Thesis Admin

The Thesis Admin is the primary control center for Thesis, and you can access every part of the software from here. To visit it, log into your WordPress Admin, and then click the Thesis link in the navigation menu on the left.

This will take you to the Thesis Admin Home.

Thesis Admin Home

The Thesis Admin Home includes handy links to the parts of Thesis you’ll use most.

From here, you can access everything about your Current Skin (or your Preview Skin if one is enabled), and you’ll also find links to Sitewide Options you can use to add tracking scripts, add a favicon, bolster your site’s SEO, and more.

Alternatively, you can use the Thesis Admin Menu to access items found in the Thesis Admin Home.

The Thesis Admin Menu consists of four main parts:

Skin — control and customize your current design
Site — manage universal site settings (like Google Analytics)
Boxes — add functionality and extend your Thesis installation
More — system status information, support, and other helpful links

Watch a short video introduction to the Thesis Admin

For a detailed look at each section of the Thesis Admin, check out the documentation below.

The Thesis Skin Menu contains the primary controls you’ll use most (especially when customizing your design). The sections below correspond to the links available in the Skin Menu.

Watch a short video about the Thesis Admin Skin Menu

Note: Not all Skins will have the exact same links in the Skin Menu. For example, Skins that do not support header images will not have a Header Image link.

Skin Content Options

The Skin Content Options give you unprecedented control over some of the content in your Skin. To access them, click on the Content link in the Skin Menu.

If your Skin contains Display Options, they will appear at the top of the Content Options page. Display Options are essentially on/off switches for items in your Skin—elements like your tagline, author avatars, category and tag links, and more.

The bottom half of the Content Options page contains links to editable items that are currently active in your Skin. Clicking on any of these links will take you to an associated options page for that item.

Take a quick tour of the Skin Content Options

Skin Design Options

The Skin Design Options are intuitive controls you can use to customize your site. To access them, click the Design link in the Skin Menu.

Options vary depending on the Skin you’re using, and there’s really no limit to the kinds of design controls you may find here in the future.

The most common options include font and size options, color scheme, and even layout settings that can radically change the look of your Skin.

Take a tour of the Skin Design Options

Header Image and Logo

If your Skin supports Header Image or Logo functionality, you’ll see a Header Image and/or Logo link in your Skin Menu.

Simply select an image from your WordPress Media Gallery, or else drag-and-drop a new image to serve as your Header Image or Logo. Easy!

Custom CSS

If you wish to make design customizations beyond what you can achieve with the Design Options, you’ll want to use the Custom CSS Editor. Access this from the Custom CSS link in the Skin Menu.

Important! By placing all your design customizations in Custom CSS, you can ensure your modifications will never be overwritten during a Skin update.

In addition, if your Skin supports advanced CSS capabilities like Variables or an SCSS/LESS preprocessor, you’ll be able to take advantage of those inside Custom CSS.

Editor’s note: All official Thesis Skins from DIYthemes utilize both CSS Variables and an SCSS preprocessor.

There’s really no limit to what you can achieve via Custom CSS—the more you understand CSS, the more is possible with the Thesis Custom CSS Editor.

Finally, be sure to check out the Live Preview mode when working with Custom CSS. When you click on the Live Preview button, Thesis will launch a new window that will display your design and update it as you type your Custom CSS.

(Many Thesis users claim this is the easiest and most fun way to learn CSS, so be sure to check it out!)

Where’d my CSS go? Custom CSS is saved relative to the active Skin. Keep this in mind if you switch Skins and find yourself wondering where your old Custom CSS went!

The Thesis Admin Site Menu contains links to mission-critical site tools that can help you further refine and optimize your site. Most of these tools are of “set it and forget it” variety, so you’ll only need to address them one time.

Site Menu data is universal and will apply to your site regardless of the Skin you’re using!

Take a quick tour of the Thesis Admin Site Menu

Tools available in the Site Menu include:

Site Verification — verify your site with Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
Google Analytics — track your site’s statistics with Google’s free (and awesome) analytical service
Google Publisher — great for businesses and multi-author sites
Footer Scripts — place additional tracking scripts on your site as needed (click tracking, split testing, etc.)
Favicon — extend your site’s branding with a favicon
RSS Feed — if you’d like to use a non-default RSS feed, you can supply that here
Blog Page SEO — add <title> and <meta> details to your home page; especially if you’re running a static front page
404 Page — select any WordPress page to serve as your custom 404 page
HTML Head — modify and/or rearrange the items in your document <head>

Thesis Boxes enable you to extend your Thesis installation by adding any kind of functionality to your site. You can install, activate, and manage your Boxes from the Boxes Menu.

To install or activate a Box, visit the Manage Boxes link. Any add-on Boxes you’ve installed will appear on this page; to activate a Box, simply tick the checkbox next to a Box’s name, and then click the Save Boxes button in the upper right.

Take a quick tour of the Thesis Admin Boxes Menu

Finally, some of the add-on Boxes you install may come with associated options pages. If so, these pages will be available as links in the Boxes Menu. You can see an example of this in the video below:

Watch this video and learn how to install and activate a Box

The More Menu contains an important item you’ll need to reference from time to time: your system status information.

Pro tip: Whenever you submit a support request, be sure to include your system status information. This will enable us assist you more quickly and accurately.