Midad

User guide

This guide takes you from installing Midad to publishing your first post and customising every part of your site. No coding is needed: everything happens in the WordPress dashboard.

Requirements

  • WordPress 6.6 or newer.
  • PHP 7.4 or newer (8.1 or newer recommended).
  • The theme file from your purchase email; its name starts with midad-premium.
  • Your licence key, from the same email.

If your site is live, take a backup before switching themes, or try it first on a staging copy if your host offers one.

Install and activate your licence

  1. Dashboard → Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme → Upload Theme.
  2. Choose the zip file as it is (do not unzip it), then Install Now and Activate.
  3. A notice appears: Complete “Midad” Activation Now. Click it, or go to Appearance → Midad licence.
  4. Paste your licence key and click Activate License.
  5. You should then read: “Your licence is active.”

Safari users: if Safari unzipped the file on download, turn off “Open safe files after downloading” in Safari’s settings and download it again.

Companion plugins

After activation, a bar at the top of the dashboard says “Midad recommends its companion plugins”. Click Install and activate to add:

  • Midad Share: share buttons under each post’s image (X, Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Telegram, email, copy link).
  • Midad Demo Content: one-click demo import and removal.

If you see download links instead of the button, your host blocks automatic installs: download both files and upload each one from Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin.

Demo content

To make your site look like the demo: Appearance → Midad demo content → Import. Posts, categories, pages, images and menus are added next to your own content without touching it.

To remove it later, click Remove demo content on the same page. Only the demo items are deleted; your own content stays.

For a bilingual site, install Polylang and add both languages before importing, so the demo arrives in two linked languages.

Arabic and English together

Midad works in one language out of the box. For a two-language site with a switch in the header, use the free Polylang plugin:

  1. Install Polylang from Plugins → Add New Plugin.
  2. Languages → Languages: add Arabic and English and choose the default.
  3. Settings → Permalinks: choose “Post name” and save.
  4. When writing a post, choose its language in the Languages box in the sidebar, then add its translation with the + sign.
  5. Site name per language: Languages → Translations → WordPress group → Site Title.
  6. One menu per language: create a menu for each language in Appearance → Editor → Navigation and set its language; the theme shows the right one automatically.

The switch appears in the header by itself whenever Polylang is active, and every post is shown in its own direction, even when it differs from the site’s language.

Colours, fonts and night mode

  • Appearance → Editor → Styles: choose one of three ready styles: Light, Night and Paper.
  • Change colours, fonts and sizes from the same place; they change across the whole site at once.
  • The night mode button (moon and sun) in the header lets each reader switch, and remembers their choice on their device. With no choice yet, it follows the reader’s device setting.
  • To hide it: Appearance → Editor → Patterns → Template parts → Header, delete the button block and save.

Fonts ship inside the theme (IBM Plex Sans Arabic for Arabic), so your site loads no fonts from external servers.

Header, footer and home page

  • Header and footer: Appearance → Editor → Patterns → Template parts.
  • Home page headline and the three columns: Appearance → Editor → Templates → Blog Home, then click any text and edit it in place.
  • Logo: click the logo spot in the header and upload yours; for the browser icon use Settings → General → Site Icon.
  • Menu: Appearance → Editor → Navigation.
  • Social icons in the footer: click an icon and add your profile link, or remove it.

Changes made in the Site Editor are saved in your database, so they stay after theme updates.

Writing posts

  • Subtitle under the post title: the Excerpt field in the post sidebar.
  • Featured image: shown at the top of the post and on cards. Use landscape images at least 1600px wide.
  • Home page slider: tick “Stick to the top of the blog” in the post settings.
  • Reading time is calculated automatically and shown with the date.
  • A paragraph in the other language (an English quote in an Arabic post, say): select the paragraph and use the direction button in its toolbar.
  • A post never appears twice in different home page sections; the theme spreads posts out automatically.

Ad slots

Midad has a top slot (728 × 90) on every page and two side slots (160 × 600) on the home page, shown on wide screens only.

  • Appearance → Editor → Patterns → Template parts → choose the ad part.
  • Delete the placeholder box and add an image with a link, or a Custom HTML block with your ad code (such as AdSense).
  • An empty slot disappears automatically and leaves no gap.

Email subscription

Without setup, readers get a “Subscribe via RSS” button. For real email subscription, use the free MailPoet plugin:

  1. Install MailPoet and finish its setup wizard.
  2. MailPoet → Forms → Add New Form → Or, create custom form.
  3. Choose your mailing list, edit the field and button text, then save.
  4. The form replaces the RSS button automatically in the footer and in the home page subscription band.

Bilingual site: create two forms with the language code in each name, such as Footer ar and Footer en, each written in its language. The theme shows each language its own form.

MailPoet reviews new accounts before allowing sending. During the review the form works and subscribers are saved; emails start once you are approved.

Child theme

To add your own CSS or code without losing it on updates, use the child theme:

  1. Appearance → Midad licence → Download the child theme.
  2. Upload it from Appearance → Themes → Upload Theme and activate it. Keep Midad installed; the child theme builds on it.
  3. Add your styles to the child theme’s style.css.

You do not need the child theme for Site Editor changes (colours, text, menus); those always survive updates.

Updates and licence

  • Updates are automatic: new versions appear in Dashboard → Updates within hours. Click Update.
  • If you use a caching plugin (LiteSpeed, WP Rocket…), clear its cache after updating so visitors see the new design right away.
  • Moving your licence to another site: Appearance → Midad licence → Licence and account details → Deactivate License, then activate the key on the new site.
  • After one year: the theme keeps working as it is. Renewing brings back updates and support.
  • Local sites on your computer (localhost) do not count towards your licence’s site limit.

Troubleshooting

Links show a 404 / “page not found” error

Settings → Permalinks → click Save Changes without changing anything.

Old styles still show after an edit or update

Clear your caching plugin’s cache if you have one, then hard-refresh the page (⌘ + Shift + R on Mac, Ctrl + F5 on Windows).

The language switch does not appear

Make sure Polylang is active, both languages are added in Languages → Languages, and each language has published content.

The site name shows in English on the Arabic side

Languages → Translations → WordPress group → Site Title → type the Arabic name → save.

The email subscription form does not appear

Make sure MailPoet is active and MailPoet → Forms has an enabled form, then clear your cache.

A new update does not appear

Check that your licence is active in Appearance → Midad licence, then go to Dashboard → Updates and click Check again.

“Your license key is invalid” or activation fails

Copy the whole key from your purchase email with no extra spaces. If it is active on other sites and you reached your limit, deactivate it there first. If it still fails, contact us.

The companion plugins did not install with the button

Your host blocks automatic installs. Use the download links in the same bar and upload each plugin from Plugins → Upload Plugin.

Support

Write to us at hi@midad.blog in Arabic or English. Include your site address and a description of the problem, with a screenshot if you can. We usually reply within two working days.