Getting StartedBack to Top

This document covers the installation, set up, and use of this theme, and provides answers and solutions to common problems. We encourage you to first read this document thoroughly if you are experiencing any difficulties before contacting our support team.

York Pro

This help guide also covers features that are only available in the Pro Version of York. If you're interested in upgrading to pro, click here to learn more about the new features or go ahead and purchase York Pro for only $59.

York Pro has many more customization options including typographic selectors, stylistic color pickers and other add-ons. And in addition to these fantastic features, you'll also receive dashboard one-click updates and access to world-class theme support by our team of in-house professional WordPress developers.

Please note that support is only offered for York Pro. If you already have a Pro license and have any questions that are beyond the scope of this document, feel free to ask us via our dedicated help center.

WordPress Upload

To upload through your Dashboard, select “Appearance” and then “Themes”. Next, select the “Install Themes” tab at the top of the page and then select the “Upload” link, right above the search field. Choose your file and select “Install Now”. Once the theme is fully uploaded and installed, click “Activate” to activate the WordPress theme.

The theme files will be stored on your server in the wp-content/themes location.

When uploading your theme with the installer, please ensure you are uploading the theme .zip file, not the entire package you downloaded. In this case, you will be uploading york.zip.

FTP Upload

To manually upload your new WordPress theme, login with your credentials to your website and locate the wp-content folder in your WordPress install files. Upload the un-zipped York folder into the: wp-content/themes folder.

Once uploaded, activate the theme by heading to the “Themes” menu in the WordPress Dashboard. Locate the York theme and hit “Activate”.

Customizer Options Import

Located inside the /customizer folder within the package contents, you'll find a york-export.dat file. This file contains the live demo's Theme Customizer options.

To import, first install and activate the Customizer Export/Import WordPress plugin, which is available as a free download. After you're successfully running the plugin, head to your Theme Customizer and look for the Export/Import section.

Import the york-export.dat file with the uploader within that section and hit "Import".

Find out more on installing and activating plugins.

Premium Theme Setup

If you're looking for WordPress theme installation and setup to look exactly like the live theme demo - then we're here to help. Fast & simple for only $89.

Get the advanced Theme Setup service →

Our in-house team of professional developers will install the theme, upload the demo XML file, and setup your website exactly like the live demo. Frustration free. Complete your purchase of the Theme Setup service by clicking the link above and send us your deliverables.

Deliverables:

Domain name
FTP information
WordPress admin credentials
Theme files or ThemeForest item purchase code

Theme Support

If you have a problem with the theme or found a bug, please let us know via our official Help Center. We take pride in our customer support and we will do what we can to assist you. If you are experiencing a theme issue, please first turn off all third party plugins to see if the problem persists.

Please note that support is only offered for York Pro. If you already have a Pro license and have any questions that are beyond the scope of this document, feel free to ask us via our dedicated help center.

PortfolioBack to Top

Portfolio Plugin Installation

To install the Bean Portoflio plugin, head over to our website and simply download the free Bean Portfolio WordPress plugin.

Once you’ve successfully downloaded the zip file, head to your WordPress Dashboard and select Plugins > Add New > Upload. Add the zipped file in the field there and click Upload.

Upon a successful upload, you’ll be prompted to activate the plugin. You’ll then see a new Portfolio tab in your WordPress Dashboard Sidebar. Creating portfolio posts is done exactly the same as standard posts.

Creating your Portfolio Page

You need to first create a page using the Portfolio Template. This template will pull your published portfolio posts. The example below utilizes our WordPress theme, Mark - but it's the same process as York Pro.

Featured Images

Upload a featured image - any size will work. The images will be automatically applied throughout all the neccessary templates and loops.

Grid Thumbnail Size

Within the Portfolio Settings metabox, you may set the grid size for your portfolio project's featured image - that's used on the portfolio templates. There are four options: small, medium, large and xtra-large.

Gallery Images

This is where you will add your images to the post by clicking the "Browse & Upload" button. You have the capability to rearrange, caption, add more and remove images from the popup modal that appears.

Just remember to hit Save Gallery and you're all set.

Portfolio Captions

You may add captions to your portfolio gallery image uploads within the Edit Gallery modal (the same modal where you orignially uploaded images to your portfolio post). Just add your caption to the "Caption this image" text box directly below each image, and your caption will appear on the portfolio post.

Portfolio Post Formats

York is capable of outputting gallery and video portfolio posts (embedded - e.g. Vimeo & YouTube). To change the type of portfolio to display, click on the checkboxes under the "Portfolio Format" metabox, located beneath the Portfolio Categories, on the right hand side of your window.

