Noctelle documentation
Dark, moody editorial theme
Requirements
- WordPress 6.0 or newer
- PHP 7.4 or newer (PHP 8.1+ recommended)
- The ability to upload a .zip in Appearance → Themes
- WooCommerce (optional — only if you want a shop)
No page builder is required or supported. Every homepage section is a native WordPress Customizer setting.
Installing the theme
- Unzip the download. Inside you'll find
noctelle.zipandnoctelle-child.zip. - In wp-admin, go to Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme.
- Choose
noctelle.zip, click Install Now, then Activate. - If you plan to edit any code, install the child theme the same way and activate that instead.
Upload the .zip files themselves — not the folder that contains them. "The package could not be installed" almost always means the outer download zip was uploaded by mistake.
Importing the demo content
The demo content reproduces the live preview: posts, categories, pages, the menu, every Customizer setting and all the photographs. It takes two steps.
- Install the free WordPress Importer (Tools → Import → WordPress), then import
demo-content/content.xmlfrom the download. It creates the posts, pages, categories and menu. - Install
plugpier-demo-importer.zipfrom the download (Plugins → Add New → Upload), activate it, then go to Appearance → Import Demo and press the button.
That second step adds the demo photographs to your media library, applies every homepage section, sets the static front page and posts page, and assigns the menu. Nothing is downloaded from the internet — the images ship inside the theme.
When your site looks right, deactivate and delete the importer plugin. Nothing depends on it.
Running the importer twice is harmless — it overwrites the same settings and never deletes your posts, pages or images. The demo photographs are cleared for use on a site built with this theme; swap them for your own whenever you are ready.
The homepage, section by section
The front page is assembled from 11 sections, in this order. Every one of them hides itself completely when you leave its fields empty — there is no "disable" switch to hunt for, and no empty band left behind.
| Hero | Full-width opening image with an eyebrow line, headline and button. |
|---|---|
| Services | Three numbered cards with an image, title, description and link — for offers, packages or categories of work. |
| About | Portrait image beside a script accent, heading, paragraph and a button. |
| Portfolio | Staggered image grid of up to six photographs, each optionally linked. |
| Category tiles | Three category tiles that use each category's image and post count. |
| Reviews | Up to three testimonials with an avatar, name and role. |
| Pricing | Up to three pricing plans; one can be marked as featured. Features are one per line. |
| Personal note | A quiet full-width quote with a signature and small avatar. |
| Call to action | A tall image band with an overlaid headline and button. |
| Latest posts | The most recent posts as cards, with the eyebrow and heading you choose. |
| Instagram strip | A full-bleed six-image strip with your handle and a follow link. |
For the homepage to render these sections at all, WordPress must be showing a static page: Settings → Reading → "Your homepage displays" → A static page.
Customizer options
Everything lives under Appearance → Customize → Noctelle Options. Changes preview live; nothing is saved until you press Publish.
| Colors | One accent colour drives buttons, links, rules and hover states. Default #c9a35c. |
|---|---|
| Palette | Ink #171512, charcoal bands, antique gold accent #c9a35c |
| Typography | Cormorant Garamond (headings), Jost (body), Great Vibes (script accents) Fonts are self-hosted — no Google Fonts request, no consent banner needed. |
| Header | Custom logo, and the text and link for the header call-to-action button. |
| Social links | Fill in a URL and its icon appears in the header, sidebar and footer. Leave it blank and the icon disappears. |
| Setting names | Every setting is prefixed noctelle_ — useful if you script a site with WP-CLI (wp theme mod set …). |
Posts, categories & images
- Featured images are used everywhere: post cards, the single-post header, the sidebar and the category tiles. Upload at least 1200px wide.
- Excerpts drive the card summaries. If you leave one blank WordPress trims the post body, which rarely reads as well.
- Category tiles take their photograph from the most recent post in that category, so give every category at least one post with a featured image.
- Standard, image, gallery and quote post formats are styled.
WooCommerce
Activate WooCommerce and its pages inherit the theme's typography, colours and buttons — shop, product, cart and checkout. No extra configuration.
The theme does not bundle WooCommerce or require it. If you never install it, nothing about the theme changes.
The child theme
Use the included child theme for any customisation. Activate it, then add your CSS in Appearance → Customize → Additional CSS, or edit the child's style.css directly.
To change a template, copy the file from the parent theme into the child theme with the same name and edit the copy. Updating the parent will never overwrite it.
Add PHP to the child's functions.php. Do not paste code into the parent — the next update replaces that file.
Troubleshooting
My homepage shows a list of blog posts
Settings → Reading → "Your homepage displays" is still set to "Your latest posts". Choose "A static page" and pick Home.
A homepage section is missing
Sections hide themselves when their key fields are empty. Fill in the section title, or its images, and it reappears.
A category tile has no photo
That category has no post with a featured image. Add one.
The theme looks unstyled after an update
A caching plugin or your host's CDN is serving the old stylesheet. Purge both caches and hard-refresh.
Still stuck?
Write to us from the contact page with your WordPress version, PHP version and a screenshot. A person answers.
Changelog & credits
- 1.1.0 2026-07-09
- Added portfolio, reviews, pricing, call-to-action, Instagram and newsletter sections. Numbered service cards. Smoother hover transitions.
- 1.0.0 2026-06-20
- Initial release.
Licensed under the GPL v2 or later. Bundled fonts are used under the SIL Open Font License. Icons are original SVG. Demo photography is generated imagery, cleared for use on sites built with this theme.