidebar on the right-hand side.
Note: You can change the post format of an already published post at any time. Simply edit the post and select a different "Format" from the options. WordPress will automatically adjust the layout based on the new format, ensuring that your content remains visually appealing.
For the Audio, Video and Link formats, use the "Featured Audio/Video" box in the settings sidebar of the post edit screen:
WordPress provides a variety of Post Formats, each designed for specific types of content. When creating a post, you can enhance its layout using the WordPress Block Editor.
In the block inserter menu, you will find suitable blocks for each post format. For example, the "Gallery" format supports the "Gallery" block, and the "Video" format supports the "Video" block. To quickly find the right block for a format, simply type the format name (e.g., "Image," "Quote," or "Video") into the block search field. WordPress will automatically suggest the most relevant block for your post format.
This theme supports the following WordPress Post Formats:
JOHN: Hey there MARY: Aye, matey! JOHN: Huh?
Sidebars allow you to display additional content alongside your main blog page and individual posts. This can include widgets such as recent posts, categories, search bars, social media links, and advertisements.
Sidebars help improve navigation, user engagement, and monetization. Customize them to match your site's design and audience preferences.
This theme allows you to enable or disable sidebars through the Customizer. To check:
Then go to Appearance > Widgets and add widgets to the "Blog Sidebar" and "Post Sidebar" widget areas (see the Widgets section).
The Sidebar section of the Customizer also has other options, like "Sidebar Position" and "Sticky Sidebar". See the Sidebar section for more.
Hovering over a row in the posts list will display action links that allow you to manage your post. You can perform the following actions:
Learn more about Managing Posts, Categories and Tags.
Useful Resources
Learn how to get the most out of the WordPress block editor when publishing your content.
Go to Appearance > Install Theme Plugins. You can see the plugin "Pixelwars Core" in the list. Install the plugin. When you click the "Install" link, it will be installed and activated automatically. Then go to your main dashboard page. Now you can see the "Portfolio" menu.
There are three submenus under the Portfolio menu:
When editing a page/post in the WordPress editor, you will find a Settings sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen. This panel contains various options and settings related to the page, such as:
These settings control how the page is displayed. You can find more information about the Settings sidebar in this article.
The theme also adds its own boxes to the settings sidebar, like "Post Style", "Sidebar" and "Gallery Type". With them, you can change these settings for a single portfolio post or page (see the Posts section).
Portfolio items are similar to blog posts.
Note: You can see a "Gallery Type" option (Grid or Slider) in the "Gallery Type" box. The type option affects content galleries when you view your portfolio post in individual page.
Note: If you do not see the boxes mentioned above in the edit screen, turn them on from Options (⋮) > Preferences > Panels in the upper right side of the editor.
There are two ways to build one or more portfolio pages.
This page shows all published portfolio posts.
Note: Add some text to content of the page to show it like a message in your portfolio page.
Note: Play with post publish date to change item order in your portfolio page.
A portfolio category page shows its own published portfolio posts.
Note: Add some text to description field of a category to show it like a message in your portfolio category page. (Portfolio > Portfolio Categories > Edit > Description)
Note: Play with post publish date to change item order in your portfolio category page.
Go to Appearance > Customize > Portfolio.
This setting is used in single view of portfolio posts.
Activate Overflowing Functionality
Enable Overflowing For Images
Control portfolio sidebar from Appearance > Customize > Sidebar:
Sidebar for Portfolio Page Template: Adjust sidebar in the "Sidebar" box in edit screen.
Portfolio Widget Area: You can see the Portfolio Sidebar widget area listed in the Widgets page under Appearance menu.
Useful Resources
Learn how to get the most out of the WordPress block editor when publishing your content.
The theme works with Elementor, a drag-and-drop page builder. With Elementor, you can design your pages visually without writing code. The demo site isn't built with Elementor, so using it is optional.
Install and activate Elementor from Plugins > Add Plugin. Before you install it, make sure your site meets Elementor's requirements.
Go to Elementor > Settings > General:
With these options checked, Elementor uses the colors and fonts of the theme instead of its own defaults.
