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A guide to styling and making Dispatch your own

Dispatch is a Magazine style blog for your new website. Each of its features have been designed and built using GeneratePress and WP Show Posts. As expected of a Flint Skin Site it uses Custom CSS. At over 350 lines it is recommended, but not necessary, to move the Additional CSS to a Child Theme style sheet. So lets get onto making it your own.

WP Show Posts

Without WP Show Posts plugin, this Site wouldn’t exist. Another awesome product …

Using WP Show Posts

Adding post lists and grids to your Site couldn’t be easier than with the WP Show Posts plugin. Dispatch uses the Free version to display posts on the Front page and in the Sidebars. Of course with a little Flint Skin CSS treatment.

Head off to Dashboard > WP Show Posts > All Lists. Within are six lists:

  • Align
  • Standard
  • Sidebar
  • Header
  • Simple
  • Simple Sidebar

Each of them have very particular settings required to match the demo content …

Hooks – Custom Theme Elements

Dispatch uses a few Hook Elements to create some Custom Elements in the site.
All of them provide dynamic output and should not require any changes to their content.

For more info on the Hooke Element read here:

Hooks Element Overview

Custom Post Navigation

Adding a custom featured image post navigation at the foot of all posts.
Please note: that the Post Navigation is disabled in the Customizer as it is not required.

Secondary Navigation

This hook calls the Secondary …

Page and Post Heroes

Page Heroes are those big bold images and headlines you find at the top of your posts and pages. They sit just below the Site Header and added using the Header Element module, when activated provides the Elements menu in Dashboard > Appearance > Elements

Dispatch has two Header Elements in place. But you can add as many as you need.

Magazine Grid – Home Page

Combined with the WP Show Posts plugin this header creates a 5 post card …

How to change the Custom Colors

Changing Colors in Dispatch are mainly done via the Theme Customizer. Certain elements such as Page Heros are controlled within the Header Element and are covered in that article. There are a few colors that are controlled by CSS. The rules for them are found in the Customizer Additional CSS:

Primary Navigation

Hairline Border above desktop navigation

.main-navigation .inside-navigation {
    border-top: 0.5px solid #d4d7d8;
}

Menu item underline on hover

.main-navigation ul li:after {
    background-color: #000;
}

Navigation Search

Style Guide

Heading One H1

Heading Two H2

Heading Three H3

Heading Four H4

Heading Five H5
Heading Six H6

Font: Playfair

Playfair is a transitional design. In the European Enlightenment in the late 18th century, broad nib quills were replaced by pointed steel pens as the popular writing tool of the day. Together with developments in printing technology, ink, and paper making, it became to print letterforms of high contrast and delicate hairlines that were increasingly detached from the written letterforms.…

Aside for Widgets

Sidebar Widgets are a main feature of any Magazine Blogging site. To aid with that Dispatch uses a nifty little plugin and a couple of custom CSS classes to make styling your sidebar a breeze.

Widget CSS Classes

Using the namesake plugin you can now add CSS Classes to Widgets. Simple.

Dispatch Widget Classes

CSS Class: zero-padding
Removes the padding from the widget. Perfect for adding those banner ads for maximum space.

CSS Class: no-background
Removes the widget color background …

A Sample Post with Comments

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