Goodnews Documentation

Where to start with the Goodnews WordPress theme — installation, the demo, and how these docs are organised.

Goodnews is a WordPress theme for news and magazine publishing. This documentation covers the Goodnews 5.12.0 update build.

Start here

Installation — the first step on any new site.
The setup wizard — Goodnews's own guided path through the plugins and settings a new site needs.
Importing the demo content — the fastest way to a site that looks like the demo.
Building the home page — the layout most buyers customise first.
Child themes — read this before editing any theme file directly, or the next update overwrites the change.
Updating — Goodnews does not update itself; this page covers what does.

Browse the documentation

Everything else is organised into four sections. Getting started covers installation and first setup. Customising covers options, layouts, translation, and running the theme in Arabic or another right-to-left language. Content covers post formats, the portfolio, shortcodes, and the review system. Troubleshooting covers fixes for the problems buyers run into most.

Need help?

Contact support if a page here doesn't answer your question.

Getting Started

Requirements and what is included
Server and WordPress requirements for Goodnews 5.12.0, and what the download contains.
Installing the theme
Install Goodnews through the WordPress dashboard or over FTP, and activate it.
Installing the bundled plugins
Install WPBakery Page Builder, Slider Revolution, the shortcodes editor and Envato Market.
Using the setup wizard
Run the Goodnews setup wizard to install plugins and demo content after activation.
Importing the demo content
Import the Goodnews demo posts, pages, images, menus and widgets from the theme package.
Updating Goodnews
How to receive and apply Goodnews updates, and how to keep your customizations.
Upgrading from version 4
What changes when moving a site from Goodnews 4 to Goodnews 5, and what must be reset.

Content & Publishing

Building the home page
Build a Goodnews home page with the editor or the page builder, and set it as the front page.
Video, audio, gallery and chat posts
Create the post formats Goodnews supports and supply the media each one needs.
The review system
Turn any post into a review, set the criteria and choose how the score is displayed.
Portfolio items and pages
Add portfolio items, group them by category and display them on a portfolio page.
The advertising system
Create and place adverts in Goodnews using the built-in ads post type.
The Goodnews widgets
What each of the twenty Goodnews widgets does and where it can be placed.
Using shortcodes
Insert Goodnews shortcodes from the editor and set their options.

Customization

The theme options panel
Where Goodnews settings live, how they are grouped, and how saving them works.
Header and menus
Configure the Goodnews header, the main navigation and the mega menu.
Site and page layouts
Set the site-wide layout and override it for an individual page or post.
Creating custom sidebars
Create named sidebars in Goodnews and assign them to individual pages and posts.
Arabic and right-to-left sites
Run Goodnews in Arabic or another RTL language: what the theme ships, and what it does not.
Translating the theme
Translate Goodnews into another language using the catalogues the theme ships.
Using a child theme
Create a Goodnews child theme so your changes survive every theme update.
Adding custom CSS
Add your own CSS to Goodnews without editing the theme files directly.
Connecting external services
Supply the API keys the Goodnews weather and social widgets need in order to work.

Troubleshooting

Missing stylesheet on install
Fix the broken-theme or missing-stylesheet error when installing the Goodnews ZIP.
Images are not resizing
What to check when Goodnews thumbnails are missing, blurred or the wrong size.
Updating the bundled plugins
Update WPBakery Page Builder and Slider Revolution when a Goodnews release includes a new version.
PHP warnings and compatibility
What Goodnews requires from PHP, and what to do about notices from bundled components.