When creating a new page, choose Template: "Elementor Full Width".
The shortcodes come with the Pixelwars Core Shortcodes plugin. Install and activate it from Appearance > Install Theme Plugins.
[row] Column shortcode here. [/row] [column width=""] Content here. [/column] width="" ... 1 to 12. (required). 12 = 100%, 6 = 50%, 3 = 25%. width_xs="" ... 1 to 12. (optional). Extra small devices - Phones (<768px). width_md="" ... 1 to 12. (optional). Medium devices - Desktops (≥992px). width_lg="" ... 1 to 12. (optional). Large devices - Desktops (≥1200px). Example 1: (Two Columns) [row] [column width="6"] Content here. [/column] [column width="6"] Content here. [/column] [/row] Example 2: (Three Columns) [row] [column width="4"] Content here. [/column] [column width="4"] Content here. [/column] [column width="4"] Content here. [/column] [/row] Example 3: (Four Columns) [row] [column width="3"] Content here. [/column] [column width="3"] Content here. [/column] [column width="3"] Content here. [/column] [column width="3"] Content here. [/column] [/row]
[button text="" url="" new_tab="" size="" icon=""] new_tab="" ... yes size="" ... mini, small, big, huge icon="" ... See Icons section. Example: [button text="My Button" url="https://www.example.com"]
[social_icon type="" same_tab="" url=""] [social_icon type="" same_tab="" url=""] [social_icon type="" same_tab="" url=""] same_tab="" ... yes type="" ... behance, blogger, bloglovin, deviantart, digg, dribbble, facebook, fivehundredpx, flickr, foursquare, github, goodreads, instagram, lastfm, linkedin, medium, meetup, paypal, pinterest, quora, reddit, rss, slideshare, snapchat, soundcloud, spotify, stack-overflow, tiktok, tumblr, twitch, twitter (X), unsplash, vimeo, vkontakte, weibo, whatsapp, wordpress, xing, yelp, youtube Note: You can use your site's feed url for the rss icon: https://www.yoursite.com/feed/ Example 1: [social_icon type="facebook" url="https://www.facebook.com/username"] [social_icon type="twitter" url="https://x.com/username"] Example 2: [social_icon type="facebook" same_tab="yes" url="https://www.facebook.com/username"] [social_icon type="twitter" same_tab="yes" url="https://x.com/username"]
[contact_form captcha="" to="" subject=""] to="" ... Your email address. captcha="yes" Example: [contact_form to="yourname@example.com" subject="New Message from My Site"]
[alert type=""]Text here.[/alert] type="" ... success, error. Example 1: [alert]My alert text.[/alert] Example 2: [alert type="success"]My alert text.[/alert] Example 3: [alert type="error"]My alert text.[/alert]
[tab_wrap titles="" active=""] [tab]Text here.[/tab] [tab]Text here.[/tab] [tab]Text here.[/tab] [/tab_wrap] titles="" ... Separate with commas. Example: [tab_wrap titles="Tab One,Tab Two,Tab Three"] [tab] Tab one text here. [/tab] [tab] Tab two text here. [/tab] [tab] Tab three text here. [/tab] [/tab_wrap]
[accordion_wrap] [accordion title=""]Text here.[/accordion] [accordion title=""]Text here.[/accordion] [accordion title=""]Text here.[/accordion] [/accordion_wrap]
[toggle_wrap] [toggle title=""]Text here.[/toggle] [toggle title=""]Text here.[/toggle] [toggle title=""]Text here.[/toggle] [/toggle_wrap]
[quote align="" name=""]Text here.[/quote] align="" ... alignleft, alignright
[timeline] [event_group_title icon="" text=""] [event current="" date="" title="" sub_title=""]Text here.[/event] [event current="" date="" title="" sub_title=""]Text here.[/event] [event current="" date="" title="" sub_title=""]Text here.[/event] [/timeline] icon="" ... See Icons section. current="" ... current
[skill title="Fireworks" percent="90"] [skill title="Photoshop" percent="70"] [skill title="Illustrator" percent="50"]
[testimonial image="" title="" sub_title=""]Description text here.[/testimonial] [testimonial image="" title="" sub_title=""]Description text here.[/testimonial] [testimonial image="" title="" sub_title=""]Description text here.[/testimonial] title="" ... Person's name. sub_title="" ... Person's job. image="" ... An image url. Upload your image to your Media Library, then copy its url and use in this parameter.