Mix or match video and gallery posts on the same post.

Portfolio Meta

Each portfolio post has selectable meta options that you may choose to use on each individual post. You can set the date, client, role, url, elect to display the categories, tags, views and the portfolio post title.

You can also add an external URL to which your post loop will link to a different URL than it's single post page. For example, you can create a post with a featured image and an external link to your Behance project page - then promote that project within the portfolio templates.

Portfolio Options

Located within the Theme Customizer you will find a Portfolio section. Here you may elect to enable the singular portfolio loop, portfolio sorting, lazy-loading, photoswipe and enter your portfolio count.

CustomizerBack to Top

To access the live Customizer, you may select the Customize button in the admin bar dropdown or select "Customize" from the Dashboard menu. Note that you must be logged in as a site administrator in order to access the controls.

Theme Options

1. Title

Set your site title, tagline, logo and the site icon. You can also elect to retina-fy your logo.

2. Header

Turn off/on the sidebar flyout as well as the social navigational icons in the flyout. Also modify these colors: site title, site title hover, navigation icon, navigation icon hover and social icons.

3. Portfolio

Decide if you'd like the gallery lazy loading active and the Photoswipe lightbox on. Enable the "Next" portfolio navigation feature. Lastly, enter the number of posts you'd like displayed originally on your portfolio template. Regarding colors, you may modify the overlay and overlay text colors.

4. Contact

Set your contact form email address and customize the form submit button.

5. Footer

Turn on/off the "Powered by York Pro". Enable the Footer Call to Action and all relevant options. There's also all footer styling options to select the text color, link hover color, and social icons color.

Customizer Styles & Fonts

1. Colors

Easily manipulate the theme accent color and other elements throughout the theme with the color picker in this tab.

2. CSS3 Filter

Within the Portfolio section of the Customizer, you'll find a select field to set an optional CSS3 Filter value (Black & White and Sepia). If activated, your portfolio items will default with the selected filter active.

3. Typography

Easily modify the fonts throughout the theme - choosing from the entire Google fonts library.

UpdatesBack to Top

If you've requested and entered your theme license key, then you'll automatically be notified of any theme updates as we push them. This is the most effective method for getting updates pushed to you quickly and effienctly. Read more about theme licenses.

Check for Updates

To check your theme version, click the live changelog link below and check the version number at the top of the changelog.txt file:

View the York theme changelog →

Relay the changelog version at the top of that changelog.txt file with the version in your WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Themes section to see if your theme files are up to date.

If you are in need of the update, download the current build from the location you purchased the theme from (either ThemeForest, Creative Market or via your account dashboard) to install the updated theme.

If you have an active license key applied to your theme, you will receive live update notifications to which allows one-click updates directly from your WordPress dashboard.

FTP Updating

If you have not customized the original theme files then you may simply drop the updated theme folder contents into the theme folder on your server – which is located in wp-content/themes/york.

If you wish to upload the entire updated theme as a separate theme, ensure you:

Rename the updated theme’s folder (different from the current theme)
Drop the renamed theme folder into wp-content/themes
Switch to the new theme via your WordPress Dashboard

If you choose to upload the whole theme and switch to it, you may lose your Theme Customizer data and will have to add those back in.

FTP Selective Updating

On the other hand, if you have customized some files in the core theme contents, you should consider selective updating, which simply means updating only the files that are pointed out in the theme’s changelog.

There are a couple programs out there that will allow you to compare versions of files, in order to catch customizations you may not remember. Some recommended programs are WinMerge (Windows), Kaleidoscope (OSX), and handy GitHub (OSX) & (Windows).

Overall, the safest and cleanest way to update your theme is to leave your currently modified theme on your server/site as is, rename the folder of the newly updated theme, upload the new theme, and modify that to match your original custom work. In this way, if something has gone wrong with the new version, you’re just a few clicks away from getting things back to how they originally were.

Please note that ThemeBeans is not responsible for content loss, database errors and such, which may happen to your WordPress install upon an incorrectly applied theme update.

Theme License KeyBack to Top

Once you've located your license key on your purchase receipt, you may enter the key on the "Theme License" dashboard widget, located on your WP Dashboard.

Once your license key is entered, hit the "Save License" button - then the "Activate" button that appears after the page refreshes. Upon a successful activation you’ll see a green “Active” tag next to the widget title.

Please note that licenses are only given for York Pro - not the free version.

What is the license key for?

