GridHot Documentation

GridHot is a clean and attractive, responsive/mobile friendly, simple grid WordPress theme for building stunning magazine or gallery websites. GridHot features a 4-column grid layout, 2 navigation menus, a custom header image, a sticky sidebar, 4 footer columns, 60+ social profile links, share buttons, and many options. GridHot theme also has RTL language support and a translation-ready codebase. 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 GridHot in the search box.
4. Click Install on the GridHot theme, then click Activate.

Method 2: Upload via WordPress Dashboard

1. Download the gridhot.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 gridhot.zip file, and click Install Now.
5. After installation, click Activate.

Method 3: Upload via FTP/File Manager

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

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

If your website already has existing posts with featured images, it's highly recommended to regenerate thumbnails after activating the GridHot 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 GridHot 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 → Theme Options → Header Image.
2. Click Add new image and choose/upload your image (recommended size: 1920×400 px).
3. Crop if prompted, then click Publish.

Useful options

• Hide Header Image from Everywhere – remove the header image globally.
• Remove Link from Header Image – keep the image but remove the homepage link.
• Hide Title/Description – hide the overlaid title/description text.
• Custom Title/Description – enter your own text for the header image area.
• Header Image Destination URL – set a custom link target when the image is clicked.

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.

There are 21 widget areas in the GridHot theme. The free version does not bundle custom widgets; use WordPress core widgets or plugins of your choice inside these areas.

1. Sidebar 1 Widgets

   Left-hand sidebar for singular content.

2. Top Full Width Widgets (Default HomePage)

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

3. Top Full Width Widgets (Everywhere)

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

4. Above Content Widgets (Default HomePage)

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

5. Above Content Widgets (Everywhere)

   Above main content (above posts), shown on every page.

6. Top Left Widgets (Default HomePage)

   Located at the left top of your website, shown on the default homepage (latest posts).

7. Top Left Widgets (Everywhere)

   Located at the left top of your website, shown on every page.

8. Top Right Widgets (Default HomePage)

   Located at the right top of your website, shown on the default homepage (latest posts).

9. Top Right Widgets (Everywhere)

   Located at the right top of your website, shown on every page.

10. Below Content Widgets (Default HomePage)

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

11. Below Content Widgets (Everywhere)

    Below main content (below posts), shown on every page.

12. Bottom Full Width Widgets (Default HomePage)

    Full-width area before the footer, shown on the default homepage (latest posts).

13. Bottom Full Width Widgets (Everywhere)

    Full-width area before the footer, shown on every page.

14. Single Post Bottom Widgets

    Appears at the bottom of singular content on the single post and full-width post templates.

15. Footer Top Widgets

    Full-width area above the footer columns.

16. Footer 1 Widgets

    Footer column 1.

17. Footer 2 Widgets

    Footer column 2.

18. Footer 3 Widgets

    Footer column 3.

19. Footer 4 Widgets

    Footer column 4.

20. Footer Bottom Widgets

    Full-width area below the footer columns.

21. 404 Page Widgets

    Displayed on the 404 (not found) page.

GridHot includes two custom full-width templates you can use for pages and posts without sidebars.

• Full Width, no sidebar (Page) — Template for pages (template-full-width-page.php)
• Full Width, no sidebar (Post) — Template for 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.

All GridHot theme settings are managed through the WordPress Customizer. Navigate to Appearance → Customize in your WordPress dashboard to access them.

Under Theme Options, you will find the GridHot-specific panels and options described below.

GridHot is fully translation-ready and supports Right-to-Left (RTL) languages like Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian out of the box.

🌐 Translating the Theme

The theme includes a gridhot.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:

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

Place them inside the /languages folder in the theme.

↔️ RTL Language Support

GridHot includes built-in RTL support. If your WordPress site language is set to an RTL language, the theme will automatically adjust layout direction, alignment, and spacing accordingly. No extra setup required.

If you're customizing your site with RTL content, make sure your text widgets, menus, and custom styles are also RTL-compatible for best results.

• Use a caching plugin such as WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, or LiteSpeed Cache to improve page load times.
• Optimize images before uploading. Use plugins like ShortPixel, Smush, or Imagify to compress images without losing quality.
• Install an SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math to optimize meta tags, sitemaps, and overall search engine visibility.
• Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network) like Cloudflare to serve static assets faster to visitors worldwide.
• Minimize plugins — deactivate and delete any unused plugins to reduce database queries and load times.
• Keep WordPress, theme, and plugins updated for security and performance improvements.

My menus disappeared after switching to GridHot. What should I do?

Go to Appearance → Menus. Reassign your menus to the correct display locations (Primary Menu or Secondary Menu) and click Save Menu.

How do I switch between grid and non-grid (list) post layouts?

Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Posts Grid Options and check the "Activate Non-Grid Posts" option to switch from the grid to a traditional list layout.

How do I show posted date boxes on thumbnails?

Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Posts Grid Options and check the "Show Posted Date Boxes on Posts Thumbnails" option. You can also choose between Square and Round styles.

How do I add social media links?

Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Social Links Options. Paste each social profile URL into the corresponding field. The social buttons will appear in the social area automatically.

How do I change the footer copyright text?

Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Footer Options. Enter your custom text in the "Footer Copyright Notice" field.

How do I use a static page as my homepage?

Go to Settings → Reading. Select "A static page" under "Your homepage displays". Choose your desired pages for "Homepage" and "Posts page", then save.

Featured images are not showing correctly in social previews

Install an SEO plugin (such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math) to properly set Open Graph (OG) meta tags. These plugins allow you to define a default and per-post image for social media previews.

"The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive"

Your server limits the maximum upload file size. You can increase it by editing your php.ini file or contacting your hosting provider. Alternatively, use FTP to upload files directly.

Posts grid is not displaying correctly

Make sure Settings → Reading → Your homepage displays is set to "Your latest posts". Also check that you haven't checked the "Activate Non-Grid Posts" option under Theme Options → Posts Grid Options if you want the grid layout.

Widgets are not appearing

Make sure you are adding widgets to the correct widget areas via Appearance → Widgets. Some widget areas only appear on the default homepage (when showing latest posts). Check the widget area descriptions for details.

The GridHot 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 GridHot PRO

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

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.