Hi Paul,

The new inner column gaps do apply at all screen sizes (so mobile) but they are added as a gap between the columns horizontally, not vertically. So once the columns stack, it uses the global bottom margin – https://totalwptheme.com/docs/wpbakery-column-margin/

These new spaces are responsive and designed to get really small so that columns can be side by side for longer without the columns getting too “squished”. They are also quite large by default.

The way WPBakery handles spacing when columns are stacked is via a bottom margin on columns. If these new spaces were applied as a bottom margin it would create a lot of extra space on desktop below the columns and it wouldn’t give enough space between columns when they stack.

I was planning on adding a bottom column margin option to rows in this update, so you can better control the spacing when the columns but I stripped it out at the last minute because I wasn’t fully happy with it and wanted a bit more time to think about how to implement it. But in general using the same space between your columns is usually best as it creates consistency. And the older fixed pixel gaps do apply both a horizontal and vertical gap, so for sections that don’t need to have a responsive gap you can use those. Which makes sense, because you wouldn’t want smaller gaps to change when columns are stacked. But it does make sense for large/responsive gaps to be capped and consistent.

- AJ

Hi,

This is AJ the theme author.

Since the theme comes with a bundled plugin license I will continue to ship updates out to my customers so you shouldn’t have to worry. I will double confirm with the plugin authors though to ensure they have not modified the bundled license.

That said, most modern sites actually stray away from sliders and it’s not really recommended: https://totalwptheme.com/docs/why-not-use-sliders/

And if you really need some sort of slider, in the upcoming Total 6.6 version I’ve added a new ‘Carousel Container’ element which can be used to make some simple/fast sliders. I will be posting a new doc on how to do this once the update is live (pushing it out today – doin final checks).

Make sure you are subscribed to the newsletter so once Total 6.6 is out you are notified, I will blast out an email with links to the changelog, press release article and new docs: https://totalwptheme.com/newsletter/

In the next update I will be looking at how the “recommended” plugin installations work as I don’t really want to promote Slider Revolution and want to make it clearer to users that it’s optional and how the bundled license works.

- AJ

Hi Tony,

There isn’t any known issues with the WPBakery page builder not working.

Since you mention it’s working fine for posts and not for pages, it makes me think perhaps there is some sort of plugin conflict where the plugin’s code is running for pages only.

Can you try disabling 3rd party plugins to see if disabling any fixes the issue?

Additionally, if you had ever installed the Advanced Custom Fields plugin on this site, there is a plugin in the plugin that could cause WPBakery to go “missing”. The only fix, is to re-set your user metaboxes, either with custom code or a plugin like this – https://wordpress.org/plugins/reset-meta-box-positions/. So if you had ACF ever active on this site you may need to add the plugin, run it and then remove it.

- AJ

Hi,

This is AJ the theme author. This notice will show up if the license is registered to a different domain than the current site. Often this is caused by users activating the license on a staging site and then when they move it to a live site they didn’t re-register it to the new domain. It can also show up if you’ve switched protocols or added/removed “www” from your URL.

You can log in here: https://my.totalwptheme.com/ – click on License Manager in the header to verify where your license is currently registered. If it doesn’t match your live URL you can click the trash icon next to the license then log back into your site and register it properly via Theme Panel > Theme License.

Let me know if you have any questions or issues with that!

- AJ

ps: I tried checking where you license may be registered, but it looks like you’ve never logged iinto my site – my.totalwptheme.com – so it’s impossible for me to check. You need to log in with Envato and accept the API terms so that I can look up your licenses from Envato.

I use your theme on about 5 sites, so I really need a fix. Thank you

Hi,

This is Aj the theme author. I hope you had a nice weekend.

I’ve tested the latest version of WooCommerce and I’m not having any issues. You can try out some demos if you wish:

• https://totalwpthemedemo.com/pottery/
• https://totalwpthemedemo.com/bolt/store/
• https://totalwpthemedemo.com/bryce/store/

Can you share a link where you having an issue so I can try it out and see what’s going on? Thanks!

And if you are using a child theme, make sure you don’t have code in your child theme that is causing issues.