[section_title]Title here.[/section_title]
[fun_fact] An image here. Heading 4 title here. [/fun_fact]
[service] An image here. Heading 4 title here. Description here. [/service]
Edit images in your content. Add full keyword as Image CSS Class to your image from
advanced options.
Edit images in your content. Add zoom keyword as Link CSS Class to your image from
advanced options. And Link To: Media File from display settings.
Edit images in your content. Add parallax or parallax half keywords as
Image CSS Class to your image from advanced options.
Available icons here.
Select your icon from the list. Don't use the prefix pw-icon-. Only use icon name
for the icon="" parameter of the shortcodes.
This theme is coded to be fully compatible with the WooCommerce plugin. You can install the WooCommerce plugin at any time to transform your website into an e-commerce platform. Whether you want to sell digital products or physical goods, it's all possible with this setup.
There are also numerous free and paid extensions available for the WooCommerce plugin. With these, you can add extra features to your website and build a more advanced structure. This way, you can stay one step ahead of your competitors.
For questions about how the theme works with WooCommerce, feel free to ask on our support forums. For questions about the WooCommerce plugin itself, use the WooCommerce support forum (see below).
Go to Plugins > Add Plugin, search for "WooCommerce", and install and activate the plugin.
The theme has its own settings for your shop:
The "Default" and "Judy" demos include shop products. If you import one of them, install and activate WooCommerce before you import the demo (see the Demo Import section).
The WooCommerce plugin comes with its own sample products. You can import them to see how your shop looks with products. The sample files are in the "sample-data" folder of the WooCommerce plugin. See Importing WooCommerce Sample Data for how to import them.
All texts of the theme are translatable. You can translate them into your language with a plugin (Loco Translate) or with a desktop editor (Poedit).
The theme includes a template file that contains all of its texts: theblogger.pot, in the "languages" folder of the theme. You can also use translation to change the theme's English texts. For example, category archives show the title Browsing Category. You can create an "English (United States)" translation and change this title to something like Posts under Category.
Important: Don't save your translation files in the theme folder. Theme updates replace the whole theme folder, so your translations would be deleted. Save them in one of the folders described below, which theme updates don't touch.
theblogger-de_DE.po and theblogger-de_DE.mo for German. Then upload them to the "wp-content/languages/themes/" folder.
Go to Settings > General and choose your language in "Site Language". Your translation appears on the site only when the site language matches it.
Some texts, like the portfolio labels and the theme's widgets, come from the Pixelwars Core plugin. The plugin has its own translation files and already includes translations for some languages. To translate or change its texts, follow the same steps under Loco Translate > Plugins > Pixelwars Core.
To publish your content (posts, pages, and menus) in more than one language, use a multilingual plugin. For the theme's own texts, most of these plugins use the theme's translation files, so translate the theme first as described above.
A backup is a copy of your site that you can go back to if something goes wrong, like a failed update, a broken plugin or a hacked site. Keep recent backups, and keep at least one copy outside your server.
A full backup has two parts. You need both to restore your site:
Keep copies outside your server (in cloud storage or on your computer), so you can restore your site even if your server has a problem. See WordPress Backups to learn more.
Restore your site with the same tool you used to back it up. In UpdraftPlus, go to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups, find the backup in the list of existing backups and click "Restore". For hosting backups, use your hosting control panel or ask your hosting provider.
Note: From time to time, check that your backups work, for example by restoring one on a test site.
Choose one of the following ways. With the Envato Market plugin, you don't need to download anything. For the other two ways, download the new theme package from your ThemeForest account and unzip it. The theme file to upload (theblogger.zip) is inside the "Theme/1 - Parent Theme" folder of the package, in the folder with the new version number.
