It has been almost two months since we released the last update for MH Magazine WordPress Theme and we are proud to announce, that we just have released a major update with a lot of new stuff. Version 1.8.0 of MH Magazine is full of additional new features, especially in terms of layout flexibility. You can read the full changelog here.
How to update MH Magazine?
There are two ways to update the theme:
- Overwrite the existing theme files with the new files by using an ftp client OR
- Switch to another theme for a few seconds, remove MH Magazine and install the new version. After the theme is installed again, you can activate it and proceed like you are used to.
IMPORTANT: If you are using a child theme, we highly recommend to test the compatibility of the new theme version with your child theme on a test installation BEFORE you update the theme on your website. As mentioned, this update has included some major changes and even if you don't use a child theme, you might have to tweak your site a bit, after updating the theme:
- We have made some changes to the widget locations and the homepage template, so you might have to place some of your widgets again after updating.
- The "Homepage 2" template does not exist anymore. If you use it, you will have to switch to the "Homepage" template, you can achieve the same with that one now.
- We have increased the size of the small thumbnails. To make your images consistent in size, we recommend to regenerate your thumbnails after updating the theme.
This update of MH Magazine WordPress Theme has included some major changes and we will introduce you to some of the new features:
New Layout Options
Many of you asked us, if we would implement more flexibility to customize the look and feel of the theme with the next update. And that's exactly what we did. We have introduced a new options section which is called "Layout Options".
Here you can change the width of your site from 980px to 1300px. You can even add a second sidebar and change to position of your default sidebar to have either two sidebars next to each other or have one left sidebar and one right sidebar and your content in the middle - it's completely up to you!
There is also a new layout available "Layout 2". This new layout has a little different styling than "Layout 1" and the archives look different too. You can choose which layout you prefer more and change it with one single click, there is no need for tweaking CSS files or other stuff. "Layout 2" is a little more related to "flat design" and is still work in progress, we might include more changes and styling in the future.
New Typography Options
On a regularly basis we receive inquiries from users who want to change the default font size on posts and pages. In the past, you had to add some custom CSS and change it manually in the code. With the new update, you can just enter the prefered font size in px and that's it!
We have also included some of the most popular Google Webfonts so that you can change the fonts for headings and body text very easily. Just choose your favourite font and preview it in the WP Customizer, if you like the selected font, save your settings and the new font will be used on your website.
We have added a selection of popular Google Webfonts like Droid Sans, Open Sans, Oswald, Noto, Monda and more. In the future, we might add more fonts, if we think that they are suitable for the theme. If you think that a major Google Webfont is missing, please let us know.
New Advertising Options
Also new is the options section "Advertising". Here you can add your ad code to display a content ad inside posts, like it was possible with the previous version of MH Magazine too. But there is a new feature! You can now add another ad code for ads which will be displayed every x posts on archives. This is another possibility to monetize your website:
Updated Homepage Template
One of the highlights of the new version of MH Magazine WordPress Theme is the updated "Homepage" template. We have removed the "Homepage 2" template in this new version of the theme, because you can achieve now everything with this single "Homepage" template. We have added some new widget locations to fit the new larger layout of 1300px (if activated) and improved the behavior of the responsive layout.
There are more little improvements included in this update. Please check the changelog to get a full overview of the new version of MH Magazine WordPress Theme. We hope you enjoy this update and if you need help, don't hesitate to check the support center or open a support ticket at the helpdesk. The demo of MH Magazine is already running the new version, so you can check it out right now! 🙂