- AJ

Hi,

1. You can recreate this easily using a row as noted on the docs here: https://totalwptheme.com/docs/custom-card-builder/#h-overlay-style-cards-using-wpbakery – for this specific overlay style you would be adding the Post Terms element to display the category, title to display the post tile and the post meta element to display the defails.

I made a sample video here: https://a.cl.ly/yAuNWmWL – near the end I show 3 different methods to make the top padding large (using a percentage padding, row minimum height or a spacing element). I think the last method using the spacing element is the best.

Here is the copied content from the card created in the video if you want to paste it into your site to start with.

Not sure how to add the code? See this screenshot

2. The media tab is hidden because this targets the images specifically in the pre-built cards. When you create a custom card there is no “default” image added to the card and it’s impossible to target elements inserted into the card.

So, when creating a custom card, if you want your card to have an image you would insert the theme’s Image element into your custom card and adjust the settings directly on that Image element. You will actually have A LOT more control over the media when creating a custom card, because you will have access to tons more settings then what’s available when modifying a pre-built card.

Custom cards may be a bit tricky to figure out at first since it’s a very unique system in the Total theme not really found anywhere else, but once you get the hang of it you’ll see how powerful it is

Let me know if you have any issues or further questions!

- AJ

I’ll be releasing Total 6.6 today, lot’s of cool new features. I will blast out an email to the newsletter – https://totalwptheme.com/newsletter/ – with a link to a press release article that highlights the new stuff with screenshots (easier to see than the changelog).

Thanks AJ – I signed up (confirmation link went into Gmail spam by the way – are you using a trusted SMTP server?).

Have you got a link to the press release – I’d like to see what’s in the new release.

Thanks.

Hi James,

I use Flodesk for emails and I have the proper records for my domain setup. I will double check though!

Here is the link: https://totalwptheme.com/docs/releases/6-6/

If I write one of these articles, I also add a button at the top of the changelog, for example: https://totalwptheme.com/docs/changelog/6-6/

- AJ

Hi,

You can always log in here – https://my.totalwptheme.com/ – and click on “License Manager” at the top to view all your licenses and easily un-register a license from a specific domain (click the trash icon). Once you un-register the license you can then register it to a different domain.

Now, for future sites you can now also register unlimited licenses on staging sites so that if you move it you don’t need to worry and can re-use the license on the live site. Staging registration only registers the license locally and not with my API. More info on the docs here: https://totalwptheme.com/docs/activate-theme-license/#h-staging-license-registration

Let me know if you have any questions or issues!

- AJ

Hi AJ, thank you so much for your quick reply. I was hesitant deleting a license in the License Manager because I wasn’t sure what would happen. Everything worked out fine

I’ve thought about changing the trash icon to something else so it’s less “scary” but I wasn’t sure what I could change it to. If you have any ideas, let me know! I didn’t want to use a button/text because it makes the table to bulky.

- AJ

Hi,

In the upcoming Total 6.6 update – https://totalwptheme.com/docs/upcoming-update-changelog/ – I’ve removed the recommendation for Slim Mode from Site Health which is why I think many customers were enabling it.

Now, if you wanted to use the feature and needed any help making the transition let me know!

I did also want to mention, that enabling this feature is primarily for sites on really cheap hosting that need to slim things down as much as possible or for users that prefer not having so many elements available when using WPBakery. It’s not going to drastically speed up a site or make a huge difference for most.

- AJ

Hi,

This is AJ the theme author.

The support site was moved like 5 years ago and it’s now located here: https://my.totalwptheme.com/

I tested the Envato Login button incase there is any issue with the API and it’s working correctly (tested with 2 different accounts). You may want to try in a new browser or incognito window just incase.

That said, I see you do have an existing account on the site, which means you don’t have to log in with Envato. You can try resetting the password – https://my.totalwptheme.com/reset-password/ (your account is using an email that starts with mesi and located at hotmail. If you still have access to that email adddress then you can reset the password and login using your email/password instead.

You can also email me directly at wpexplorer [at] gmail dot com and I can help you figure things out privately.

- AJ

Thanks AJ! When I try an incognito window all is working fine.

Great, thank you for letting me know!

