Instructions for setting up a simple blog using Theme Extra

Extra and Divi are the two main themes in Elegant Theme ‘s theme set . These are the 2 themes that Elegant Theme takes care of and actively updates.

Both themes are integrated with Divi Builder, a tool that makes it easy to create a beautiful website without having to touch the code.

While Divi is geared towards creating beautiful landing pages, Extra showcases its power in its ability to create stunning posts.

More about Extra. This is a magazine style theme suitable for blogs or news publishing sites. If you want a beautiful blog or news site with a flexible layout, the Extra theme is a good choice. 

Read more : Newspaper theme review – Create a gorgeous news site

In today’s post, I will show you how to create a simple blog using the Extra theme. 

Specifically, we will create a page like this demo page of the Extra theme. 

Let us begin with. ​

How to set up a blog using the Extra . theme

Install Theme

First, you access your account in Elegant Theme. As soon as you log in, you download the zip file containing the latest version of the Extra theme.

Read more : How to install WordPress Theme

Next, you access the WordPress Admin. Go to Appearance -> Themes . Click Add New.

On the next screen, click Upload Theme . Click the Choose File button to select the downloaded zip file. Click the Install Now button to install the Theme. Finally, click on the Activate Theme link.

Demo data settings

Like Divi, Extra has no xml demo data. This creates a bit of a problem if you want to know how the theme will look after installation. Here, I temporarily get demo data from Theme Junkie ‘s Beginner theme . 

If you do not know how to import data xml you can refer to this article of mine.

Configure the theme like the demo

The home page of the blog we built will display a list of the latest posts. It essentially uses Category Builder’s Standard Blog Feed module.

Regarding the Category Builder, you can check out the documentation of Elegant Theme . In a nutshell, Category Builder helps you create custom layouts for your homepage and Category post listing pages.

So our task is to create a Category Layout. In this layout we will use the Blog Standard Feed module.

Go to Extra -> Category Builder . Here you will see Extra pre-made two Category Layouts. The first is the Home Page for the home page. The second layout is the Default Category used to display posts of a category.

Click Add New to create a new Category Layout. On the next screen, enter the name of the Category Layout. Scroll down, click Insert Columns(s) to insert more columns. If you are new to Divi Builder, you can read more documentation here .

On the Insert Columns screen, you select a column.

Now, click on Insert Modules to add the module to the Category Layout.

The Insert Module screen appears. You click on Blog Feed Standard . 

You will be redirected to the Blog Feed Standard module configuration screen. Here, you choose All to display posts of all Categories on the homepage. There are also many other options you can customize to your liking.

On the screen to create Category Layout , you scroll down to the Layout Usage section. You select the Use this layout as the home layout option . So the Category Layout that we create will become the layout for the homepage. Finally click Publish .

Menu configuration

By default, Extra will display all Categories on the Secondary Menu. Now we will customize the Menu again. Above we install demo data from Theme Beginner. So we already have the menu. The task now is to choose the display position for the menu

Go to Appearance -> Menus . Click on the Manage Locations tab . Select as shown. Remember to Click the Save Changes button .

Widget Configuration

Extra gives you a lot of Widgets to use. You can read more about the list of supported Widgets here . Detailed instructions on how to configure Widgets.

Adjust font and display Vietnamese

Extra’s default font is a bit small and blurry as you can see in the screenshot below

Now we will change the size and color for more clarity.

Go to Appearance -> Customize -> General Settings -> TypoGraphy Settings . In the Heading Text Size section you change from 16 to 18. Similarly in the Body Text Size section you also change from 14 to 16.

Scroll down, in the Font section you should choose Open San for the best Vietnamese display. Next in the Body Text Color section , drag the slider to the very end for the best text color.

Now you should see that the font is clearer:

Epilogue

Theme Extra is a magazine style theme powered by Divi Builder. With just a few installation steps as shown in the guide, you can create a simple and beautiful blog.