Installation and child theme

Signocore Slate installs like any other WordPress theme uploaded as a zip file. There is no license key to enter and no account to create.

Install the theme

Check that your site runs a supported WordPress and PHP version on the platform support page.
Download the zip file from https://download.signocore.com/signocore-slate. It is also linked from the Signocore Slate product page.
In WordPress, go to Appearance → Themes and click Add Theme.
Click Upload Theme, choose the zip file and click Install Now.
Click Activate.

If your WordPress or PHP version is too old, WordPress switches back to its default theme right after activation and shows a notice with the versions Signocore Slate needs. Your site keeps working on the default theme until you update.

Multisite

On a multisite network, upload the theme under Network Admin → Themes and click Network Enable. Each site can then activate it under Appearance → Themes. Updates are installed once for the whole network.

First steps after activation

Activation adds a Signocore Slate menu and a Slate Patterns menu to the admin sidebar. The theme starts with its own color palette, a system font stack and a header with the logo on the left and the primary menu on the right.

Assign a menu to the Primary menu location under Appearance → Menus. Assign one to the Mobile location too if your phone menu should differ.
Open Appearance → Customize → Header, click Logo and upload your logo.
Set your colors under Appearance → Customize → Colors & Fonts → Colors.
Click Publish at the top of the Customizer to save.

To start from another site's design instead, import its content, Customizer settings or widgets under Signocore Slate → Import. See Import and export.

Important: Customizer settings are saved per theme. If you plan to use a child theme, activate the child theme before you customize the site, or export your settings first. See Move existing settings to the child theme.

Set up a child theme

A theme update replaces the whole signocore-slate folder. Any file you change inside it is lost at the next update. Put custom CSS, PHP and template changes in a child theme instead. The child theme keeps its own files, and Signocore Slate keeps updating underneath it.

You do not need a child theme for settings you make in the Customizer, the block editor or the admin screens. Those are stored in the database and survive updates.

Create the files

Create a folder named signocore-slate-child in wp-content/themes/ with two files.

style.css tells WordPress which theme is the parent. The Template line must match the parent folder name exactly:

/*
Theme Name:   Signocore Slate Child
Template:     signocore-slate
Version:      1.0.0
Text Domain:  signocore-slate-child
*/

/* Your custom CSS goes below this line. */

functions.php loads the child stylesheet. Signocore Slate loads its own stylesheets, so you only enqueue the child's file. Priority 20 makes it load after the theme's styles, so your rules win:

<?php
/**
 * Signocore Slate Child functions.
 */

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', function (): void {
	wp_enqueue_style(
		'signocore-slate-child',
		get_stylesheet_uri(),
		array(),
		wp_get_theme()->get( 'Version' )
	);
}, 20 );

Zip the folder, upload it under Appearance → Themes → Add Theme → Upload Theme like the parent, and activate it. Signocore Slate must stay installed; WordPress shows an error for the child theme when the parent is missing.

The child theme can have its own patterns or blocks folder. Signocore Slate always loads its blocks and its pattern library from its own folder, so they keep working.

Override a template

Signocore Slate builds its pages from small template files in its template-parts folder, such as template-parts/header/logo.php or template-parts/content/single.php. To change one, copy it to the same path inside your child theme and edit the copy. WordPress loads the child theme's version instead of the parent's.

Copy only the files you change. A copied template no longer receives changes from theme updates, so compare it with the new version of the original after a major update.

For many changes you do not need to copy a template at all. The theme runs actions and filters at every point in the layout, which a few lines in functions.php can use. See Customizing with code and the hooks reference.

Move existing settings to the child theme

WordPress stores Customizer settings per theme, so a child theme starts without the settings you made while the parent was active. The global color palette is the exception: it is shared by both.

With Signocore Slate active, go to Appearance → Customize → Import / Export and click Export. A settings file downloads.
Activate the child theme.
Go to Appearance → Customize → Import / Export, choose the file under Import and click Import.

Updates

Signocore Slate updates from Signocore's own update server, not from WordPress.org. New versions appear under Dashboard → Updates and on Appearance → Themes, and you install them like any other theme update. The updater checks the parent theme, so updates keep arriving while a child theme is active.

The theme asks the update server for a new version at most every 6 hours. To check right away, click Check again on Dashboard → Updates.
The request sends your site's PHP and WordPress version numbers. A new version is only offered when your site meets its requirements. A site below them stays on its current release and keeps working.
You can turn on automatic updates for Signocore Slate with Enable auto-updates on Appearance → Themes.
When a coming major release raises the minimum PHP or WordPress version, administrators on sites below the new minimum see a notice in the dashboard ahead of time. See platform support.

To update by hand, upload the new zip under Appearance → Themes → Add Theme → Upload Theme and choose Replace installed with uploaded.

Important: An update replaces the entire theme folder, including any file you edited in it. Keep custom code in a child theme, and take a backup before major updates.

Note: The update server address comes from the SIGNOCORE_SLATE_UPDATE_URL constant, which the theme sets for you. If you define it yourself in wp-config.php, your value replaces the built-in address and the site no longer checks Signocore's server for updates.