Hi Astrid,

The best element to use is the Total theme’s Post Cards element. This element allows you to choose from many preset designs or you can create your own custom entry design! See the docs here:

• https://totalwptheme.com/docs/total-theme-cards/
• https://totalwptheme.com/docs/custom-card-builder/

The Portfolio Grid hasn’t been removed completely from the theme, but if you enabled WPBakery Slim Mode – https://totalwptheme.com/docs/wpbakery-slim-mode/ – then you won’t see this or many other of the older elements which aren’t really required anymore since the introduction of the Post Cards.

- AJ

HI AJ, Oh… Now I understand the Post Card element. This is really cool. You can build a whole page with it. And it works. Thanks! Astrid

- AJ

Hi,

This is Aj the theme author. I’m not sure what you are asking, because the word “template” is usually referring to the theme itself “Total”.

Are you trying to import a specific demo with Elementor? If so, not all demos are yet compatible with Elementor because I have very few customers that use Elementor (nearly all customers use WPBakery) so I’m adding the demos only as requested. See the notice in the admin: https://a.cl.ly/7KuG1GYl

Now, the Demo Importer is pat of the “Total Theme Core” plugin which you should always activate with the theme – https://totalwptheme.com/docs/total-theme-core-plugin/ – so if you don’t see the Demo Importer and you have the plugin enabled then most likely you’ve disabled the Demo Importer via the Theme Panel.

Is this what you are trying to do (import a demo)? And if so, which demo did you want to import with Elementor?

If not, can you please explain? Thank you!

- AJ

Hi AJ, thank you so much for the feedback.

I realised I didn’t frame my question correctly, If I want to use elementor instead of WP Bakery and I see with all the details of the Total Template, that you have items that you have added that are part of the total template into elementor. Do I install the normal plugin and the extra Total items will show in the elementor menu items or is there a special Elementor Plugin for the template that I must import to be able to use elementor?

Hi,

All the theme element’s are part of the Total Theme Core plugin. What I’ve done is separated the code used for WPBakery and Elementor so if you activate WPBakery it loads the files needed to register the elements with WPBakery and if you activate Elementor it then loads the files needed for Elementor. This means you don’t need to install any extra plugins and everything is still well optimized for everyone as only the code needed for the active builder is actually loaded on your site.

If you have any issues or other questions please let me know!

- AJ

ps: The upcoming total update has some cool enhancements for WPBakery such as Gradient backgrounds, custom field based colors, new inner row settings, responsive preset row column gaps…etc. See here: https://totalwptheme.com/docs/upcoming-update-changelog/ – personally I find elementor to be a bit buggier and requiring a lot more server resources than WPBakery. Is there any particular reason you were thinking of swapping? Oh, I also have a large comparison article of both builders you may find interesting here – https://totalwptheme.com/docs/choosing-a-page-builder/

Hi Charles,

Can you share the URL in question so I can take a look?

The way the CSS works is the—wpex-scrollbar-width variable is by default 0px and the theme uses javascript to detect if the scrollbar is visible in the browser to then offset it by it’s width (15px in most browsers). If your are seeing that 15px offset it means a scrollbar was detected and so we need to offset it’s width, but if you aren’t actually seeing a scollbar there could be a bug.

I’ve tested in all the major browsers (Safari, Edge, Chrome) without issues. Sample video in Chrome: https://a.cl.ly/KouXONbm

The only thing I can really think of is if perhaps you have added a 3rd party plugin or custom CSS to modify the default browser scrollbar.

If you don’t want to share the site live you can open a private ticket – https://my.totalwptheme.com/

- AJ

ps: Also, when you inspect the element in Chrome dev tools it can bug out as a scrollbar is sometimes added in dev mode (that can’t be detected in the theme’s js) so you need to refresh the page.

Hi,

This is the CSS I’m using on the landing page.

body #site-header.overlay-header.white-style.dyn-styles #site-navigation {
    --wpex-hover-main-nav-link-color: var(--wpex-white);
}

By targeting the ‘overlay-header’ class we only target the transparent header, the ‘white-style’ class targets the white overlay header style and the ‘dny-styles’ class targets the header when it’s not sticky.

I have to use body at the front to increase the CSS priority since my code is added to a child theme style.css file, but if you are using the Custom CSS panel you may not need it, but it doesn’t hurt to add.

