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.

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.

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. 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-youtube-play#
• #fa-pinterest-p#

These tags will automatically output the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, 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-dropdown

Next 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

The Subscribe widget is a flexible widget for adding a subscribe form to your website.

The widget works with any email marketing service (MailChimp, Aweber, etc) provided they supply you with an HTML Embed code for your subscribe form.

Configure the Subscribe Widget Title

First we’ll configure the Title of your widget.

There are three options in the Title section: Default, Icon, and Image.

When Default is selected only the title will be displayed.

When Icon is selected you can choose an icon to be displayed above the Title of the widget.

When Image is selected you can upload an image to be displayed above the Title of the widget.

Finally there’s the Title field itself, which is self-explanatory.

You’re free to configure your Subscribe widget as you wish, but each theme has a recommended configuration. Find your theme-specific configuration below.

Configure the Subscribe Widget Layout

Next is the Subscribe widget Layout area.

There are two types of Sections that can be added to the Layout: Content and Subscribe Form.

Subscribe Widget Content Section

The Content section has a simple textarea and accepts any HTML.

You’re free to configure your Subscribe Content section as you wish, but each theme has a recommended configuration. Find your theme-specific configuration below.

Subscribe Widget Subscribe Form Section

The Subscribe Form section provides 4 field options for building out your email marketing service’s subscribe form.

This section will allow you to build your subscribe form with any number of text fields and hidden fields, an anti-spam field, and, of course, an email field. This flexibility allows you to use any email marketing service as long as they provide you with HTML embed code.

– Retrieve Your HTML Embed Code

The first thing you’ll need to do is login to your Email Marketing Service (MailChimp, Aweber, etc) and obtain your Embed Code.

The method for retrieving this code varies by provider, but they will all look similar to this MailChimp Embed Code:

<!-- Begin MailChimp Signup Form --></p>
<div id="mc_embed_signup">
<form action="http://spyr.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=9999999999999999999999999&id=9999999999" method="post" id="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" name="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" class="validate" target="_blank" novalidate>
<div class="mc-field-group">
	<label for="mce-FNAME">Name </label>

	<input type="text" value="" name="FNAME" class="required" id="mce-FNAME">
</div>
<div class="mc-field-group">
	<label for="mce-EMAIL">Email Address </label>

	<input type="email" value="" name="EMAIL" class="required email" id="mce-EMAIL">
</div>
<div id="mce-responses" class="clear">
<div class="response" id="mce-error-response" style="display:none"></div>
<div class="response" id="mce-success-response" style="display:none"></div>
</p></div>
<p><!-- real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups--></p>
<div style="position: absolute; left: -5000px;" aria-hidden="true"><input type="text" name="b_123456789_123456789" tabindex="-1" value=""></div>
<div class="clear"><input type="submit" value="Subscribe" name="subscribe" id="mc-embedded-subscribe" class="button"></div>
</form>
</div>
<p><!--End mc_embed_signup-->

Retrieve your embed code from your Email Marketing Service

• Retrieve Embed Code from MailChimp
• Retrieve Embed Code from Aweber
• Retrieve Embed Code from Drip
• Retrieve Embed Code from ConvertKit
• Retrieve Embed Code from GetResponse
• Retrieve Embed Code from Feedburner

Copy and paste your HTML Embed code into a plain text document. We will be referencing this in a moment.

– Configure the Subscribe Form Fields

To begin configuring your Subscribe Form Fields click the Add Fields button. You’ll see four options: Email Textbox, Textbox, Hidden Field, and Anti-Spam Field.

Every Subscribe Form must have exactly one Email Textbox field.

The Textbox field can be used for any type of text input, but is most commonly used as a Name field.

The Hidden Field is how your Email Marketing Service will pass information from your site back to them. There can be anywhere from zero to a dozen Hidden Fields depending on the service.

Finally the Anti-Spam Field is a hidden textbox that’s commonly used by an Email Marketing Service to stop spam bots.

— Textbox and Email Textbox

The Textbox and Email Textbox fields have three options.

• Field Name

  This is the name value of your Textbox or Email Textbox as found in your Embed Code.

  You will see textboxes like the following in your Embed Code:

  <input type="email" value="" name="EMAIL" class="required email" id="mce-EMAIL">
  

  To recreate this Email Textbox simply look for the name value in the code. In the above example it’s EMAIL. Enter this value into the Field Name of your Email Textbox.

• Placeholder/Label

  This option determines whether your default text appears as a Placeholder within the textbox or as a Label above or beside your textbox.

  We recommend keeping this set to Placeholder

• Text

  Finally this is your Placeholder or Label Text. Simply enter the name of your field as you want it to appear on your site.

  For example, if you’re setting up an Email Textbox then you likely want to set the Text field to Your Email Address.

— Hidden Field

The Hidden Field has two options.

