Mow - Blog & Magazine WordPress Theme
Theme Created: 25 November 2024
Documentation Created: 20 November 2024
Documentation Updated: 21 February 2025
Author Profile: https://themeforest.net/user/frenify/portfolio
Introduction
First of all, Thank you so much for purchasing this template and for being our loyal customer. You are awesome!
This documentation is to help you regarding each step of customization. Please go through the documentation carefully to understand how this template is made and how to edit this properly.
WordPress General
A working version of WordPress.org must be installed before you can install the Mow. If you need help installing WordPress, follow the WordPress Codex
Before using any theme, it is important to understand how native WordPress functions work, and how to establish ownership of your new site.
WordPress links you will find useful:
- WordPress Codex: General information about WordPress and how to install it on your server.
- First Steps With WordPress: General information about WordPress.
- FAQ New To WordPress: The most popular WordPress FAQ’s
Theme Installation
To use Mow WordPress Theme, you must be running WordPress 6.0 or higher, PHP 7.4 and mysql 5 or higher version. Below is a checklist of items your host needs to comply with to ensure proper Mow operation:
- Ensure your web host has the minimum requirements to run WordPress.
- Make sure the latest version of WordPress is up and running.
- If necessary, you can download the latest release of WordPress from the official WordPress website.
There are two methods to install the theme. If the normal installation method [a] is not supported by your web host, you can use the alternate option [b].
a) Normal Installation
- Log in to your WordPress Admin dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Themes.
- Click on Add New Theme (or the "Install Themes" tab for older versions) and then click Upload.
- Browse your computer to select mow.zip (found in the extracted main.zip folder) and click the Install Now button.
- Once uploaded, click the Activate link to activate your theme.
b) FTP Installation (Alternate Method)
- Use FTP software to browse to the wp-content/themes folder on your web server.
- Upload the extracted mow folder (from mow.zip).
- Once the upload is complete, log in to your WordPress Admin dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Themes.
- Click the Activate link to activate your theme.
Demo Content Import
Before we start to import a demo content we have do following instructions:
-
Set up PHP Configuration limits
Issues you may encounter, such as demo content fails when importing and similar issues, are generally related to excessively low PHP configuration limit settings. You can either increase these limits on your own, or contact your web host and ask to have the limits increased to the following minimums:
- memory_limit - 96M
- max_input_vars - 3000
- max_execution_time - 600
- post_max_size - 32M
- upload_max_filesize - 32M
- allow_url_fopen - ON
-
Verify your PHP limits
You can check them by installing the WordPress phpinfo() plugin and checking Settings. The first column refers to your installation value, and the second column refers to the limits of your host. The latter values are often lower if you have selected a cheaper hosting package.
Now we are ready to import a demo content
There are two methods to import a demo content. If you have SSL Certificate on your website you can use method [1] One Click Demo Importer (auto), but if you have not installed SSL Certificate or you couldn't import a demo content via method [1] you can use method [2] with XML File (manually).
Let's take a look at both methods.
Video Guide
Installation and import a demo content
One-Click Demo Importer
- Go to Dashboard > Mow > Import Demo Data
- Click on Import Demo Data button
- Click on Continue & Import button
- Ready
Manual Import (if One-Click Demo Importer failed)
- Go to Tools >> Import, select WordPress Importer, and run it.
- Locate the xml folder inside the main.zip file.
- Select the XML file corresponding to the demo you want to import and upload it.
Setup Homepage
Creating home page is a simple process.
- Pages > Add New
- Insert Title
- (Required) Choose "Home Page" from Template inside "Page Attributes" box.
- Page Options - Change these options as you wish
- Click the "Publish" button
After you create homepage:
- Settings -> Reading -> Front page displays
- Choose a "Static Page"
- set newly created "Home" page.
- Click "Save Changes" button
Adding Posts
Adding a new post is the same way as default WordPress installations, however, there are extra options that might need explaining.
>> Featured Image
While the theme can function without featured images, it's highly recommended that you add a featured image to each post. This not only makes your site/blog more lively but also improves user experience.
To set the featured image, use the WordPress normal method.
>> Recommended Image Size (for Blog Posts)
Image size (dimensions) will depend on what type of layout you're using throughout your WordPress installation or per individual post basis. This image will not only be used on the post, but also on the category listing pages.
