Getting started
1. Install the theme
Download the zip from the Academia page, then in your admin go to Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme, choose the file and click Install Now, then Activate.
Academia needs WordPress 6.6 or newer and PHP 7.4 or newer. It is tested on WordPress 7.1.
On activation it creates a Home page and a Blog page and points Settings → Reading at them. If you already have a static front page nothing is touched — you get an admin notice offering the setup as a one-click action instead, which you can ignore.
2. Add your courses
Academia's course sections are dynamic, so a brand-new site shows empty states until there is something to list. You have three options, and they are covered in full under Courses & the library:
| You have | Do this |
|---|---|
| Nothing yet | Install Academia Library, then Tools → Academia courses creates nine example courses in one click |
| An LMS already | Nothing — Tutor, LifterLMS, Sensei and LearnDash are read automatically |
| Just posts | Put them in a category called courses |
3. Pick a starter site
Appearance → Starter Sites, choose one of the six, and click through. Each one writes its own palette and typeface into Global Styles, builds a home page and its supporting pages, and rebuilds the menu.
Applying a starter never deletes anything. Applying a second one creates a new home page and leaves the previous one in your Pages list.
4. Make it yours
- Words and pictures: open any page in the editor and type over them.
- Colour and type: Appearance → Editor → Styles. The two change independently, so any of the 40 combinations is a couple of clicks. See Colours & type.
- Header and footer: Appearance → Editor → Patterns → Template Parts.
- Logo: click the site title in the header and use the replace control.
A note on the dark mode toggle
The sun/moon button in the header is a real control your visitors can use, and it lifts whichever palette you have chosen rather than swapping to a generic dark theme. If you do not want it, delete it from the header template part — its script and stylesheet then stop loading entirely.