Avenor Journal

Before you begin

Required: WordPress 6.5 or newer; PHP 8.0 or newer; an administrator account; and a backup of your current site. No paid page builder is required. Avenor is a classic WordPress theme with block-editor styling, not a WooCommerce shopping theme.

Your purchase includes a complete buyer package. Extract this outer ZIP on your computer first. Inside, find the installable Installable-Theme/avenor-journal-v0.10.6.zip, optional child theme, optional companion plugin, illustrative demo images, setup notes and previews.

Quick start: 14 installation and setup steps

1. Download and unpack the correct file. After purchasing, open your ThemeScorpion account downloads or order email. Download the complete Avenor Journal buyer package and unzip the outer distribution archive on your computer. Do not upload the outer ZIP to WordPress.
2. Back up WordPress. Save your website files and database. Record existing menus, homepage settings and any Customizer changes before switching themes, especially on a working publication.
3. Install Avenor Journal. Open Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme. Choose avenor-journal-v0.10.6.zip from the extracted Installable-Theme folder, click Install Now, and click Activate. When upgrading Avenor, use WordPress’s theme-replacement prompt.
4. Choose whether to use the optional add-ons. The Optional-Addons folder contains a child theme ZIP and Avenor Journal Core companion plugin ZIP. Install the plugin via Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin only if you need its optional editorial features. A child theme can keep your custom code separate from parent-theme updates; install the parent first.
5. Set site identity and navigation. Go to Settings → General to enter your publication title and tagline. Under Appearance → Menus, create a menu and assign it to the primary location. Remove any navigation left behind by a previous theme.
6. Configure clean permalinks. Open Settings → Permalinks, choose Post name if appropriate for your website, then save. Re-save permalinks if newly created article/category links show a 404.
7. Optional: install the editorial demo. Open Appearance → Avenor Setup and choose Install original demo content. If this is a dedicated demo/staging site, check Apply curated demo homepage, category navigation and working RSS callout. The importer includes 36 fictional example posts and 12 illustrative WebP images; it does not delete existing content.
8. Keep existing-site content safe. On a test-only installation, Avenor Setup offers a separate Apply Avenor Journal demo identity action and an explicit review of legacy Hello world! or veltrix-demo posts. They are never unpublished automatically. Only select and move posts to Draft if you are sure they are unwanted; restoration options are provided.
9. Choose your homepage layout. Open Appearance → Customize → Avenor Journal — Design & Layout. Set homepage editorial sections, hero stories, category/tag sources, headings and visibility. Choose Classic Journal, Feature Magazine or Compact Newspaper as available. Publish your changes.
10. Customize header, colors and typography. In the same panel, upload a logo and adjust navigation, spacing, headline typography, body type, accent colors and story card appearance. Use the Mobile & Tablet controls for compact logo sizing and story columns. Check your menu both open and closed on a phone.
11. Enable and test reader light/dark mode. The sun/moon control appears in the real site header by default. Readers can switch the whole site between light and dark modes. Publishers may disable the control under the Header & Navigation Customizer settings. After saving, open a new browser tab and confirm the change persists across article pages.
12. Publish real stories and configure article layouts. Use Posts → Add New to create articles, assign categories/tags and set appropriate featured images. In each post’s Avenor article presentation options, select a standard, wide-feature, focused-reading or photo-essay presentation where available. Add descriptive image captions, author biography and section headings for longer content.
13. Configure social accounts and editorial extras. In Customizer → Social Accounts & Sharing, enter only real social URLs; empty accounts remain hidden. Configure sidebar/widgets, author display, sharing, newsletter shortcode (which requires a separate provider plugin), and advertising areas only as needed. The RSS feed works without a newsletter integration.
14. Complete launch checks. Check homepage, category archives, search results, single articles and 404 handling. Confirm headings, navigation, form controls, light/dark contrast and layouts at 320px, 390px, tablet and desktop widths. Clear caches after theme updates, then validate your SEO plugin, email integration and performance on your own hosting.

Customizer & editorial workflow

Editors control content using native WordPress posts and categories. Avenor Journal provides 143 registered theme settings for branding, header/navigation, mobile presentation, article typography, editorial homepage modules, social links and footer configuration. Some settings update instantly in the Customizer; changes to post queries may require refreshing the preview. Always click Publish and reload the actual website to verify saved values.

To avoid repeating the same article in multiple featured modules, review featured-story sources and ensure you have enough published articles to populate all selected homepage sections. Demo import is optional; the theme works with your own WordPress posts.

Search, SEO and performance

Give each article a specific title, one primary heading, descriptive text and a genuine featured image. Organize topics into meaningful categories. Use a dedicated SEO plugin for editable search snippets, canonical URLs, XML sitemaps and social sharing previews; don’t run conflicting metadata generators. WordPress handles responsive image sizes where images are registered correctly.

Use compressed WebP imagery when appropriate, avoid unnecessarily heavy plugins and test your deployed site with PageSpeed Insights and a real mobile browser. Neither Google rankings nor fixed speed scores are guaranteed by the theme.

Updating Avenor Journal

Back up files and database before updating. Download the newer installable parent theme ZIP from the official product downloads, upload it through Appearance → Themes, and choose the replacement action. Afterward clear the page cache and check menus, article templates, Customizer saves, dark mode and any code added to your child theme.

The current release is v0.10.6. An automatic-update service is not promised; install new versions manually when provided.

Common questions & troubleshooting

Why does WordPress reject my theme ZIP?

You likely uploaded the outer buyer package. Extract it first, then upload only Installable-Theme/avenor-journal-v0.10.6.zip.

Why are the featured sections empty or showing old articles?

Publish enough articles, assign meaningful categories and verify each homepage module’s source. The importer deliberately preserves pre-existing posts.

Why is the logo or site title still “My Blog”?

Update Settings → General and Appearance → Customize → Site Identity. Use the Avenor Setup demo-identity action only on a dedicated test installation.

Why are social icons missing?

Configure actual profile URLs in the theme’s social settings; unconfigured networks are intentionally hidden.

Why is the dark-mode icon missing after updating?

Open the header Customizer options and make sure the reader light/dark switch is enabled. Publish, clear caches and refresh the page. A previously saved OFF preference can override the enabled-by-default setting.

Why does the email subscription box not send emails?

Avenor provides the presentation and a shortcode integration point, not a subscriber database. Install and configure a compatible newsletter provider and test its forms separately.

How do I get help?

Contact ThemeScorpion Support or email support@themescorpion.com. Include your theme version, WordPress/PHP versions, a URL and a description of the problem.

Theme code: GPL-2.0-or-later. Demo editorial articles are fictional and illustrative photography carries the attribution/license information included in the buyer package.