• Field Name

  This is the name value of your Hidden Field as found in your Embed Code.

  You may see Hidden Fields like the following in your Embed Code:

  <input name="form_id" type="hidden" value="987654321" />
  

  To recreate this Hidden Field simply look for the name value in the code. In the above example it’s form_id. Enter this value into the Field Name textbox.

• Field Value

  This is the value of your Hidden Field as found in your Embed Code.

  Look for the value in the Hidden Field within your Embed code. In the above example it’s 987654321. Enter this value into the Field Value textbox.

— Anti-Spam Field

The Anti-Spam Field has a single option.

• Field Name

  This is the name value of your Anti-Spam Field as found in your Embed Code.

  If your Email Marketing Service provides an Anti-Spam Field you may see something like the following in your Embed Code:

  <!-- real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups--></p>
  <div style="position: absolute; left: -5000px;" aria-hidden="true"><input type="text" name="b_123456789_123456789" tabindex="-1" value=""></div>

  To recreate this Anti-Spam Field simply look for the name value in the code. In the above example it’s b_123456789_123456789. Enter this value into the Field Name textbox.

And that’s it, your Subscribe Form is now configured.

Next, choose your Field Display. This will determine how your Subscribe Form is displayed within the widget.

For a horizontal form select Inline.

To stack the form fields and submit button select Default.

Finally, set your Button Text and click Save.

As mentioned above, all Subscribe Forms require one Email Textbox Field. If you’ve not yet set up your Email Textbox then you will receive an error when saving. Simply complete the set up, click Save once again, and you’ll be good to go.

Configure the Subscribe Form Section for Feedburner

If you haven’t already, click Add Section and then select Subscribe Form.

Enter the following into Form Action URL field:

http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify

Next click Add Fields and select Email Textbox. Enter the following into the Field Name field:

email

Now sign in to Feedburner, click Publicize and then Email Subscriptions.

Next we’ll be adding the Hidden Fields show below.

Click Add Fields and select Hidden Field.

The first Hidden Field in your Embed code should look something like this:

<input type="hidden" value="YOURFEEDBURNERURI" name="uri"/>

Copy the name value, in the example above it’s uri, and enter it into the Field Name textbox.

Next copy the value value, in the example above it’s YOURFEEDBURNERURI, and enter it into the Field Value textbox.

Note: The above values are merely for our example, do not enter YOURFEEDBURNERURI, you must enter your unique value.

Repeat for the second Hidden Field, which should look something like this:

<input type="hidden" name="loc" value="en_US"/>

Copy the name value, in the example above it’s loc, and enter it into the Field Name textbox.

Next copy the value value, in the example above it’s en_US, and enter it into the Field Value textbox.

Click Save.

For theme-specific Subscribe Form configuration click your Theme below.

Configure the Entry Navigation Widget

The Entry Navigation widget requires nothing more than a drag and drop of the widget into the After Post widget area.

The widget will work in other widget areas, but note that it will only display on individual Posts so if you add it to your sidebar it won’t always be visible.

By default we set the Entry Navigation widget text with the text that we think best suits the theme design. But if you wish to change the text it’s as simple as adjusting the Previous Text and the Next Text to your liking and clicking Save

Configure the Author Box Widget

The Author Box widget requires nothing more than a drag and drop of the widget into the After Post widget area.

The widget will work in other widget areas, but note that it will only display on individual Posts so if you add it to your sidebar it won’t always be visible.

By default we set the Author Box widget text with the text and Image size that we think best suits the theme design. But if you wish to adjust those settings it’s as simple as adjusting the Title Intro and the Gravatar Size to your liking and clicking Save

Add a Class to Any Widget

When using our themes all widgets have a Widget Class field.

Using this field you can customize the display of any widget using either a built-in style class or one that you’ve added to your Additional CSS panel in the Appearance > Customize section of your Dashboard.

Simply add the CSS class to the Widget Class field and click Save.

One of the built-in classes that work on widgets is bg-2. This class will change your widget from the standard color scheme to the secondary color scheme that you’ve set in the Design panel of your Appearance > Customize panel.

To try it on your site simply enter the following into the Widget Class field:

bg-2

And click Save.

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.

• How to add images in WordPress
• How to add a Featured Image in WordPress (the large image at the top of blog posts)
• What’s the difference between a WordPress Page and a WordPress Post?
• How to show the Read More button using the More Tag

• How to add menu items in WordPress
• How to change your home page from blog posts to a Page and vice versa

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

P.S. We’ve been asked about an option to further support our work. And no this isn’t a fabricated “you’ve been asking for it so here it is!” type thing, this was a genuine question. So if you feel compelled to further support what we do you can send us a briefcase full of cash or even just a few bucks for a fancy coffee here. Just remember that we’re minimalists so if you choose the former we’ll probably downsize the briefcase. ;)