CoolWP Documentation

CoolWP is a clean, 3 columns, 100% responsive, easy to use blogging theme for WordPress. It has many theme options to customize various aspects of the theme quickly and has 2 navigation menus, an optional featured posts slider on the homepage, two post-summary styles, full-width layouts for posts/pages, sticky primary menu and sidebars, a 728x90 header banner widget area, left and right sidebars, 4 columns footer, social buttons, scroll-to-top button and more. The theme is very starter-friendly and easy to set up.

Method 1: Install via WordPress Dashboard (Recommended)

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Appearance → Themes → Add New.
3. Search for CoolWP in the search box.
4. Click Install on the CoolWP theme, then click Activate.

Method 2: Upload via WordPress Dashboard

1. Download the coolwp.zip theme file from WordPress.org.
2. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.
3. Navigate to Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme.
4. Click Choose File, select the coolwp.zip file, and click Install Now.
5. After installation, click Activate.

Method 3: Upload via FTP/File Manager

1. Download the coolwp.zip theme file and extract it.
2. Connect to your server via FTP (FileZilla) or use your hosting File Manager.
3. Upload the extracted coolwp folder to /wp-content/themes/.
4. Go to your WordPress Dashboard → Appearance → Themes and activate CoolWP.

You can import the demo content, widgets, and Customizer settings shown in the CoolWP theme demo.

If your website already has existing posts with featured images, it's highly recommended to regenerate thumbnails after activating the CoolWP theme. This ensures that all images match the new theme's layout and display sizes.

Regenerating thumbnails is optional if your site is completely new and doesn't have any uploaded images yet.

However, if you imported the demo content, regenerating thumbnails is essential to display images correctly across the site.

1. Install and activate the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin.
2. Go to Tools → Regenerate Thumbnails.
3. Click the "Regenerate Thumbnails for All x Attachments" button to start the process.
4. Wait until all images are regenerated. This may take a few minutes depending on your media library size.
5. If you want, you can deactivate and delete the plugin once the process is complete.

This step ensures clean image alignment and sharp visuals throughout your website using the CoolWP theme.

Use the WordPress Customizer to add or manage the header image that appears at the top of your site.

How to add a header image

1. Go to Appearance → Customize → Header Image.
2. Click Add new image and choose/upload your image (recommended width: 1250px or larger).
3. Crop if prompted, then click Publish.

Useful options

• Hide Header Content – hide the header content area (logo, title, tagline, and header banner) from your site via Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Header Options.

This theme includes two Display Locations for menus: Primary Menu, and Secondary Menu.

Right after installing the theme, WordPress may display your existing pages as the default menu items in these locations. You can replace them with your own custom menus containing links, categories, pages, and more by following the steps below:

1. Go to Appearance → Menus and click the create a new menu link.
2. Enter a name for your menu in the Menu Name field.
3. Select a display location for your menu by checking one of the available options under Display location
4. Click the Create Menu button.
   
5. To add items to the menu, use the options in the left-hand column—select the pages, posts, categories, or tags you want, then click Add to Menu.
6. To create dropdown menus, simply drag and nest the submenu items beneath the parent menu item.
7. Once you've added your links, click the Save Menu button.

CoolWP includes a featured posts slider (built with OWL Carousel) displayed on the homepage. Configure it from the Customizer.

Enable and choose content

1. Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Slider.
2. Check Enable Slider to display the slider on the homepage.
3. Set Number of Slider Posts to control how many posts appear (default is 5).
4. Choose the Slider Posts Type: Recent Posts or Category Posts.
5. If you selected "Category Posts", choose the Slider Posts Category from the dropdown.

Tips for best results

• Use a dedicated category for slider posts and add featured images to each post.
• Recommended featured image size: at least 480×360px to match the slider thumbnail size.
• If you changed image sizes or imported demo content, run Regenerate Thumbnails so the slider images match the theme sizes.
• The slider appears only on the front page (first page of latest posts).

There are 13 widget areas in the CoolWP theme. The free version does not bundle custom widgets; use WordPress core widgets or plugins of your choice inside these areas.

1. Header Banner

   Located in the header area, ideal for a 728×90 ad banner or custom content.