It is important to keep your license up to date in order to continue getting updates for your ThemeBeans WordPress theme and support for any issues you may encounter. Renewing your license grants you access to support and updates for six months, including all updates for bug fixes and feature introductions.

Without a valid theme license, you will be unable to get support and receive theme updates.

If your key is not applied after hitting the Activate button, simply re-enter the key and try again. Sometimes it takes a few tries to properly establish a connection with the activation server.

What if my license key has expired?

License keys may be renewed at a discount on our website. You will get a renewal notification in the license key dashboard widget if your license is about to expire, or has indeed expired.

York Pro Child ThemeBack to Top

A child theme is a theme that inherits the functionality and styling of another theme, called the parent theme. Child themes are the recommended way of modifying an existing theme.

Why use a Child Theme?

There are one main reason why you would want to use a child theme: If you modify a theme directly and it is updated, then your modifications WILL be lost. By using a child theme you will ensure that your modifications are preserved.

Installing the Child theme

Log in to your site's administration panel, and go to Administration Panels > Appearance > Themes. Click "Add New" and follow the directions to upload the york-pro-child.zip file, located in the york-pro-package/theme/ folder.

Next simply click "Activate" and both the York Pro theme and York Pro child theme will be active on your WordPress site. Now you're ready to customize away.

Note that this is the same exact method we referred to in the Getting Started section of this guide. You should see your child theme listed and ready for activation.

Customizing Template Files

If you want to change more than just the stylesheet, your child theme can override any file in the parent theme: simply include a file of the same name in the child theme directory, and it will override the equivalent file in the parent theme directory when your site loads.

For instance, if you want to change the PHP code for the site header, you can include a header.php in your child theme's directory, and that file will be used instead of the parent theme's header.php.

Child Theme Functions.php

Unlike style.css, the functions.php of a child theme does not override its counterpart from the parent. Instead, it is loaded in addition to the parent’s functions.php. (Specifically, it is loaded right before the parent’s file.)

In that way, the functions.php of a child theme provides a smart, trouble-free method of modifying the functionality of a parent theme.

Adding PHP Functions

Say that you want to add a PHP function to your theme. The fastest way would be to open the york-pro/functions.php file and put the function there... But that’s not smart: The next time York Pro is updated, your function will disappear (as the entire contents of the /york-pro/ folder are replaced upon an update.

However, there is an alternative way which is the smart way: you can create a child theme, add a functions.php file in it, and add your function to that file. The function will do the exact same job from there too, with the advantage that it will not be affected by future updates of the parent theme.

DO NOT copy the full content of functions.php of the parent theme into functions.php in the child theme. It's not a good practice by any means.

Modifiying PHP Functions

You can use this same exact methodology to modify functions that are within the parent theme's files. Let's take a quick look at an example.

Below is an example of a typical function within most of our WordPress themes - a template tag that pulls in the site archives.

Say you wanted to change the titles of each section (Monthly, Yearly, Categories). You would find this function (located in the york-pro/inc/template-tags.php file) then copy it over to the child theme like such:

And then edit the text as you see fit. This function will load before the one in the theme, which is pluggable —that is, replaceable by a child theme— conditionally.

Note that this example is for this specifcic function, buy you can do the same with any pluggable function that contains the following:

To learn more, read the this article on the WordPress Codex →

DevelopersBack to Top

If you'd like to add another menu location to use in the theme, search for the york_setup function in your theme's functions.php file and copy that whole function to your child theme.

Within the york_setup function you'll see the standard register_nav_menus function. Simply create another copy/paste another line with a unique location identifiers and name. The code below creates two separate menus locations that are selectable via the WP Dashboard > Appearance > Menu page.

Adding your menu to the theme.

Now that you've created the menu, you can use it in your theme's files. As always, we suggest utilizing a child theme to make file modifications.

The code below is an example of the wp_nav_menu function that displays your created navigation window. There is quite a few parameters associated with this function, so take a look at it's official reference to see all that you can do.

Add Image Sizes

If you'd like to add another image size for your WordPress instance to automatically size for, search for the york_setup function in your theme's functions.php file and copy that whole function to your child theme (if you have not already done so).

You'll want to look for add_image_size within the york_setup function and copy/paste a new line in. Below is an example of the add_image_size function.

Note that the first numeral value is the image's width and the second is the height. Read more about the parameters of the add_image_size function on the WordPress reference site.

Using image_size in your theme.

It's pretty simple to utilize your new image size within your theme templates. Here's an example using the above add_image_size function.

Note that you will need to regenerate your images if you're trying to create an image size for images already uploaded to your WordPress Media Library.