Get Started
Just starting your website or blog? ✨ You’re in the right place! These FAQs will walk you through the basics, no tech experience needed.
First, congrats on starting your own website. That’s a big step and we are here cheering you on!
We would LOVE to teach you how to get started on WordPress. Hop over to our Getting Started Guide and we’ll walk you through every step.
A WordPress theme is like the outfit for your website — it sets the tone for how everything looks and feels. From layouts and colors to fonts and little design details, your theme is what makes your site yours.
At 17th Avenue, our themes go beyond pretty. Every theme comes with ready-to-use page templates, tons of customization options, and thoughtful design touches that make your site feel polished and professional. No code required!
Think of it as the creative foundation for your blog or business. You bring the content, and we’ll make it look beautiful.
A theme framework is the behind-the-scenes structure that powers your WordPress theme. It handles things like layout options, design settings, and how your site functions. Kind of like the engine of a car!
All of our themes are built on the Kadence framework, which is fast, ultra customizable, and beginner-friendly.
SiteGround is our tried and true favorite. Over the years, we’ve worked with all the major hosting companies, and SiteGround consistently comes out ahead with amazing customer support, fair pricing, and FAST servers (meaning your website will be too). Fun fact: all of our theme demos are hosted on SiteGround!
You’ll need three things before you’ll be ready to install a theme:
- A domain (like yourwebsite.com)
- A hosting plan with a hosting provider
- WordPress installed through your hosting provider
If you’re new to WordPress, we can teach you how to set all this up quickly + easily! Visit our WordPress Getting Started Guide.
Our themes are designed exclusively for self-hosted WordPress.org. Scroll down on this page for more information about WordPress.org!
We do not offer themes for Wix, Weebly, Shopify, Showit, or Squarespace. We don’t have plans to expand to other platforms at this time.
WordPress
Not sure what WordPress is or which version you need? This section breaks it all down, so you can feel confident moving forward with the right setup.
WordPress is a free platform that lets you build and manage your own website or blog — with complete ownership and control. It’s flexible, powerful, and widely used around the world. Our themes are specifically designed to work beautifully with WordPress!
Did you know WordPress powers over 40% of all websites on the internet? It’s a powerful platform that lets you manage everything on your site — posts, pages, images, menus, you name it — all from one simple, easy-to-use dashboard.
People love WordPress because it’s flexible, customizable, and gives you full control over your site. Whether you’re creating a cozy little blog or a full-blown business website, WordPress can handle it.
Another big perk? WordPress is free and open-source. That means you’re not locked into a specific platform or tied to monthly subscription fees that keep creeping up over time. Once you have your domain and hosting set up, you can build and grow your site at your own pace, without limits or hidden costs.
Yes!! You’ve totally got this, and we’re here to help every step of the way. Our mission at 17th Avenue is to make WordPress feel accessible, approachable, and easy to understand, even if you’re not tech savvy.
We’ve created a library of step-by-step WordPress tutorials in our Support Center. Your theme purchase also includes access to our private WordPress Video Library, perfect for learning the basics at your own pace.
If you ever get stuck or have any questions, our friendly WordPress experts are just a support ticket away.
If you’re new to WordPress, you may not know that there are actually two different versions of WordPress! Kinda confusing, right? This part trips up a lot of beginners, so let’s clear it up:
WordPress.com is a limited, hosted platform owned by Automattic. It’s free to start but comes with lots of restrictions. You can’t install custom themes or plugins (even on their paid plans), which means a whole lot less flexibility and control.
WordPress.org is also known as self-hosted WordPress, which means you’ll set up your own hosting account. This gives you full control over your website and the ability to install themes and plugins. Most of the time, when someone talks about “WordPress,” they’re referring to WordPress.org. It’s what we recommend and what our themes are built for.
No. It’s a common misconception that to use WordPress.org, you to have a domain ending in ‘.org.’ Absolutely not! With WordPress.org, you can use ANY domain extension available on the web: .com, .net, .co, .website – the possibilities are endless. 😊
Our WordPress themes are only compatible with self-hosted WordPress.org, and will not work on WordPress.com. There are a couple of ways to find out if you’re using self-hosted WordPress.org or WordPress.com.
- The easiest way to determine if you’re using self-hosted WordPress.org or WordPress.com is to ask yourself this: did I purchase third-party hosting (i.e. through SiteGround, Bluehost, etc) or did I sign up on WordPress.com? If you purchased hosting, you’re using self-hosted WordPress.org. If you signed up on WordPress.com, then you’re using WordPress.com.
- Another way to tell is to log out of your WordPress dashboard (if logged in) and then visit your domain + /wp-admin. For example, if your domain is mywebsite.com, go to mywebsite.com/wp-admin. Once on the login page, hover your cursor over the WordPress logo. Look at the bottom left corner of your browser. It will say either WordPress.org or WordPress.com, which will let you know which one you’re using!
If you’re still not sure which one you’re using, contact us and we can help!
The true answer is it depends, but in general, no — our themes are not compatible with WordPress.com.
Most WordPress.com plans do not allow any third-party themes or plugins to be installed. Whenever possible, we highly recommend using self-hosted WordPress.org. If you would like to use a 17th Avenue theme on WordPress.com, you will need to have the WordPress.com Business Plan or higher. Please note that the WordPress.com dashboard is significantly different from the self-hosted WordPress.org dashboard, so our instructions may not line up perfectly with what you see on WordPress.com.
Kadence
Learn more about Kadence, the powerful (and free!) framework behind our themes, why we love it, and why you will too!
Kadence is a WordPress theme framework and block system that powers our themes. It doesn’t replace WordPress, but rather works alongside it. It gives your website its structure and makes it easy to customize things like colors, fonts, and page layouts. Click here for our full article about Kadence!
