Tyler Moore

Glad to hear everything worked!

Yes, you can add these features using plugins.

• To change the portfolio URL, you can use Yoast SEO or similar permalink plugins.
• To exclude portfolio category posts from the blog page, there are plugins available for that as well.

Just a reminder — always backup your site before installing new plugins or making major changes.

Hello Laura,

It’s great to hear you found the video helpful!
Here’s a step-by-step approach to follow — take it one step at a time.

1?? Setting Up Your Blog Page

The Super Blank plugin doesn’t include a blog template because the blog setup happens in Astra. Here’s how to do it:

? Create Your Blog Page:

1. In your WordPress Dashboard, go to Pages → Add New.
2. Name it Blog and click Publish (no need to add any content).

? Set It as Your Blog Page:

1. Go to Settings → Reading in your dashboard.
2. Under Your homepage displays, set the Posts page to your new Blog page.
3. Click Save Changes.

? Start Posting!

1. Go to Posts → Add New and create your first blog post.
2. Add categories to organize your posts.
3. Once you publish a post, it will automatically appear on your Blog page.

?? Here’s a part of tutorial on how to add blog posts

2?? Customizing Your Blog Layout

If you tried editing your Blog page with Elementor but didn’t see any options, don’t worry—that’s normal! To customize your blog’s look:

1. Go to Appearance → Customize → Blog.
2. Adjust settings like post layout, featured images, and colors.

3?? Adding Download Links in Super Blank (Done in Elementor)

Since the Super Blank template is built with Elementor, you’ll add the download link directly in the Elementor editor. Here’s how:

? Upload Your PDF:

1. In your WordPress Dashboard, go to Media → Add New.
2. Upload your PDF file (make sure it’s not too large—use an online tool to reduce size if needed).
3. Click on the uploaded file and copy the “File URL” from the right-hand side.

? Add It to a Button in Elementor:

1. Open your page editor in Elementor.
2. Find the button you want to use for the download link.
3. Click on the button, then paste the PDF link into the URL field.
4. Click the gear icon ?? and check “Open in new tab”.

That’s it! Now when someone clicks the button, the PDF will open in a new tab.

4?? Displaying Posts on Blog & Portfolio Pages

?? Before setting up the Portfolio page, make sure you have at least a few test blog posts with:

• Featured images
• Categories

? Create Portfolio Posts:

1. When adding a blog post, create a new category called Portfolio.
2. Assign all your portfolio posts to this category.

? Find Your Portfolio Page:
Once you add posts under the Portfolio category, they will automatically appear on:
?? https://yourwebsite.com/category/portfolio/

? Add It to Your Menu:

1. Go to Appearance → Menus.
2. Find your Portfolio category page and add it to the menu.
3. Click Save Menu.

Now, when visitors click Portfolio, they’ll see all the posts you added under that category.

5?? Should You Stop Using Super Blank?

Yes, you can use other plugins, but the questions you asked are mostly about Astra and Elementor — so you might not even need another plugin.

I’ve gone over how to use other plugins in my other tutorials.

Hello @shasso ,
Super Blank isn’t designed for multisite, so it doesn’t have built-in features for managing multiple sites from one place. If you need to control the design across all subsites, you might want to look into specialized multisite plugins or other solutions made for that.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 2 days ago by Tyler Moore.

Hey @rceo2024, thanks for reaching out!

It sounds like you’ve already done a lot of the right troubleshooting steps—nice work!

Since you’re on a Business plan, you should have the ability to install custom themes on WordPress com. Here are some steps you can try to resolve this:

1. Clear Caches:
   • Browser Cache: Sometimes old data stored in your browser can cause issues. Clear your browser cache by pressing Ctrl + F5 (Windows) or Command + R (Mac).
   • Plugin and Hosting Caches: If you have any caching plugins installed, clear their cache through the plugin settings. Additionally, check for any hosting-side caching and clear that as well.
2. Upload the Theme as a .zip File: To do this refer to this guide: How to Upload a Theme.
3. Contact Support: If you’re still encountering the error, it might be worth reaching out to WordPress com support directly. They can take a closer look at your account and site setup.

Alternatively, if you’d like more flexibility, you could consider switching to a self-hosted WordPress site (WordPress org) with a different hosting provider. This gives you full control over theme installations and site customization. I’ve covered how to set up a self-hosted WordPress site in my tutorials, so definitely check that out if you’re interested!

