We’re in the process of overhauling our Support documentation. Any questions that are not yet answered will be very soon. In the meantime feel free to contact us for one-on-one support.
Essential
Minimal
tru
Less
Essential Theme
Purchase · Setup · FAQ · Shortcodes · Typography
Before We Begin
Before installing the Essential Theme you must have the following steps completed. Be sure to finish them before diving into the Setup section.
Essential Setup
Setting up Essential is simple and should take less than 15 minutes.
Install the Essential Theme
Activate Your Essential License Key
Add Content
Create Menus
Recommended Menus: Primary Menu
Primary Menu
To create your Primary Menu visit the Create Your Primary Menu section below.
Once you’ve completed the Primary Menu setup you’ll need to set your Display Location.
In the Display Location section of the Menu Structure panel, check the Navigation Area Menu checkbox.
Then click Save Menu.
This will apply this Menu to the Navigation Area of your site. This is the menu area that slides out when a reader clicks the menu button at the top of your site.
Add Widgets
Recommended Widgets: Share, Entry Navigation, Subscribe, Author Box
Add a Share Widget
Widget Areas: After Post
For the Essential Theme we recommend adding a Share widget to the After Post widget area. Visit the Add a Share Widget section below to learn how to add this widget to your theme.
Add an Entry Navigation Widget
Widget Areas: After Post
Add an Entry Navigation widget to the After Post widget area (below your newly added Share widget).
The Entry Navigation widget doesn’t require any setup, but for full configuration details visit the Configure the Entry Navigation Widget section below.
Add a Subscribe Widget
Widget Areas: After Post, Mid Archive Call to Action
Next you’ll want to add two Subscribe widgets to your theme. Add the first to the bottom of the After Post widget area and the add the second to the Mid Archive Call to Action.
The widget added to the Mid Archive Call to Action will appear at the midpoint of your Posts on your blog page. By default this will be your home page.
To see this widget in action visit the Essential Demo.
Since you’ve added two separate widgets both will need to be configured. Full details are found below in the Configure the Subscribe Widget section.
Once you’ve configured the Subscribe section of the widgets complete the following steps to add the Content section to each widget.
Content section configuration coming soon!
Add an Author Box Widget
Widget Areas: After Post
Finally, add an Author Box widget to the bottom of the After Post widget area.
The Author Box widget doesn’t require any setup, but for full configuration details visit the Configure the Author Box Widget section below.
FAQ
Coming soon!
Shortcodes
All shortcode documentation can be found on the Essential Theme Shortcodes demo. Click on any shortcode for a complete example.
Content Shortcodes
These shortcodes can be used in any Page, Post, or Widget.
Text Settings
These shortcodes are used to customize the Text Settings options in your Appearance > Customize panel.
Entries Section
Footer Section
Comments Section
Typography
For samples of the various typography and style options in this theme visit the Essential Typography and Style demo.
Minimal Theme
Purchase · Setup · FAQ · Shortcodes · Typography
Before We Begin
Before installing the Minimal Theme you must have the following steps completed. Be sure to finish them before diving into the Setup section.
Minimal Setup
Setting up Minimal is simple and should take less than 15 minutes.
Install the Minimal Theme
Installing your theme is very straightforward and you will take the same steps no matter which theme you’ve chosen. Simply visit the Install Your Theme section below to follow the step-by-step tutorial.
Add Content
Adding Pages and Posts requires the same simple steps for all of our themes. Visit the Add Content section below for more info.
Create Menus
How to add menu items in WordPress
Create the Minimal Social Menu
Below the main navigation you’ll see, in the demo, that there’s a social menu where readers will have easy access to your social media profiles.
Adding this menu is simple.
Go to your Appearance > Menus panel and create a new menu and call it Social.
Next you’ll want to add Custom Links using your social profile URL as the URL and any of the following as your respective Link Text:
- #fa-facebook#
- #fa-twitter#
- #fa-instagram#
- #fa-pinterest-p#
These tags will automatically output the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest icons respectively. This will also work for any icon that you find on this page. Simply wrap the corresponding fa- class name in two # signs and you’ll be good to go.
The final step that must be taken with this menu is to add it to the site. In this instance there isn’t a Display Location with a checkbox, so instead go to your Appearance > Widgets panel and drag a Navigation Menu widget to your After Header widget area. Then, in the dropdown box, select the Social menu that we created above, click Save and your menu will be live.
Configure Widgets
More info soon!
FAQ
More info soon!
Shortcodes
All shortcode documentation can be found on the Minimal Theme Shortcodes demo. Click on any shortcode for a complete example.
Content Shortcodes
These shortcodes can be used in any Page, Post, or Widget.
Text Settings
These shortcodes are used to customize the Text Settings options in your Appearance > Customize panel.
Entries Section
Footer Section
Comments Section
Typography
For samples of the various typography and style options in this theme visit the Minimal Typography and Style demo.
tru Theme
More info soon!
