GridMini Documentation

GridMini is a minimal and elegant, visually appealing grid WordPress theme that can be used to create a great responsive gallery or photographic portfolio websites. GridMini features a 5-column posts grid layout, sticky header on desktop screens, optional sticky sidebar on standard single posts/pages, social media icons, 2 navigation menus, a header banner, 1 sidebar, 5 footer columns, and many options. GridMini 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 GridMini in the search box.
4. Click Install on the GridMini theme, then click Activate.

Method 2: Upload via WordPress Dashboard

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

Method 3: Upload via FTP/File Manager

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

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

If your website already has existing posts with featured images, it's highly recommended to regenerate thumbnails after activating the GridMini 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 GridMini theme.

The GridMini theme supports a custom header image (also known as a banner image). This image is displayed prominently at the top of your site, below the header area.

How to Set Up a Header Image

1. Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Header Image.
2. Click "Add new image" and upload or select an image from your media library.
3. Crop the image if needed, then click "Publish".

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.

The GridMini theme provides 22 widget areas. You can manage widgets from Appearance → Widgets.

GridMini includes two custom page templates you can use for full-width layouts 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.

The GridMini theme provides a variety of options via the WordPress Customizer. Navigate to Appearance → Customize to access them.

GridMini 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 gridmini.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:

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

Place them inside the /languages folder in the theme.

↔️ RTL Language Support

GridMini 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.

Here are some tips to optimize the performance and SEO of your GridMini-powered website:

• Use a Caching Plugin: Install a caching plugin like W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache to speed up your site.
• Optimize Images: Use an image optimization plugin like Imagify or Smush to reduce image file sizes without losing quality.
• Use a CDN: A Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare can serve your static files from servers closest to your visitors.
• Install an SEO Plugin: Use Yoast SEO or All in One SEO to manage your site's SEO settings, meta descriptions, and sitemaps.
• Minimize Plugins: Only keep plugins you actually use. Deactivate and delete unused plugins to reduce load.
• Keep WordPress Updated: Always update WordPress core, themes, and plugins to the latest versions for security and performance improvements.
• Use Quality Hosting: Choose a reliable hosting provider with good server performance. Managed WordPress hosting can be beneficial for speed and security.

How do I set up the homepage to display posts in a grid?

Go to Settings → Reading and set "Your homepage displays" to "Your latest posts". The theme will automatically display your latest posts in a 5-column grid layout.

How do I change the number of posts displayed on the homepage?

Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Posts Grid Options and change the "Number of Posts per Page" value.

How do I add social media icons?

Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Social Links Options. Enter the URLs for each social profile you want to display. The icons will appear automatically in the social area.

How do I change the footer copyright text?

Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Footer Options and enter your custom text in the "Footer copyright notice" field.

How do I use the full-width page template?

Edit a page and select "Full Width, no sidebar" from the Template dropdown in the Page Attributes section.

How do I add a numbered posts navigation?

The theme includes built-in numbered navigation. Go to Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Posts Navigation Options and select "Numbered Navigation". You can also install the WP-PageNavi plugin for enhanced pagination.

Does the theme support sticky sidebar?

Yes. The sticky sidebar is active on standard single posts/pages; it’s automatically disabled on full-width templates and archive/home listings.

Does the theme support sticky header?

Yes. The sticky header stays at the top on desktop screens.

Images look stretched or blurry

After activating the theme, you need to regenerate thumbnails. Install the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin, go to Tools → Regenerate Thumbnails, and click "Regenerate All Thumbnails".

Menu is not showing

Make sure you have created a menu and assigned it to a display location. Go to Appearance → Menus, create or select a menu, and check the appropriate location under "Menu Settings". Also check that the menu is not disabled in Appearance → Customize → Theme Options → Menu Options.

Widget areas are empty

Go to Appearance → Widgets and add widgets to the desired widget areas. If you imported the demo content, make sure you also imported the widgets file.

Homepage shows a static page instead of posts grid

Go to Settings → Reading and set "Your homepage displays" to "Your latest posts".

Customizer changes are not saving

Try clearing your browser cache and any caching plugin cache. If the issue persists, try deactivating other plugins to check for conflicts.

Theme update issues

If you experience issues after updating, clear all caches (browser, plugin, and server-side). If the problem continues, deactivate and reactivate the theme.

The GridMini 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 GridMini PRO

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