SECTION 01Server Recommended Settings / Requirements
In order to successfully run our themes on your website your server environment will have to meet certain PHP and WordPress minimal version requirements.
PHP 7.4.X or higher
Themes require php 7.4.X or higher installed on your server.
In order to check your php version we recommend one of two methods:
- If you do have WordPress installed, you can use WordPress phpinfo() plugin and check the WordPress php version
- If you do not have WordPress installed check php version without WordPress instance.
If neither of these options work for you, please consult your hosting provider regarding the php version you are running on your server.
MEMORY LIMIT 256M or higher
You can have a closer look at how to increase the PHP memory by referring to the following article: Fix WordPress memory exhausted error increase php memory.
MAX UPLOAD SIZE 64M or higher
You can have a closer look at how to increase the PHP memory by referring to the following article: Fix WordPress memory exhausted error increase php memory.
Optional settings for PHP.INI file:
post.max_vars = 5000 request.max_vars = 5000 max_execution_time = 300
WordPress version
Although the themes will run on older versions of WordPress we highly recommend WordPress 5.6 or later.
In order to check which version you are running, please click on the WordPress icon in the upper left corner of your wp-admin console.
SECTION 02Installing WordPress
If you’ve recently purchased a hosting plan and a domain name, the next step is to install WordPress CMS on your server.
The best option is to start with fresh WordPress installation.
If you’ve recently purchased a hosting plan and a domain name, the next step is to install WordPress CMS on your server. Here are a few links to help you start your website’s back-end and get your site ready for installing the theme:
A step by step guide: How to install WordPress.
If you plan on using our theme on a local WordPress development and migrating your site live later on, this is a useful link that shows how to create a local WordPress development environment: Installing WordPress on a Local Server Environment.
If you’re switching to a new domain please refer to the following link to make sure that all the necessary steps are taken: How to Properly Move WordPress to a New Domain Without Losing SEO.
Related links:
- Get your latest WordPress copy,
- Find out more information about installing WordPress,
- Reach out to the worldwide WordPress community.
SECTION 03Installing the Theme
After you have installed WordPress and purchased the theme, you should go to a download tab on ThemeForest:
You have 2 options for downloading your theme:
- All files and documentation (Complete Zip archive)
- Installable WordPress file only.
Please download both archives. All files and documentation package contains all files provided with the theme, including this document.
Installable WordPress file only should be used in the process of Theme installation.
There are two methods of installing a theme onto your WordPress site. You can use the WordPress Admin panel to upload and install the theme, or you can use FTP software instead.
WordPress Theme Installation
To install the theme directly from the WordPress admin panel, please first log-in to your wp-admin console
- Navigate to Appearance > Themes
- Click Add New
- Click Upload Theme
- Click Choose File
- Find the package you have downloaded from ThemeForest as Installable WordPress file only on your local computer
- Click Install Now and the installation will begin. You can monitor the installation process in the lower left corner of your browser
- Once the installation is complete you will see the following screen:
8. Click Activate
9. You should see the list of themes installed in your WordPress instance with the our theme activated.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed and activated our WordPress Theme on your website. Proceed to install plugins and either add your own content or import the demo content to get your site up and running in no time.
FTP Installation
To install the theme using FTP software, log in to the server where your WordPress website is hosted.
First extract the theme file from Installable WordPress file only package that you received in your installation pack. Now connect to your server via FTP and navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ directory under your WordPress website’s root location. Upload theme file to the themes folder on your remote server.
Once the theme is uploaded, you need to activate it. Go to ‘Appearance > Themes’, find the theme you purchased and click ‘Activate’ button.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed and activated our WordPress Theme on your website. Proceed to install plugins and either add your own content or import the demo content to get your site up and running in no time.
WordPress Theme Installation and Plugin Activation Tutorial
SECTION 04Installing Required Plugins
Once you have WordPress and the theme installed, you’re required to install the necessary plugins to successfully run our theme on your website (Bold Builder, theme’s plugin and the rest).