Less Theme
Purchase · Setup · FAQ · Shortcodes · Typography
Before We Begin
Before installing the Less Theme you must have the following steps completed. Be sure to finish them before diving into the Setup section.
Less Setup
Setting up Less is simple and should take less than 15 minutes.
Install the Less Theme
Installing your theme is very straightforward and you will take the same steps no matter which theme you’ve chosen. Simply visit the Install Your Theme section below to follow the step-by-step tutorial.
Add Content
Adding Pages and Posts requires the same simple steps for all of our themes. Visit the Add Content section below for more info.
Create Menus
How to add menu items in WordPress
Configure Widgets
More info soon!
FAQ
More info soon!
Shortcodes
All shortcode documentation can be found on the Less Theme Shortcodes demo. Click on any shortcode for a complete example.
Content Shortcodes
These shortcodes can be used in any Page, Post, or Widget.
Text Settings
These shortcodes are used to customize the Text Settings options in your Appearance > Customize panel.
Entries Section
Footer Section
Comments Section
Typography
For samples of the various typography and style options in this theme visit the Less Typography and Style demo.
All Themes
Install Your Theme · Activate Your License Key · Add Content
The following documentation applies to every theme available on BYLT.
Install Your Theme
Installing your new theme is extremely simple. First, return to your BYLT Dashboard to download your theme file.
If you’re using a Mac simply option-click on your theme file (hold the option key and click the link with your mouse) to automatically download the ZIP file to your Downloads folder.
Alternatively, on any computer including a Mac, you can simply right-click on your theme file and select Save Link As, Download Linked File As, or whatever similar option you find in that menu.
You should now see a window asking you where you would like to save the file. I recommend saving your theme file to your Desktop for easy access. You will need it in just a moment.
Note: If you’re using the right-click Download Linked File As option in Safari your file will automatically be renamed to index.php.zip. This file will still work as expected, but I recommend renaming this to the name of your theme to avoid confusion.
Ok, now that you have your theme file saved you’ll just want to copy your License Key. We’ll be using this immediately after activating your theme.
Now on to the installation.
Simply go to your Appearance > Themes panel and click the Add New Theme button.
Next click the Upload Theme button.
Now we will be choosing our file. Simply click the button, navigate to your Desktop or Downloads folder, and select the zip file that you’ve previously downloaded from your BYLT Dashboard.
Now simply click Install Now.
Once the upload is complete you will see the following screen.
Click Activate to finish the installation.
Now that your theme is installed and activated you’ll need to activate your theme License Key.
Notice
You may encounter the following error when installing your theme:
The package could not be installed. The theme is missing the style.css stylesheet.
This happens when your computer is configured to automatically extract and delete ZIP files after download. Since WordPress requires that all theme installations are ZIP files you will simply need to follow the steps at the beginning of this section to download your ZIP file and then install your theme.
Activate Your License Key
Your License Key enables automatic updates which ensures that you’re always using the latest version of your theme.
If you haven’t already copied this key in the previous step then simply return to your BYLT Dashboard and copy your theme License Key.
Now that you have your License Key go to your Appearance > License Key panel, paste your Key into the field, and click Save Changes.
Finally, click Activate License and you’ll be good to go.
Once activated you will see your license details, confirming that your License Key has been activated.
Now that your theme is installed and your License Key is activated return to your theme section above.
Add Content
By default WordPress creates a few pieces of content: a Sample Page, a Privacy Policy page, and a Hello World! post.
To begin it can help to leave the Sample Page and Hello World! post in place, but feel free to delete them at any point in the future. They are only placeholders.
Speaking of placeholders, we recommend that every site has an About page and a Contact page.
Adding these Pages is as simple as going to the Pages > Add New panel from your WordPress Dashboard.
There you will be given everything you need to add your content.
Similarly Posts can be added using the Posts > Add New panel.
The Difference Between Posts and Pages in WordPress
There are two types of content in WordPress, the Post and the Page. From a technical standpoint they’re very similar and you create them in the same way.
The difference comes from how they’re meant to be used.
A Post is a Blog Post. This is a piece of content that typically has a published date associated with it and an author. It can be a timely or a timeless piece of content, but the unique part of a Post is that it will appear in your Blog Archive (your home page by default), in your RSS Feed, and in your various Category and Date Archives.
So when you want a piece of content to appear with the rest of your Blog Posts then you’ll create a Post.
A Page, on the other hand, is simply a piece of relatively static content that typically does not have a date or an author associated with it. The Support documentation, for example, is a Page.
Note: Every Page and Post in WordPress will have an Author and a Published Date, however Pages typically don’t have this information visible to the reader.
Pages are best used for About, Contact, and various other pieces of content that aren’t typically expected in the context of a blog.
Create Menus
In WordPress Menus can be created in two different locations, the Customizer and the Menus panel. In this tutorial we’ll be using the Menus panel.