If you’re seeing the “Missing style.css stylesheet” error, it usually means that WordPress expects a theme, but Super Blank is actually a plugin.??? Here’s how to install it correctly:

1?? Go to Plugins → Add New
2?? Click Upload Plugin
3?? Select the Super Blank ZIP file
4?? Click Install Now → Activate

Hi there!
It sounds like the issue might be related to how Macs handle downloads—they often automatically unzip files, which can cause trouble when uploading plugin to WordPress.

To stop Safari from auto-unzipping files:
1?? Open Safari.
2?? Click Preferences (or Settings on newer versions).
3?? Under the General tab, uncheck “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading.”

This will ensure the file stays in its original .zip format, which WordPress requires for installation.

If the File Still Won’t Upload:

?? Try downloading the file again using Chrome or Firefox instead of Safari.

Hello Christina,

We’ve double-checked the Variations theme and didn’t find any issues. Our main website, https://tyler.com/, is currently running on the Variations theme, and we regularly update it. We haven’t received any reports of similar issues from other users of the theme.

As previously mentioned, any changes made to the website layout through the WordPress admin panel (e.g., layout width, custom colors, custom patterns, menu structure, etc.) are stored in the website’s database. Updating the theme does not affect the database, so such changes remain intact after updates.

If any changes were made directly to the Variations theme files, it’s recommended to use a child theme to ensure that your customizations aren’t overwritten during future theme updates.

Thank you so much, Marimelle!

Hello, Christina.

Thank you for the detailed report. Could you please share some screenshots of the broken layout? This would help us better understand the specific issues you encountered.
Regarding the header and other templates – if you had previously customized and saved them through the Template Editor, they should actually be stored in your database, not in the theme files. This means your customized version should take precedence over any theme files. If this isn’t happening, there might be a specific conflict we need to address.
To help us troubleshoot:

Could you confirm if you had saved your custom header through the Template Editor before the update?
If possible, please share screenshots of both the broken and correct versions of your header, footer, and homepage.

Hello @bloclyfe

Thank you for your kind words and for sharing your experience! It’s great to hear that Super Blank and the tutorial have made your WordPress journey easier. Starting out can feel overwhelming, but it sounds like you’re already off to an amazing start designing your own site.

Wishing you all the best with your WordPress creations!

• This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by Tyler Moore.

Hello,
Thanks for your kind words about the tutorials!

Since you’re using a block theme (Variations), try creating your menus using the Navigation block in Site Editor rather than classic menus. You can create separate navigation blocks for each language and use Polylang’s language display settings to show/hide them based on the current language.

However, for specific instructions on setting up language-specific navigation blocks with Polylang, I’d recommend checking their support documentation or reaching out to their team directly – they’ll have the most up-to-date guidance for block themes.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by Tyler Moore.

Hello Elize,
Since your issue aren’t related to the Variations theme, this is likely a caching or plugin conflict issue. Here’s a similar situation discussed on this forum that might help: https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/toggle-menu-not-opening-on-mobile-version/

Try following the steps mentioned there. If you’re still having trouble after that, please email [email protected] with a list of your installed plugins, and we’ll try to help you figure out what’s causing the conflict.

Hello Elize,
While I’m glad you figured it out, let me explain for others who might have the same question:

When using the block theme, you’ll want to make sure you have only one H1 tag per page for good SEO. Usually, this means:

• Your page title should be H1
• Site title can be set as paragraph or H2
• Other headings should use H2-H6 accordingly

You can check and adjust these settings in the block editor’s sidebar, or choose your heading level from the Block Toolbar. Here’s more info about heading blocks: https://www.ads-software.com/documentation/article/heading-block/
PS: Nice work solving this on your own – that’s a great way to learn WordPress!

Hello Elize,

To add anchor text to the logos in your footer, you can link them just like you would with a regular paragraph.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Click on the logo image in the footer area.
2. A small menu will appear, and you’ll see an option to add a link.
3. Simply add the desired URL (for example, TICA’s website or Cat Kingpin’s site) into that field.

This is similar to how you would add a link to a paragraph, which you can find in the WordPress documentation here: Adding Links.

Hello Elize,
I notice you’re using the Jetpack Slideshow feature, which might be causing these display issues. I’d recommend reach out to Jetpack’s support team as they’ll be able to help with specific settings for their slideshow feature.