Upon installing and activating theme in Appearance > Themes panel you will get a notice at the top of your admin panel saying that the theme requires certain plugins. Click on Begin installing plugins.
Note: On some of our themes WooCommerce is recommended plugin. This means that you don’t need to install it prior to demo import (provided that you won’t use shop on your site). However, some themes do require WooCommerce plugin in order to work properly and you will need to install it prior to demo import. You will see in the notice on top of your dashboard whether it is required or just recommended.
WordPress redirects you to the Install Required Plugins page. Select all plugins, choose Install and click Apply.
Once the installation is complete the following screen will appear. Click Return to the Dashboard at the bottom of the screen.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed the plugins required to run the theme on your site. If you click on Plugins in wp-admin menu, you should see the following list:
SECTION 05Installing Demo Content
The best practice is to start with fresh WordPress installation or use WordPress Database Reset plugin to clear your WordPress instance of previously existing content.
The best practice is to start with fresh WordPress installation or use WordPress Database Reset plugin to clear your WordPress instance of previously existing content.
*Note that if you are using WordPress Database Reset plugin you should not click on ‘Select All’ option, as that will delete your user and you’ll be locked out of your site. You only need to remove content you previously added, such as pages, posts, images, etc.
Note: WooCommerce is recommended plugin. We suggest you install it prior to demo import if you intend to use it on your site. If you don’t need WooCommerce on your site, it is not necessary to install this plugin.
The procedure is as follows:
- Login to the wp-admin panel
- Go to Tools > BT Import
3. Select required demo XML and click on it.
4. Once the installation starts, you will be able to see how much time is left until the demo imports.
5. Please wait until you get the message that import is finished.
6. If you imported demo with WooCommerce content, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Products > General and select Shop as Shop Page; then go to Advanced >Page setup and select Cart as Cart Page, Checkout as Checkout Page, and My Account as My Account Page.
Congratulations! You have successfully imported the demo. If you click on visit Site in wp-admin header, you should see your site with demo content imported.
SECTION 06Installing Multiple Demos
Some of our themes come with several demos that can be imported.
If the theme you purchased has multiple demos, and you are not sure which demo you want to use, or you want to use elements from different demos on your site, here’s how you can have more than one installed on your site.
1. First option would be to simply import two or more demos on one site. Theme’s import plugin will not delete previous content, so you will be able to import multiple demos one after the other.
The only problem with this way of demo import is that you will have all pages, images, menus, widgets, etc. imported from different demos, which could be difficult to navigate through.
To solve this, you could delete one demo’s content prior to importing other demo. For that you can use WordPress Database Reset plugin to clear your WordPress instance of previously existing content.
*Note that if you are using WordPress Database Reset plugin you should not click on ‘Select All’ option, as that will delete your user and you’ll be locked out of your site. You only need to remove content you previously added, such as pages, posts, images, etc.
2. Another way to have multiple demos installed is to use multisite, create sub domains, and install one demo on each site. From there you can copy / paste content from one site to the other easily.
In order to install multisite, please refer to the following article – How to install WordPress multisite network.
SECTION 07Homepage version
Some of our themes come with multiple designs for the homepage. In order to set certain Homepage version, please follow the next steps:
- Select from one of our available homepages, and set your chosen Homepage version as Front page in Settings > Reading Settings panel.
- In the chosen Homepage editor locate the Override Global Settings – at the bottom of page editor.
3. All the settings (logo, alternate logo, colors, menu type, typography etc.) should be set the same in Customization panel.
Have a look at the following example – copying accent color:
Once you are done with setting main settings in Customization panel (logo, accent and alternate colors, menu layout etc.) then make sure to edit Primary Menu according to your needs (remove unnecessary Homepages etc.).
ARTICLE 08Common Issues And Troubleshooting with theme install
In this section we will describe the most common errors that can occur when installing the theme, and provide solutions for each one.
Broken Theme And/Or Stylesheet Missing
An error message while installing or activating a WordPress theme usually means that the incorrect file(s) were uploaded.
