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  • Screen mode

Choosing and configuring a theme

The public theme is selected under System > Themes. Activating a theme changes the public presentation without changing posts, pages, media, menus, or plugin data.

Before switching

Check representative routes before keeping a new theme:

  • the site home page and an author home page
  • a full post and a page with child pages
  • menus at desktop and mobile widths
  • Light and Dark modes
  • Search, tags, sidebars, footer output, and other enabled public plugins
  • banners, backgrounds, featured images, tables, code, and long links where used

Theme settings are stored by theme. Settings and Custom CSS from the previous theme remain available if that theme is selected again.

Shared settings

Most themes provide some of these controls:

  • primary and footer menu placement
  • blogroll or static-page site home
  • content width
  • public Search and tag visibility
  • syntax highlighting
  • page-tree presentation, breadcrumbs, and child-page lists
  • handling of posts without a written summary

Only settings supported by the selected theme are shown. A plugin-dependent setting has no public effect when its plugin is inactive.

Theme default at site level uses the width chosen by the theme. Concrete width choices set a maximum main-content width. Full leaves the content area unconstrained by a preset maximum.

Author spaces

An author space normally inherits the site theme. If theme overrides are allowed, the author can select another installed public theme under Profile > Appearance.

Only theme settings explicitly offered as author overrides can differ from the site. Their default is Site default, which follows the current site setting. The available author overrides include content width in every public theme and selected theme-specific controls such as Blocks grid density, Panel Magazine list layout, and Scribe author presentation.

Site menus remain site-owned. Selecting another theme for an author space does not create separate primary or footer menus.

Screen mode, banners, and backgrounds

Light, Dark, and Auto use the shared public screen-mode behavior. An author can set an author-space default, while a visitor’s saved choice may still take precedence in that browser.

Banners are foreground identity images. Background images are page backgrounds. They are configured separately and are not substituted for each other. DocsMatter omits banners and public backgrounds; the other themes support the shared background contract, and their banner presentation differs by theme.

Custom CSS

Custom CSS is managed by a superadmin for the active public theme. It is stored separately for each theme and loaded from a local generated stylesheet after the theme and plugin styles.

Custom CSS can be disabled without deleting it. Review saved selectors after a theme update, and do not use remote imports or asset URLs.