Compatible with all layouts and default slider: 1920 x auto (width x height)
>> Supported Post For
Mow supports 7 post formats. These are:
Gallery Format
- Click "Add Image" button
- Choose Images
- Click "Select" button
See below screenshot
Image Format
Image format works very similar to a standard post. Just set a featured image and you're done.
Standard Format
Just set a featured image and you're done.
Video Format
Setup your post normally and set a featured image. Copy your youtube or local video URL and paste into the "Video URL" box.
See below screenshot
Author Avatar
For the author avatar, our theme uses the Image URL specified in the Mow Extra Profile Information section. If you don’t enter your own Image URL, the theme will default to using Gravatar.
(A GIF is also provided to show how to insert your own avatar into the Image URL field in the Mow Extra Profile Information section.)
Widgets
You can use any shortcodes in widgets. Just use text widget and put shortcode into it. Besides theme custom widget which may helpful for you. Listed below:
- Frenify Ad.
- Frenify Author
- Frenify Custom Categories
- Frenify Donations
- Frenify Followers
- Frenify Social
- Frenify Subscribe
- Frenify Top Articles
Translation & Internalization
Theme comes with .po file included under the languages folder. To translate:
Method 1. Loco Translate
- Download and install Loco Translate.
- Go to Dashboard → Loco Translate → Themes and select Mow from the list
- Add on "New language".
- From the "Choose a language" select the language you want to translate
- From the "Choose a location" select languages/loco/themes/mow-{locale}.po (you can choose something else, it is just recommended)
- Click on "Start translating" button. And you can translate the theme to any language.
- After translating click on "Save" button
Please don't forget to change Site Language to the language you translated. You can change the site language in Dashboard → Settings → General → Site Language
Method 2. Poedit
- Download and install Poedit.
- Open mow.po file located here \wp-content\themes\mow\languages\ using poedit tool and translate the existing text to your own
- Save the file with the locale (for example: ru_RU.po).
If you have already setup WordPress in your language, you can get it from your wp-config.php file under, for example:define('WPLANG', 'ru_RU');In this case, you would save your file as ru_RU.po. - Step above should have generated a .po and a .mo file. Copy both these files and put them into the languages folder of the theme.
Your Language & Localization
After translating, you may wish to use the correct locale to translate and localize your WordPress installation completely. Refer to Installing WordPress In Your Language at WordPress Codex to learn how to.
How to? (FAQ)
The issue occurred because you attempted to install the main.zip file into your themes. This file contains additional resources such as plugins, documentation, XML files, and the child theme. To install the theme correctly, unzip the downloaded file, locate the mow.zip file, and upload it to your themes.
The wpmain.zip file you downloaded from the ThemeForest downloads page contains the Mow Core plugin locally. To access it, unzip the wpmain.zip file, and inside, you will find a folder named plugins. Within this folder, you’ll locate the mow-core.zip file. Manually install this file through your WordPress dashboard by navigating to Plugins >> Add New.
If you encounter issues with Automatic Demo Importing (One Click Demo Importer - OCDI), you can manually import the demo content by following these steps:
- In the main file you downloaded from the ThemeForest downloads page (https://themeforest.net/downloads), locate the demoassets folder. Inside, select the XML file you wish to import. For example: news-content.xml.
- Log in to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to: Dashboard > Tools > Import. Choose the WordPress Importer, install it if necessary, and upload the selected XML file.
Go “Dashboard - Settings - Permalinks”, choose “Post Name” from Common Settings and push “Save Changes” button.
- Copy your purchase code. About how to get it read this article
- Go to Dashboard > Mow
- Insert copied code into the field and click on Activate button
- Go to Dashboard > Mow
- Click on Revoke Button
- Install the Envato Market Plugin.
- Go to Dashboard > Envato Market > Settings and follow the steps to fully activate the plugin.
- Update the Theme: Navigate to Envato Market > Themes and click the "Update" link next to your theme.
- Update the Mow Core Plugin: After updating the theme, you will see a notification: "New Version Available: A new version of the mow-core plugin is available." Click the "Update Now" button in the notification to automatically update the plugin.
Alternative Update
- Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
- Deactivate and delete the Mow Core plugin from the Plugins page.
- Download the latest theme files from your ThemeForest downloads page.
- Locate the mow.zip file in the downloaded package, then upload and install it via the Appearance > Themes section, replacing the existing Mow theme.
- Install and activate the required plugins when prompted.
- Your posts, pages, media, and menus will remain intact.