Note: The "Theme/1 - Parent Theme" folder also has a "Previous Version" folder, with the ZIP file of the previous theme version. If your site has a problem after an update, you can go back to the previous version: install this file the same way, via WordPress or via FTP.
The Envato Market plugin connects your site to your ThemeForest account. WordPress can then check for updates of the themes you purchased and install them.
You don't need to activate another theme or delete the current one first. Switching to another theme and back can mix up your menu locations and widgets.
Note: If your host doesn't allow uploading large files, update the theme via FTP.
You can upload files to your site with an FTP client or with the file manager in your hosting control panel. See Updating WordPress using FTP to learn more about both.
Note: Don't upload the new folder over the old one. Files that were removed in the new version would stay on your server.
The theme comes with its own plugins, like Pixelwars Core. A new theme version can include new versions of these plugins, so update them right after you update the theme. Go to Appearance > Install Theme Plugins and update the plugins listed there. WordPress also shows a notice in the dashboard when these plugins need an update.
Keep WordPress up to date, because new versions include security fixes (see the Security section). Before you update to a new major version of WordPress, make a backup and check whether a theme update for the new version is available. You can find your theme's page on ThemeForest in the Pixelwars portfolio.
If you prefer to start major updates yourself, go to Dashboard > Updates and click "Switch to automatic updates for maintenance and security releases only". Maintenance and security releases will still be installed automatically. Don't postpone major updates for long.
Using a WordPress site securely is essential for protecting your website from potential threats. Here are some key security recommendations:
Always keep WordPress, themes, and plugins updated to the latest versions to prevent security vulnerabilities. See the Update section to learn how to update the theme.
Download the theme and its updates only from your ThemeForest account or through the Envato Market plugin (see the Update section). Download plugins only from WordPress.org or from their developers' websites. Never use "nulled" (pirated) copies of themes or plugins: they often contain hidden malicious code that can give attackers control of your site.
Delete the themes and plugins you don't use. Deactivated themes and plugins still stay on your server, and a security flaw in them can still put your site at risk. Don't delete the parent theme if you use its child theme, and keep one default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-Five) as a fallback.
WordPress runs on PHP, and old PHP versions no longer receive security fixes. You can see your PHP version under Tools > Site Health > Info > Server. If it is no longer a supported version, ask your hosting provider to switch to a newer one. Before switching, update WordPress, your theme, and your plugins.
Don't use "admin" or other easy-to-guess usernames. WordPress doesn't let you change a username, so if your site has an "admin" account, create a new administrator account with a unique username, log in with it, and delete the old account. When WordPress asks what should be done with the content owned by that user, choose "Attribute all content to another user" and select your new account. Otherwise, all posts and pages of the old account will be deleted.
Ensure that you use complex passwords for your admin panel, database, and hosting account. Consider using a password manager. Don't re-use the same password on different services, especially if you are using the same username.
Ensure your website uses HTTPS with an SSL certificate. Most hosting providers offer free SSL via Let's Encrypt. Once your site opens with https://, go to Settings > General and change both "WordPress Address (URL)" and "Site Address (URL)" to start with https://. See HTTPS for WordPress for more details.
Use a security plugin like Wordfence, Kadence Security (formerly iThemes Security), or Sucuri Security to add extra protection layers. Important: If you decide to use a security plugin, make sure to activate only one at a time. Running multiple security plugins simultaneously may cause conflicts and errors.
Prevent brute-force attacks by limiting the number of failed login attempts. Wordfence and Kadence Security include this feature. If you don't use one of them, you can use a plugin like Limit Login Attempts Security (formerly Limit Login Attempts Reloaded).
For additional security, enable 2FA for your WordPress login to prevent unauthorized access. With 2FA, you enter a one-time code from an app on your phone after your password. WordPress doesn't include 2FA by default. Wordfence and Kadence Security include this feature. If you don't use one of them, you can use the Two Factor plugin.
