How to white label a theme

As you might have read around our site, you can white label our themes. In this article we’ll see how you can do that.

TIP: It is advised to white label the theme before you do any work on it. Proceeding with the modifications shown below after configuring and adding content, might result in data loss. 

Renaming the theme’s folder

Start by renaming the theme’s folder. To do that edit the zip file you downloaded and rename the folder contained in it from wp_themename5-vX.Y to something of your choosing.

Change the theme’s info in the style.css file

Next you can install the theme, but don’t activate it yet.

Login to your server via FTP, navigate to the /wp-content/themes/themename/ folder and edit the style.css file.

We will use Sun Resort’s style.css file as an example here.

On the top of the file you will notice these

/*
Theme Name: Sun Resort
Theme URI: https://www.cssigniter.com/themes/sunresort/
Author: CSSIgniter.com
Author URI: https://www.cssigniter.com
Description: A Hotel Theme for WordPress
Version: 1.0
License: GNU General Public License v2
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
*/

Change the Theme Name, Theme URI, Author, Author URI and Description information, save and exit.

Editing the constants.php file

Finally we need to modify the constants.php file. Navigate (again using your FTP client) to the /wp-content/themes/themename/functions/ folder and edit the generic.php file, you will see something like this (again the example file is taken from the Sun Resort theme):

<?php
//
//
// Theme configuration options
//
//
// Don't change the following constant. A lot of things depend on this.
// Even if you duplicate this file in a child theme, DON'T change this constant.
if(!defined('CI_THEME_NAME')) define('CI_THEME_NAME', 'sunresort');
// The following constant stores the name as it should be printed, i.e. the nice name.
// Spaces, special characters, etc. are allowed.
// You should probably change that if you are white-labeling the theme.
if(!defined('CI_THEME_NICENAME')) define('CI_THEME_NICENAME', 'Sun Resort');
// Set the URL of the online documentation here. Appears on top of the CSSIgniter Settings panel as "Documentation".
// You can set it to an empty string if you want to remove the "Documentation" link.
if(!defined('CI_DOCS')) define('CI_DOCS', 'https://www.cssigniter.com/docs/'.CI_THEME_NAME);
// Set the URL of the online support forum. Appears on top of the CSSIgniter Settings panel as "Support forum".
// You can set it to an empty string if you want to remove the "Support forum" link.
if(!defined('CI_FORUM')) define('CI_FORUM', 'https://www.cssigniter.com/support/viewforum.php?f=88');
// Set the following to true, if you want to remove any CSSIgniter traces.
// You should probably review and change the CI_THEME_NICENAME, CI_DOCS, and CI_FORUM constants above.
if(!defined('CI_WHITELABEL')) define('CI_WHITELABEL', false);
// Set the following to false if you don't want the theme to automatically check for updates.
// Update checks occur once per day, and if an update is available, a message appears on top of the CSSIgniter Settings panel.
if(!defined('CI_THEME_UPDATES')) define('CI_THEME_UPDATES', true);
?>

Let’s start with the CI_THEME_NAME constant, modifying it is optional and not recommended.

if(!defined('CI_THEME_NAME')) define('CI_THEME_NAME', 'sunresort');

modifying this line will rename the theme entirely, you modify the sunresort bit to something else, while leaving the surrounding quotes intact.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION – READ FIRST

• Only modify this if you haven’t even activated the theme yet, otherwise do not modify.
• Modifying CI_THEME_NAME will result on update notifications being disabled, so if you decide to change this there is no need to also toggle CI_THEME_UPDATES mentioned below.
• WARNING: Modifying the CI_THEME_NAME constant in an existing installation will result in losing all settings under the CSSIgniter Settings panel, it will be just like clicking the reset button below the panel.

Next we move on to the CI_THEME_NICENAME one

if(!defined('CI_THEME_NICENAME')) define('CI_THEME_NICENAME', 'Sun Resort');

here you will rename your theme, this is the new name of the theme that will appear in the CSSIgniter Settings panel.

Following is the CI_DOCS constant

if(!defined('CI_DOCS')) define('CI_DOCS', 'https://www.cssigniter.com/docs/'.CI_THEME_NAME);

change it to

if(!defined('CI_DOCS')) define('CI_DOCS', '');

to remove the documentation link from the panel.

Similarly for the CI_FORUM one

if(!defined('CI_FORUM')) define('CI_FORUM', 'https://www.cssigniter.com/support/viewforum.php?f=88');

change it to

if(!defined('CI_FORUM')) define('CI_FORUM', '');

to remove the link to our support forum.

TIP: if you have created your own support platform and documentation, you can replace the preexisting URLs with yours, this way the user will be able to click the links on the panel to be transferred to your resources.

Moving on we have the CI_WHITELABEL constant

if(!defined('CI_WHITELABEL')) define('CI_WHITELABEL', false);

you will set it to true

if(!defined('CI_WHITELABEL')) define('CI_WHITELABEL', true);

this will remove mentions to CSSIgniter from various places of the theme, like the panel etc.

Finally we arrive to the CI_THEME_UPDATES one

if(!defined('CI_THEME_UPDATES')) define('CI_THEME_UPDATES', true);

you will set this one to false

if(!defined('CI_THEME_UPDATES')) define('CI_THEME_UPDATES', true);

so the update notice won’t pop up on the panel.

Final steps, panel settings

Do not forget to remove the default footer text (if applicable ) by going to CSSIgniter Settigns > Site Options

Notice: if you first set CI_WHITELABEL to true, the box will be empty.

 

That’s it, you have white labeled the theme!