- Custom options managed outside the theme (e.g., third-party plugins) will remain unchanged.
- Settings from plugins or WordPress core (e.g., general settings, users, etc.) will not be affected.
If you are having problem with SSL (https://), you haven’t configured your wordpress properly. Please, check below plugin to configure SSL (https://)
The Mow theme offers three methods for adding advertisements. You can also use alternative methods, such as third-party plugins or by adding code directly to your content.
- Via Theme Options >> Advertising
- Appearance >> Widgets
- Elementor
1. Ads via Theme Options:
The advertising options in the theme allow you to add advertisements to six predefined locations. You can use a custom banner with a custom URL for your ad or insert ad codes, such as Google AdSense or any other ad platform that provides code for integration.
- Off-Canvas - Displays your ad before the header of your website across all pages (site-wide).
- Header Below - Displays your ad below the header of your website across all pages (site-wide).
- Footer Above - Displays your ad above the footer across all pages (site-wide).
- List Posts Between - Displays your ad between posts on archive pages, blogs, and homepages (when the Home Page template is selected). You can specify banner positions, enabling ads to appear multiple times. For example, after the second post, fifth post, sixth post, etc.
- Single Post: Inside Content - Displays your ad within the content of a single post.
- Single Post: After Content - Displays your ad below the content of a single post.
2. Ads through widgets
The Mow theme offers you add your ad. using Frenify Ad. from the widgets to your sidebar (main sidebar, off-canvas, footer sidebars etc.). Check below screenshot:
You can configure its Title, select the Ad. Type (image or code) for banners or Google AdSense, set the Min Height (vh) to make the ad sticky in your widgets, and use the Ad. URL and Ad. Image URL fields for banners or the Ad. Code field for Google AdSense.
3. Ads through Elementor
Edit your page with Elementor. In the Elementor Left Panel, locate the Ad. widget labeled Mow. This widget also includes all the options available in Frenify Ad. See the screenshots below. (1) The first screenshot shows the widget in the Elementor Left Panel. (2) The second screenshot displays the widget options after it has been added to your page.
Add/Edit/Remove
Go “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - Logo” and upload your Dark Logo, Light Logo, Mobile Logo here.
Go “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - General - Page Title for Blog Single”, edit this field and click "Save Changes" button.
Go “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - General - Magic Cursor”, and you can manage them to change magic cursor options. There are 3 options to enable/disable magic cursor: Default, Link Hover and Slider(swiper). Default - cursor everywhere, Link Hover - cursor only on hover links, buttons, Slider(swiper) - cursor on sliders. You can enable/disable one or more fields. You can also change magic color in the option below - Cursor Color
Go “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - Main Colors” and you can change all main colors globally here.
Go “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - Floating Bar - Search and you can manage all search options. Enable or disable search, enable and disable recommended categories in the search lightbox, change recommended text and choose categories to display in the lightbox: popular, by name, random or custom by IDs.
Hot Posts are all published posts sorted by their views count (by popularity for all time).
To enable Hot Posts, create a new page with any title (e.g., "Hot Posts"), select the Hot Page template from the Template dropdown, and publish the page. This page will display your Hot Posts.
Go “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - Typography”. And you can chang everything you want from google fonts.
In “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - Floating Bar - Totop Button.
In “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - Footer - Footer Copyright”. Just change this field to change footer copyright text.
Go “Dashboard - Appearance - Menus”. Click on "Screen Options" link (on the right top of the screen) and enable "Categories" from the Screen elements. And you can find new Categories tab in the Add menu items block.
Edit your post and in the Post Options find page style and change it.
Edit your post and in the Post Format selectbox select Gallery option. After that you can find Gallery Options in the Post Options. Click on Add Media button and upload need media files or select from existing media files. After that you can see your selected media files in the Gallery images option and you can change files order here by dragging them. And update the post by clicking Update button on the right top of the screen.
Edit your post and in the Post Format selectbox select Image option. After that you can find Image Options in the Post Options. But there are no any options to upload your media, because for image post format is enough to upload a featured image. So, upload featured image. And update the post by clicking Update button on the right top of the screen.
Edit your post and in the Post Format selectbox select Video option. After that you can find Video Options in the Post Options. Insert your youtube video URL or local video URL into the video URL field.
Autolading Posts is a great (needfull for you) option of the theme to increase your pageviews by engaging the site viewers to keep reading your content rather than increasing your bounce rate.