Use a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus or your hosting provider's backup service to prevent data loss (see the Backups section).
By following these security measures, you can significantly reduce the risk of attacks and keep your WordPress site safe.
Answers to the questions we are asked most often in our support forum. Click a question to see its answer. Each answer links to the section with the details.
The file you download from ThemeForest is the whole package, with the documentation and the demo files. Unzip it and upload only the theblogger.zip file that is inside its "Theme/1 - Parent Theme" folder. The theme's ZIP file is about 15 MB: if your server's upload limit is lower, WordPress shows "The link you followed has expired". In this case, install the theme with the Envato Market plugin or via FTP, or ask your hosting provider to raise the upload limit (see Install Theme).
Most import errors, like "503 Service Unavailable", "500 Internal Server Error", "Looks like some of the plugins failed to install" or a site that shows only "Hello World", come from server limits. Make sure that your server meets the system requirements (PHP version and PHP limits such as memory, execution time, input time and upload size), or ask your hosting provider to raise them. Also install and activate the theme plugins before the import (see Import Methods). If only some demo images fail to import, your server couldn't download them; the rest of the content works, and you can replace them with your own images.
Install and activate the theme plugins before the import, especially Pixelwars Core, MC4WP and Top 10, and WooCommerce for the Default and Judy Froster demos (see Import Methods). Import only one demo, and only once. The import doesn't create the theme's image sizes, so run Regenerate Thumbnails once after it (Tools > Regenerate Thumbnails). The John demo has a static homepage, which the import doesn't set up: go to Settings > Reading, choose "A static page", select "Home" as the homepage and "Blog" as the posts page, then edit the "Home" page and select "Page Featured Area" in its "Featured Area" box. Finally, clear your caches.
Each import adds its posts, pages, menus and widgets again, so the demos mix. Back up your site first (see the Backups section). If your site has no content of your own yet, the quickest way is to reset it with a plugin like WP Reset, which deletes all content and settings. Otherwise, delete the imported posts, pages, media, menus and widgets yourself, and empty the trash. Then install the theme plugins and import one demo. To use the look of another demo later, see the next question.
The design of each demo comes from its Customizer settings, which the demo import brings. To switch to another demo without importing its content again, import only its Customizer settings: install the Customizer Export/Import plugin, go to Appearance > Customize > Export/Import and import the "customizer.dat" file from the "Sample Data/Customizer Settings/(demo name)" folder of the theme package. This replaces your Customizer settings but keeps your content. For the widgets of that demo, like its slider and link boxes, import its "widgets.wie" file with the Widget Importer & Exporter plugin (see Manual Import under Import Methods).
The demo menu contains custom links to the demo site, which show the theme's layouts. Their addresses start with themes.pixelwars.org. Go to Appearance > Menus and change or delete these links (see the Menu section). The boxes under the slider are "(Pixelwars) Link Box" widgets: go to Appearance > Widgets, open them in the "Blog Featured Area" or "Page Featured Area" widget area, and change their link and image (see the Featured Area section).
They are widgets, and where you add them depends on your homepage. If your homepage shows your latest posts (Settings > Reading), add them to the "Blog Featured Area" widget area. If your homepage is a page, add them to the "Page Featured Area" widget area, then edit the page and select "Page Featured Area" in its "Featured Area" box (see the Featured Area section). Note that the Customizer lists only the widget areas of the page you preview: you see "Blog Featured Area" only while you preview your blog. You can always use Appearance > Widgets instead.
The "(Pixelwars) Main Slider" widget shows your sticky posts when its "Slides" option is "Sticky posts", or your latest posts. To add a post to the slider, make it sticky (see How to Make a Post Sticky in the Featured Area section). The newest posts come first, so change the publish date of a post to change its place. By default, sticky posts are shown only in the slider, not in your list of posts. To show them in both, go to Appearance > Customize > Blog and set "Sticky Posts" to "Include to Blog".
