Cesis MultiPurpose WordPress Theme

Two panels run your site, and the page panel wins

You import a demo, change the header in the theme panel, reload the page and everything stays the same. You repeat the change, clear the cache, and nothing. The setting saved fine: the page is simply not reading it.

In a theme with global and per-page options, what looks like a bug is often a decision stored inside each page. Pages imported into Cesis use their own settings, and as long as they keep them, the main panel does not govern them. It is worth knowing on day one, because each exception you leave alive is one more place to fix at the next rebrand.

Cesis, by Tranmautritam, is a multipurpose WordPress theme built on WPBakery Page Builder, with demos for businesses, agencies, shops and other uses.

Twelve demos and fifty Cesis modules

• Twelve demos: Modern Business, Creative Agency, Business, Agency, Classic Business, Fashion, Photography, Lifestyle, Flat, Coffee, Architecture and Career.
• 50 custom modules for WPBakery and about 1,500 icons from icon fonts.
• Headers in one line, two lines, offcanvas, overlay and vertical, with sticky, transparent and hide-on-scroll options.
• Dedicated content: blog, portfolio, staff, careers and partners, with grid, masonry, packery or carousel views depending on the module.

Separating the global from the particular

Before designing, decide what belongs in the panel and what deserves an exception. Colors, header and typography live better in the main panel. A transparent header on a photo-led homepage is a reasonable exception.

To return a page to the panel, edit it, open Page options and turn off "Use custom settings" in the general, header and main content tabs. Do this on every page you keep from the demo before touching the global design.

For repeating pieces, Cesis has content blocks: blocks made with WPBakery that work as a banner, slider or pre-footer, and are assigned from the panel or from each page. A single notice can live in one block and appear wherever you need it, instead of being copied page by page.

Layout and speed rules in Cesis

Some limits are worth knowing before you lay out pages:

• The full-width section should only be used on pages without sidebars.
• In one-page mode with section swipe, each section holds a single row, at full height.
• A video background uses one source only: YouTube, Vimeo or a direct video link.
• Speed stays in your hands: it relies on cache, image compression and database cleanup plugins, plus removing the plugins you do not need.

Package, plugins and first demo

Cesis relies on WPBakery Page Builder, with Revolution Slider, Layer Slider and Contact Form 7. WooCommerce is optional. The file to install is cesis.zip, inside the downloaded package. If the upload fails because of its size, use FTP or ask your host to raise the limit.

To begin, follow this order:

1. Upload cesis.zip from Appearance > Themes and activate it.
2. Install the plugins the theme notice suggests, plus WooCommerce if you will sell.
3. Import a single demo, only once: Demo Importer brings the full demo and overwrites the panel settings, and Import Singles brings individual pages.
4. Assign the menu, widgets and homepage, and replace the photos: they arrive as placeholders.
5. Turn off the custom settings on the pages you keep and set the design from the panel.

Different builders to compare

Salient also starts from WPBakery, but with its own version adapted to the theme. Impreza has its own builder, Live Builder, and its pages remain compatible with WPBakery.

If you prefer Elementor, Hub offers more than a hundred prebuilt websites. To work without a builder, Front is based on Gutenberg blocks.

Cesis: settings, shop, languages and child theme

Why does a panel setting not change an imported page?

Because that page uses its own settings. Turn them off in Page options and it will follow the panel again.

Does it work for a shop?

It works with WooCommerce, which is installed separately, and has a fashion demo aimed at selling. The shop options are in the Cesis settings.

How is it translated?

For several languages, WPML is recommended. For just one, translating the cesis.pot file with Poedit is enough.

Do I need the child theme?

Only if you will change code. It installs from Cesis_Child.zip, like any other theme.