This opacity hover was added in the original design as it was popular years ago and I have considered removing the hover affect, but I do worry about customers that may be using and liking it.

Let me know if you have any issues or I can help with anything else!

- AJ

ps: I’m going to add a new “White (No Opacity Hover)” style in the next update as well so you can easily do this without CSS. I think it’s a good way to offer an alternative without introducing new options.

Hi,

Aligning these images depends on how they were added, can you share a link to the site so I can see?

Assuming you are using the classic Image widget, there isn’t an obvious way of doing it but it’s possible. What you need to do is click to edit the image, toggle the “Advanced Options” and under “Image CSS Class” you can add aligncenter. Here is a video: https://a.cl.ly/xQu24Qv5 (I can select the class because I had already tested it in the browser, you’ll need to type it in)

Now, for full control over your footer design you can also disable the default widgets and use the page builder to create a custom footer – https://totalwptheme.com/docs/footer-builder/

- AJ

thank you – that worked. site is amazingracing.co.uk

Hi,

This is AJ the theme author.

This notice means that the domain where your license is registered doesn’t match your website domain.

The most common reason for this notice is if the license was activated either on a staging site and then moved over to a live site without un-registering and re-registering it to the proper domain or if you changed your site domain in any way (such as switching from HTTP to HTTPS or removing/adding www to the domain).

The reason you may not have seen the notice before is because the theme didn’t have these extra checks in the past which was making it possible for people to distribute the theme illegally with the license hacked into it. So I added new checks in recent updates.

I just checked your licenses and I can see that one of your blogs (favorsgreatloopblog ) was registered to the www version but that site no longer has the www in the domain. So I manually fixed it on my end, if you log back into the site and visit the page at Theme Panel > Theme License it should clear up the notice.

You can also always verify and manage your own licenses here: https://my.totalwptheme.com/license-manager/

Let me know if there is anything else at all I can assist with.

And I see you’ve been using the theme since 2015, wow!

- AJ

Hi AJ,

You’re right, that search does work. My problem was that I didn’t have the cursor active inside the editor when I pressed Ctrl+F, which means the regular browser search was used instead of the little search bar in the top of the editor.

The regular browser search only highlights words that are currently visible on the screen, and ignores any words in the editor that needs scrolling to be seen. In the old version this was not an issue.

I preferred the old panel, but I’ll learn to live with it

Hi,

I’m not sure which “old panel” you may be referring to as it’s been using the core editor script in WordPress, which was introduced 9 years ago and it’s pretty much worked the same since then.

Out of curiosity, I installed an old version of the theme on a dev site and I can see what has changed. The difference is that previously the editor would expand infinitely vertically (no scroll-bar) but it now has a max-height which adds a scroll bar.

I will see if I can tweak things in the upcoming update to allow the editor to get infinitely tall so you can still search with the browser, so it will work as before. Fingers crossed I can do this without issues.

That said, if you have so much CSS added that it needs a scrollbar it really would be more efficient and best to instead place your CSS inside a child theme style.css file and disable the Custom CSS panel. Most users are only adding a few lines of custom code, which is where the Custom CSS editor shines – but I think when adding a lot of custom CSS it is best to use a child theme stylesheet.

- AJ

Ok, I was able to tweak things so it will work as before in the next update

- AJ

Hi Chris,

I’ve already fixed all PHP 8.5 debug warnings and errors already for the upcoming update – https://totalwptheme.com/docs/upcoming-update-changelog/

But, I would be a bit careful upgrading to PHP 8.5 this “early” if you use any 3rd party plugins as many are not yet compatible and technically WordPress core compatibility for 8.5 is currently still marked as “Beta”.

- AJ

Hi,

1. Theme’s like Total aren’t subject to conflicts with SEO plugins such as Rank Math SEO because those plugins work primarily by parsing the post content which is outside the scope of the theme. In fact I have Rank Math SEO as a recommended plugin – https://totalwptheme.com/docs/recommended-services-plugins/#toc-seo – as I have tested it before and it does work quite well. Although I personally prefer Yoast SEO.