When Settings > Reading is set to "Your latest posts", your homepage isn't a page: it lists your posts automatically. Change the layout of the list in Appearance > Customize > Blog, and the slider, link boxes and intro above it in the "Blog Featured Area" widget area (see the Featured Area section). If you want to design your homepage as a page, for example with Elementor, create a page and select it as the homepage in Settings > Reading (see the Homepage section). The page that you select as the "Posts page" also lists your posts automatically, so you can't edit its content.
Create a page for your homepage and select the "Latest Posts" template: it shows your five latest posts and a "See All Posts" button below them. Create an empty "Blog" page too. In Settings > Reading, choose "A static page", select the first page as the homepage and "Blog" as the posts page. The button links to the posts page, so it appears only when a posts page is selected. To show an intro or a slider above the list, add it to the "Page Featured Area" widget area and select this area in the "Featured Area" box of the homepage. The John demo and the "Home Alternate" page of the Default demo are set up this way.
These features come from the Pixelwars Core plugin. Go to Appearance > Install Theme Plugins and install and activate Pixelwars Core, or update it if a new version is listed there (see the Plugins section). Then the font lists show all fonts again.
The shortcodes, like [contact_form], [row] or [button], come with the Pixelwars Core Shortcodes plugin. Install and activate it from Appearance > Install Theme Plugins (see the Shortcodes section). Demo pages like "Contact" and "Shortcodes" use them.
You don't need one. These premium plugins come with the theme: the versions in the theme are complete, and you can use all their features without activating them. A license key would only give you automatic updates and support from the plugin's author; new versions come with theme updates instead (see Update Theme Plugins). Your theme's purchase code doesn't work for these plugins, so dismiss the notice. If you don't use one of them, deactivate it.
The form comes from the MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress plugin. Connect the plugin to your Mailchimp account with your API key, paste the form code into MC4WP > Form, and set "Form Style" to "Inherit from TheBlogger theme" (see Setting Up Mailchimp for WordPress in the Plugins section). Then go to Appearance > Widgets and add a "Mailchimp Sign-Up Form" widget to the "Footer Subscribe" widget area or to a sidebar. If visitors can't subscribe, check that a Mailchimp list is selected in the settings of the form. The theme styles only this plugin's form, so the forms of other newsletter services may look different.
Install Social Feed Gallery (listed as "Instagram Feed Gallery" in Appearance > Install Theme Plugins). Go to Social Feed Gallery > Accounts and add your Instagram account, then create a feed in Social Feed Gallery > Feeds. Go to Appearance > Widgets and add the feed to the "Footer Instagram" widget area with the plugin's block, or with a Shortcode block and the feed's shortcode. If the feed stops updating, your access token has expired: add your account again in Social Feed Gallery > Accounts.
Go to Appearance > Customize > Meta. In "Blog Meta" (post lists) and "Single Post Meta" (single posts), set "Like" and "Views Count" to "Hidden" and save. The "Visited X times" line below your posts comes from the Top 10 plugin: go to Top 10 > Settings > Counter/Tracker and uncheck the content types in "Display number of views on". The like button comes from the I Recommend This plugin, so you can also deactivate it.
The theme has its own share links, and Easy Social Share Buttons adds its own buttons. If you use the plugin, turn off the theme's share links: go to Appearance > Customize > Single Post and set "Share Links" to "No", then go to Meta > Single Post Meta and set "Share" to "Hidden". To keep the theme's share links instead, turn off the plugin's buttons in its settings or deactivate the plugin.
In the post lists, the theme shortens your posts automatically and adds "Read More" to the end, but only when it cuts some text. A post that is shorter than the excerpt length isn't cut, so it has no button. To show the button on such a post, write a short summary in the "Excerpt" field of the post: posts with an excerpt always show it. You can change the length with "Excerpt Length" and the text of the button with "More Link Text" in Appearance > Customize > Blog.
The "You May Also Like" section shows other posts that have at least one tag in common with the current post. If you set "Related Posts Category" to "Same category" in Appearance > Customize > Single Post, they must also be in the same category. If no other post matches, the section is hidden, so give related posts common tags. A post without tags shows your other posts without this rule. The section needs the Pixelwars Core plugin and "Related Posts" set to "Yes".