The exact error message may vary, however it will typically include the words, ‘Broken Theme’ or ‘Stylesheet Missing’. A similar message will appear if you’re using a plugin that has minified all the CSS files, including the theme’s or child theme’s default style.css file, which should be left intact according to WordPress regulations.
The solution is to review which file you were uploading – please refer to section Installing the Theme for instructions which files to use in the process.
Also, you can find more about this error and how to fix it.
Blank Dashboard – White Page
This issue is most commonly related to either php version (required php version is 5.4.X or higher) on your server or WordPress memory limit and its value being too low on your server.
Please read this article and increase the WP memory limit: Fix: WordPress Memory Exhausted Error – Increase PHP Memory.
If the issue persists upon adjusting the WordPress memory limit, we recommend enabling WordPress debug mode to track down the cause of this error and resolve it. To enable debug mode, please go to the WordPress installation folder on your server using FTP software and open the wp-config.php file in a text editor. Find this line of code:
define('WP_DEBUG', false);
Adjust the code so that WP_DEBUG is set to true:
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
Save the file, re-upload it back to your server and check for issues.
Please read the article about WP_DEBUG mode.
Parse error: Syntax error, unexpected T_STRING
If you get the error similar to this:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /wp-content/themes/eventim/php/BTCrushFunctions.php on line 7.
Keep in mind that this issue is most commonly related to php version (required php version is 5.4.X or higher).
You need to update your php version to the required one.
Parse error: Syntax error, unexpected T_FUNCTION
If you get the error similar to this:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_FUNCTION in /wp-content/themes/medicare/functions.php on line 39.
Keep in mind that this issue is most commonly related to php version (required php version is 5.4.X or higher).
You need to update your php version to the required one.
ARTICLE 09Common Issues And Troubleshooting with Demo content
In this section we will describe the most common errors that can occur when importing the demo, and provide solutions for each one.
Error. This demo contains WooCommerce data. Please install and activate WooCommerce.
As it was mentioned in 2.5 Installing Demo Content section, some of the demo contains WooCommerce demo data, which is why WooCommerce should be installed and activated. Navigate to Plugins > Add New and in Search plugins field type WooCommerce (author WooThemes). Install it, activate it and then continue importing demo content.
I got the red colored Internal Server Error Message. What should I do?
On some hosting environments (HostGator, GoDaddy) there is an issue with the resources dedicated to a single instance of Shared Hosting. While trying to prevent a single instance to compromise others in Shared Hosting environment, they set the limits too low. Especially limits related to memory and processing power.
As a first step, please try to set Server Recommended Settings and try the import again.
If that does not work, most probably the hosting limit prevents creation of thumbnails for images larger than 60-70k.
The consequence is that you will not be able to see the thumbnails in your Media Library although the images are there (thumbnail was not created) and you will not get optimized images for different elements on the site. You will get the original ones which are usually not optimized for the placeholder they have been put in.
In order to import the demo in such environment, you need to repeat it over and over again. The import is incremental process and eventually it will finish (it usually takes 30 or more retries since it will crash on the import of each image larger than 60kb). You can check the progress by refreshing Media Library window – each retry should add one or more images (the ones with 60kb and more will be grey while the smaller ones will have a proper thumbnail).
Once the import finishes you will have a functioning demo, but we strongly recommend to resolve the resources issue with the hosting or change it since it will almost certainly create other problems in the future.
I get Error 404 (Page not found) for all pages except the home page of the site. What should I do?
Try to recreate permalink structure by going to Settings > Permalinks, changing it to Post name for example, saving the settings, then changing it back to Day and name and saving it again.
Images on my demo site are low quality. Why is that?
Demo imports come with low quality images for two reasons – one is the speed of import and the second is that images are not licensed for third party use, just for demo presentation purposes.
Distributing production quality images with our demos would be a violation of the license terms on our part.
If you would like to use the same images as on our demo for your final site, please let us know and we will provide you all the information of used images on ShutterStock.