2. Sidebar 1

   Left-hand sidebar for your pages/posts.

3. Sidebar 2

   Right-hand sidebar for your pages/posts.

4. Top Full Width Widgets (Home Page Only)

   Full-width area after the header, shown only on the homepage (latest posts).

5. Top Full Width Widgets (Every Page)

   Full-width area after the header, shown on every page.

6. Top Widgets (Home Page Only)

   Above main content area, shown on the homepage (latest posts).

7. Top Widgets (Every Page)

   Above main content area, shown on every page.

8. Bottom Widgets (Home Page Only)

   Below main content area, shown on the homepage (latest posts).

9. Bottom Widgets (Every Page)

   Below main content area, shown on every page.

10. Footer 1 Widgets

    Footer column 1.

11. Footer 2 Widgets

    Footer column 2.

12. Footer 3 Widgets

    Footer column 3.

13. Footer 4 Widgets

    Footer column 4.

CoolWP includes two built-in templates for full-width layouts without sidebars:

• Full Width, no sidebar (Page) — applies to pages (template-full-width-page.php).
• Full Width, no sidebar (Post) — applies to posts (template-full-width-post.php).

How to apply a template

1. Edit a page or post in the WordPress editor.
2. In the Page Attributes (or Post Attributes) panel, open the Template dropdown.
3. Select Full Width, no sidebar and update/publish.

To see available WordPress Customizer theme options:

1. Go to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Appearance → Customize.
3. Click on Theme Options.

CoolWP is translation-ready. It ships with a POT file for localization but does not include RTL-specific styles.

🌐 Translating the Theme

The theme includes a coolwp.pot file located in the /languages folder inside the theme directory. You can use this file to create translations in your own language using any of the following tools:

• Poedit – Desktop translation editor (view tutorial)
• Loco Translate – Translate the theme directly from your WordPress dashboard (view tutorial)

After translating, save your files as:

• coolwp-[language_code].po
• coolwp-[language_code].mo

Place them inside the /languages folder in the theme.

↔️ RTL Language Support

RTL styles are not bundled with this theme. If you need RTL, add custom CSS or child-theme overrides after enabling an RTL site language.

Here are some best practices to improve your site's performance and SEO when using CoolWP:

• Use a caching plugin — Install W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, or LiteSpeed Cache to improve page load times.
• Optimize images — Use plugins like Imagify or EWWW Image Optimizer to compress images.
• Use a CDN — A Content Delivery Network (e.g., Cloudflare) serves your content from servers closest to your visitors.
• Install an SEO plugin — Use Yoast SEO or Rank Math to manage meta tags, sitemaps, and structured data.
• Keep WordPress updated — Always use the latest versions of WordPress, themes, and plugins.
• Minimize plugins — Only keep the plugins you actually use.
• Use quality hosting — A good hosting provider makes a significant difference in performance.
• Set featured images — Always set a featured image for posts to ensure proper display in post summaries and when sharing on social media.

In this section, you'll find quick answers to the most frequently asked questions about using the CoolWP theme. If you can't find your answer here, you can contact our support team for more help.

This section covers common technical problems you may encounter. If your issue isn't listed, reach out to our support team.

The CoolWP theme is released under the GNU General Public License v2.0 (GPL v2). You can use the theme on unlimited websites and modify the code.

What's included in free support:

• Help with theme installation and setup
• Bug fixes and troubleshooting related to the theme
• Guidance on using built-in theme features

What's not included in free support (but available as paid tasks):

• Theme customization or resolving third-party plugin conflicts
• Custom coding or feature implementation requests
• Performance tuning, SEO setup, or server configuration assistance

If you need help, please contact us. We typically respond within 24-48 hours on working days.

Contact Support

Upgrade to CoolWP PRO

For more features including color options, font options, news ticker, related posts, and much more, consider upgrading to CoolWP PRO.

The following is a log of all updates and changes made to CoolWP. We recommend always using the latest version.

You can use the following date format values to control how dates appear in various places such as custom widgets, post metadata, news tickers, and more. These formats follow the standard PHP date formatting rules used by WordPress. Refer to the table below to choose a format that best fits your design and content style.