You can enable/disable this option in “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - Blog Single (wp post) - Autoloading Post Switcher”
Reactions block is one of amazing features of the theme.
Let's see all options of Reactions:
- Reaction Switcher - to enable/disable this block. Disabling this option doesn't mean that all datas will restored. All datas (counts of each reactions) will saved.
- Reaction Title Switcher - to enable/disable this block's title (on the top of the reactions)
- Reaction Title - block's title field. You can change Reactions' Top title here
- Reactions - all prebuilt reactions (10 reactions) switcher and order. Here you can change reactions' order (reorder them) and enable/disable.
- In Love Text - text for In Love Reaction
- Happy Text - text for Happy Reaction
- Not Sure Text - text for Not Sure Reaction
- OMG Text - text for OMG Reaction
- Angry Text - text for Angry Reaction
- Sad Text - text for Sad Reaction
- LOL Text - text for LOL Reaction
- Cry Text - text for Cry Reaction
- Silly Text - text for Silly Reaction
- Crazy Text - text for Crazy Reaction
-
Custom Reactions - you can also add your custom reactions. It is very bomb option. For that just dropdown first slide and do following actions
- Upload your reaction image by clicking on "Upload" button. Recomended size of image: 200x200. Recommended format of image: png
- Enter your reaction title into the second field where for placeholder text is "Reaction title"
-
Enter your reaction ID into the third (last) field. It is very important part of custom reactions.
1. Please use only english lowercase and uppercase characters and symbol _ (a-z, A-Z and _) For example: reaction_hot
2. Please after adding custom reactions don't change this field. Never ever. After some time you can change reaction title or reaction image but not reaction ID (this field).
3. What happens if you accidentally change the ID? Count of this custom reaction for all posts will show 0. If you remember old reaction ID, just enter it (old reaction ID) and everything will work fine.
Votes block is an very helpful voting system. Every blog site owner wants to be able to add this system. And this is very necessary now. To add this feature, you had to install a third-party plugin, figure it out and somehow insert it into the content, and it does not always work properly or does not fit the design of your site. Therefore, we have developed this system ourselves. It is easy to use. You just turn it on and that's it.
Let's see all options of Vote system:
- Votes Switcher - to enable/disable this block. Disabling this option doesn't mean that all datas will restored. All datas (counts of votes) will saved.
- Votes Title Switcher - to enable/disable this block's title (on the top of the votes)
- Votes Title - block's title field. You can change Votes' Top title here
Yes, you can add your custom CSS code to the theme without changing any files of the theme. Just go to “Dashboard - Mow - Theme Options - Custom CSS”
Go to Appearance >> Menus >> Manage Locations and remove assigned menu from Off-Canvas Menu
The Social List allows you to display social media icons in 4 areas of your site:
- Floating Bar
- Theme Footer
- Sidebar - Frenify Social Widget
- Sidebar - Frenify Followers Widget
1. Floating Bar
This social icon bar appears at the bottom right corner of the window and remains visible while users scroll through your site. It provides quick access to your social profiles without interrupting the browsing experience. You can enable or disable this feature in Theme Options > Social List. You can also customize the label text (e.g., "Follow Us") or hide it entirely for a cleaner look.
2. Theme Footer
Displays a row of social icons at the bottom of your site, making them accessible on every page. This is a traditional placement that most users expect to see in a website’s footer. You can manage visibility, order, and customize the social networks that appear here through Theme Options > Social List. The footer social list offers a static and professional presentation for your social media links.
3. Sidebar - Frenify Social Widget
This widget displays a simple and clean list of social icons in your site’s sidebar. It’s perfect for maintaining a consistent presence on every page. You can add it by navigating to Appearance > Widgets and placing the Frenify Social Widget in your desired sidebar location.
4. Sidebar - Frenify Followers Widget
In addition to displaying social icons, this widget provides extra functionality by showing follower counts for each social network. It’s designed to grab attention and build credibility by showcasing your social media influence. Add it by navigating to Appearance > Widgets and selecting Frenify Followers Widget. The primary difference from the Frenify Social Widget is the modern design and the follower count feature.
- If you enter a URL (e.g., for Facebook) but do not enable it in the Visibility and Order settings, it will not be displayed.
- Similarly, if you enable a social network through the Visibility and Order settings but do not enter a URL, the icon will not be shown. Make sure both the URL and visibility are correctly configured for each social platform you want to display.