The theme uses its own image sizes. The demo import doesn't create them, and images that you uploaded before you activated the theme don't have them either, so run Regenerate Thumbnails once (Tools > Regenerate Thumbnails). The theme crops images to fit its layouts, like the square images of the list layout and the slider, whose shape you can change with the "Ratio" option of the Main Slider widget. For full-width and parallax images, upload images at least 1920 px wide and not wider than 16:9: parallax zooms in on wider images, which makes them blurry.
For a full-width image, select the image block and add full to "Additional CSS class(es)" in its "Advanced" settings. To make all centered images a little wider than the text, set "Post Media Width" to "Overflow" in Appearance > Customize > Single Post. Images aligned left or right are shown at no more than half width, with the text wrapping around them. To open an image in a lightbox, link it to the image file (Link To: Media File) and add zoom as its link CSS class (see Full-width Images and Zoomable Images in the Shortcodes section).
WordPress can close comments on older posts automatically: go to Settings > Discussion and uncheck "Automatically close comments on posts older than ... days", or raise the number of days. Also check that the post allows comments: edit it and turn on "Allow comments" in the "Discussion" panel of the settings sidebar.
Go to Appearance > Widgets and add a "(Pixelwars) Social Media Icon" widget to the "Header Social Media Icons" widget area for each icon. In each widget, choose the icon and enter the address of your profile. The icons appear in the menu bar. For the author box under your posts, use the "Author Social Media Icons" widget area the same way (see the Sidebar section).
The header has a color mask over its background, and some demos turn it on. Go to Appearance > Customize > Header > General and set "Header Mask Opacity" to 0 to remove it, or change its colors with "Header Mask Style", "Header Mask Color 1" and "Header Mask Color 2".
Phones use a separate logo size: go to Appearance > Customize > Site Identity and change "Image Logo Height Mobile (px)". If the menu text doesn't show on a light header, go to Header > Menu and set "Menu Text Color" to "Dark". Use "Light" only with a dark menu background.
The [contact_form] shortcode sends emails with PHP's mail() function, so your server must allow it. Ask your hosting provider to enable it, and check your spam folder. SMTP plugins don't work with this form, because it doesn't use WordPress's mail function. If your host can't help, use a form plugin, like WPForms or Contact Form 7, together with an SMTP plugin.
Use a plugin instead of editing the theme files, because theme updates replace them. Site Kit by Google adds Google Analytics, and WPCode can add any code, like a verification tag, to the head of all pages. For SEO titles, meta descriptions and social sharing images, use an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO.
Add your code to Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS. If a code doesn't work, there is usually a mistake before it: a missing closing brace "}" stops all the codes that come after it, and each @media block needs its own closing brace after the rules inside it. Then clear your caches, because cache and optimization plugins can keep the old styles.
Some texts don't come from the theme: "You May Also Like", "View Post" and the portfolio labels come from the Pixelwars Core plugin, and the labels of the contact form come from Pixelwars Core Shortcodes. Translate them in Loco Translate > Plugins (see the Translation section). A translation shows only when "Site Language" in Settings > General is the same language. After a theme update, click "Sync" in Loco Translate to add the new texts. To change only the "Read More" text, use "More Link Text" in Appearance > Customize > Blog.
Usually old files are still served from a cache: clear your browser's cache, your cache plugin and your server's or CDN's cache. Optimization features that combine or delay CSS and JavaScript files, like those of Autoptimize, WP Rocket or Cloudflare's Rocket Loader, can also break the layout: turn them off and check again. After a theme update, also update the theme plugins in Appearance > Install Theme Plugins (see Update Theme Plugins). If the problem stays, deactivate the plugins that don't come with the theme, then activate them again one by one to find the plugin that causes it.
These messages appear because WordPress is set to show debug messages. Notices don't break your site, but visitors shouldn't see them on a live site. Open the wp-config.php file and set define( 'WP_DEBUG', false );. If you want to keep the messages in a log file instead, use define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false ); and define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );. See Debugging in WordPress.