Create Your Primary Menu
In your WordPress Dashboard go to your Appearance > Menus panel.
First you’ll want to create your Primary Menu. This is the menu that appears at the top of your site and in the mobile slide-out Navigation Area.
If you’re starting with a new WordPress install you will see an empty Menu Name field in the Menu Structure area.
If this isn’t a new WordPress installation and you already have a menu simply click the Create a New Menu link to begin.
Enter a name for your first menu in the Menu Name textbox. This is the menu that will appear at the top of your site. I recommend calling it Primary.
Click Create Menu.
At this point you can begin adding your menu items. For more information on adding menu items visit How to add menu items in WordPress.
If you haven’t yet created the Pages that you wish to add to your navigation you can add them later, but you must still complete the steps to set your Display Location and Save.
You’re free to enable your Primary Menu in any location of your site, but to follow our recommended configuration for your theme return to your theme setup.
Create a Social Menu
Go to your Appearance > Menus panel, click the Create a New Menu link, and name it Social.
Next add Custom Links using your social profile URL as the URL and any of the following as your respective Link Text:
- #fa-facebook#
- #fa-twitter#
- #fa-instagram#
- #fa-pinterest-p#
These tags will automatically output the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest icons respectively. This will also work for any icon that you find on the Fontawesome Cheatsheet. Simply wrap the corresponding fa- class name in two # signs and you’ll be good to go.
The final step that must be taken with this menu is to add it to the site. You’re free to add this menu to any area of your site, but we have specific recommendations for some of our themes, so return to your chosen theme setup for placement instructions.
Create a Dropdown Search Menu Item
Finally, we’ll add the dropdown search item. This Menu Item requires both a parent and a child Menu Item.
First, click to expand the Screen Options tray in the upper right corner. Once expanded check the CSS Classes box and click Screen Options once again to close the tray.
Next, using the Custom Links section create the parent Menu Item with the following values:
URL: #
Link Text: #fa-search#
Once the Menu Item is added enter the following into the CSS Classes (optional) textbox:
full-width-dropdownNext create your child Menu Item with the following values:
URL: #
Link Text: #search#
Click the child Menu Item and drag it to the right to make it a Sub-Item of the #fa-search# Menu Item and click Save Menu.
Add Widgets
Widgets can be managed in two different locations in WordPress: the Customizer and the Widgets panel. We’ll be using the Widgets panel.
First, from your WordPress Dashboard, go to the Appearance > Widgets panel.
Adding widgets is as simple as expanding a Widget Area, such as After Header, and then clicking and dragging a widget from the Available Widgets section to the appropriate Widget Area.
The most commonly used widgets are the Text and Custom HTML widgets. These widgets allow you to add text, HTML, and shortcodes to your site.
Rather than outlining the function of every widget we’ll leave the standard WordPress widgets for you discover on your own.
Instead, below are the resources needed to configure the widgets that are unique to our themes.
Add a Share Widget
Calling this a Share widget may be a little misleading since you won’t find a widget called Share in our themes.
This is because we’ll instead be using a simple Text widget and the robust share shortcode that we’ve included in all of our themes.
To add a Share widget simply drag a Text widget to the Widget Area of your choice. We typically recommend placing one in the After Post widget area.
Then simply add the following:
[share before="SHARE "]
Full configuration details for the share shortcode can be found in your theme’s Shortcode documentation.
Finally click Save and you’re all set!
Configure the Subscribe Widget
More info soon!
Configure the Entry Navigation Widget
More info soon!
Configure the Author Box Widget
More info soon!
WordPress Documentation
WordPress Setup
Select Your Web Host · Install WordPress
The following documentation applies when setting up any WordPress theme, whether you’ve purchased from BYLT or elsewhere.
Select Your Web Host
We highly recommend Bluehost.
The full step-by-step hosting tutorial is coming soon!
Install WordPress
For a full step-by-step tutorial visit How to Install WordPress.
WordPress Administration
Contact Support
Our minimalist business is called SPYR and there are just two of us – there’s me, Jeff Sarris, and my business partner Dave LaTulippe.
When you reach out below we’ll both see the message, but you’ll hear back from me.
I only mention this because I want you to know that we’re a tiny team of two managing SPYR, BYLT, and all projects with The Minimalists and our various other clients.
This just means that, while you’ll get a response directly from me, it will take about 3 business days to hear back. Rest assured though that when you hear back you’ll have an absolute and thorough answer to your question. Effective emailing is vital to running a successful minimalist business and we’re here to help you succeed.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you! My only ask is that you review the above support documentation before messaging to make sure that your question hasn’t already been answered.
Since I’ve handled support for our products and business for a decade now the thousands of hours that I’ve worked directly with clients have helped me craft this support page to fulfill almost every need.
If you can’t find your answer above I definitely hope you reach out, you’ve found an area where I can improve this page! Just do me a favor and check first. :)
Thanks so much!
—Jeff Sarris, SPYR