What’s more important is the page builder you are going to use (if any). For example, if you plan on using the bundled WPBakery page builder (most users do) to build your pages, it is compatible according to their docs – https://rankmath.com/compatibility/wpbakery/ – same goes for Elementor if you choose to use that builder instead – https://rankmath.com/compatibility/elementor/

2. The theme by default displays breadcrumbs in the page title area like this example – https://totalwpthemedemo.com/base/dont-just-stand-there-do-something/ – with many options in the Customizer to modify how the breadcrumbs display. But for most sites you would likely disable the breadcrumbs in the customizer and instead add them wherever you want them by creating a custom template – https://totalwptheme.com/docs/dynamic-templates/ – for your blog. For example the Consultative demo, I recorded a video showing how it’s done on that demo: https://a.cl.ly/mXuOwdA5 – as you can see, if you create your own template for your posts you will have complete control over the design and can add the breadcrumbs anywhere you wish.

3. The Patterns are WPBakery patterns specifically. I have plans to create Elementor versions, but very few of my customers use Elementor so I haven’t done that yet. But Cards and Dynamic templates work technically with WPBakery, Elementor and Gutenberg. However, my theme only adds custom elements to WPBakery and Elementor specifically for building custom cards. Gutenberg is significantly more limited.

4. The theme does have a Table of Contents element. You can see it in action in the documentation site. I recorded a video showing how it’s added into my Docs Post Type single template: https://a.cl.ly/WnuPo2lN – Unlike other themes (or SEO plugins) where you may have to insert it to every single article, with Total you can add it to your Dynamic Template and it will be added on every article. Which, for many blogs it’s best to have a TOC on every post for consistency. If you want to remove it for a specific post there are ways of doing that , which I could assist with.

5. Generally I don’t recommend you use ANY page builder for standard posts, I highly recommend you use the default WordPress editor (Classic or Gutenberg) for your actual articles and only use a page builder (WPBakery/Elementor) for standard pages, dynamic templates, header builder/footer builder and custom cards. I did not add the Icon Box for use in Gutenberg because that would be very niche as most users would never need that. However, I have added some more useful elements such as the Notices into Gutenberg so you can use them right in the editor when creating posts. Here is a sample video from one of my doc articles: https://a.cl.ly/jkuNxdPg

I am open to adding more of the theme Elements for use in Gutenberg as users request them, but in order to keep the theme fast and optimized I would only do it if it makes sense. For example the currently included elements “Alert, Button, Divider Dots” make sense to have as they would be useful when creating articles, but elements like Icon Boxes don’t make much sense for articles – those make more sense for use in pages like a homepage or a services page.

—

Let me know if you have any other questions!

- AJ

a href=”{{permalink}}” class=”wpex-search-modal-(...)

Hi,

This is Aj the theme author.

The search template should definitely be using {{permalink}} – you can see variables returned by the server under Total/inc/search/ajax.php on line 65 – which looks like this:

if ( $permalink = \get_permalink() ) {
    $results[] = (array) \apply_filters( 'totaltheme/search/ajax/post_data', [
        'title'=> \wp_strip_all_tags( \get_the_title() ),
        'permalink' => \esc_url( $permalink ),
        'tag' => \sanitize_text_field( $tag ),
        'excerpt' => ( $excerpt = \totaltheme_get_post_excerpt( $excerpt_args ) ) ? \wp_strip_all_tags( $excerpt ) : '',
    ], get_post() );
}

When I inspect your site source code I see javascript that is for some reason modifying the template and changing the {permalink} to {url}. See here: https://a.cl.ly/4gupombe

I’m not sure why this code was added, but it will definitely break things.

To modify the search template, you don’t need javascript either. You can hook into ‘totaltheme/search/modal/result_template’ like this example snippet: https://totalwptheme.com/docs/snippets/modal-search-thumbnails/ – which shows how you can register new variables and also override the default result template.

One thing to mention though, if you are using WPRocket it means you care about speed, in that case AJAX is NOT the way to go. Ajax requests are uncached and hit the server every time. This will add extra stress on the server which can slow down the site for everyone. If you truly want a fast site I highly recommend you disable AJAX under Customize > General Theme Options > Search Modal > Live Results (toggle off).

You can still have the nice popup search but it will render like this demo instead: https://totalwpthemedemo.com/poppy/

- AJ