Truly everything. ✨ Kadence is an incredibly powerful framework that gives you complete control of your website. With Kadence, you can easily:
- Change all of the fonts
- Select your own colors
- Customize page layouts or create custom layouts using Kadence Blocks
- Design and customize pages using a live page editor with zero code!
- Modify the header and navigation layout using the Kadence Header Builder
- Change the footer layout using the Kadence Footer Builder
- Freely rearrange sections or move them between pages
- Customize your single posts – include a featured image, related posts, author box, post navigation, and more
- Fine tune margins, padding, borders, font sizes, letter spacing, and line height
- Control tablet and mobile settings separately from desktop
- Customize WooCommerce settings for a beautiful e-commerce store
- And SO much more. Your website is your oyster with Kadence!
Yes, very much so! If you know your way around the WordPress dashboard, you’re going to get the hang of Kadence quickly.
What we love about Kadence is that it fits right into the existing WordPress ecosystem and takes full advantage of the WordPress Customizer and Block Editor. Kadence doesn’t replace the WordPress Block Editor like many page builder plugins do, but instead co-exists seamlessly and builds upon existing WordPress features. This provides you with all of the benefits of a page builder, without having to learn an entirely new plugin interface that feels foreign.
Kadence is a thoughtfully designed framework, built to be extremely customizable, fast loading, and easy to use. We promise, you’ll love it!!
Not at all! Kadence is fully code-free, so you won’t need to touch a single line of HTML or CSS. All theme setup and customization can be done visually through the WordPress Customizer and Block Editor.
Yes! 🙌 Both the Kadence Theme and Kadence Blocks are completely free.
There is no additional purchase required beyond your 17th Avenue WordPress Theme. The Kadence Theme is free to use, and while there is a Pro version available, all of our theme demos are built using the free version. We want our themes to be as accessible and budget-friendly as possible.
The free version of Kadence is also incredibly capable on its own. Most users find it has everything they need right out of the box. You can do everything listed here, and so much more!
Curious about the differences between Free and Pro? Learn more here.
Visit our Kadence Transition Guide for all the details on how to upgrade from Genesis to Kadence!
Our Themes
Curious about what’s included, how our themes work, or how to choose the right theme for your site? You’ll find all those answers here. 💕
- Once you have a domain and hosting, choose a WordPress theme you love and purchase it.
- After placing your order, you will receive an email with a link to download your new theme.
- Unzip the file to access the theme files and instructions inside.
- Follow the included Installation Instructions and Theme Documentation to set up the theme on your site and customize it with your content. If you need help, our support team is always happy to answer your questions.
- Launch your beautiful new website! 🎉
Yes, when you purchase a theme, it’s a one-time payment. There are no recurring fees, and you won’t be charged again.
Absolutely, we’d love to help! Explore our Theme Installation packages or visit the Installation FAQ for more info.
So many differences! Too many to delve into here. Click here for more info!
When selecting a WordPress theme, we recommend going with the theme that has your favorite homepage layout, or the layout that works best for your needs. The homepage is the most unique differentiator between themes. It helps to try to look past colors, fonts, and images in a theme (even though that can be hard!), as those can always be changed to fit your brand.
Another thing to keep in mind: just because a theme demo is geared toward “travel blogs” or “business coaching” — doesn’t mean that theme is only suitable for that one niche! Our themes are flexible and most themes can work for ANY niche. Changing images, text, colors, and fonts can completely change how a theme looks and feels.
Think of the theme you choose as a starting point, a blank canvas you’ll bring to life with your own content, branding, and personality. For inspiration, take a peek at our Theme Lookbook to see how real customers have made their 17th avenue theme uniquely their own.
Not sure which theme is right for you? Get in touch! We’d love to help you find your ideal theme. Tell us a bit about your site and your goals and we can recommend a few options. You’re also welcome to explore what sets our themes apart if you’re curious about how they work behind the scenes.
Absolutely! Our themes are fully mobile responsive and designed to display & function beautifully on all mobile devices. Feel free to open the demo site on your mobile phone to test it out, or visit Responsinator.com.
Yes! Our Kadence themes are built with performance in mind and are fully optimized for Google Core Web Vitals. They’re lightweight, fast-loading, and follow best practices for things like mobile responsiveness, layout stability, and accessibility, so your site has a solid foundation for SEO.
You betcha! All of our themes support custom logos.
Yes! If you’re using one of our Kadence themes, you can easily customize both colors and fonts in the Customizer. Click here to preview the Kadence Customizer!
If you’re using a Genesis theme, you can change colors in the Theme Customizer, and fonts can be updated manually (click here for instructions).
Your existing content is 100% safe when you switch to a new theme. Think of your theme like an “outfit” for your site — changing the outfit doesn’t affect the body underneath. 😊 Your underlying posts, pages, images, comments, and so on will remain intact when switching themes.
Yes. Our themes can be installed on an unlimited number of websites for Personal Use. Personal Use refers to sites that you personally own/operate, including business websites. For example, you could have a personal blog, a business website, and a second business website — all using the same theme license.
If you are installing a theme for a friend or a client, you will either need to purchase a second license, or your client can purchase their own license.
Our themes are child themes of the Kadence framework. Kadence (the parent theme) is updated regularly with performance improvements, new features, and security updates, which your website will benefit from automatically! Using a child theme allows you to safely customize your site’s design without worrying about losing your changes when updates are released.
Child themes themselves aren’t updated often, simply because they’re made to be stable and work beautifully right out of the box. That said, we do occasionally release updates for our child themes. These are usually minor cosmetic tweaks, not essential for your site to function. You will have access to all future child theme updates from your account.
Support & Policies
Wondering what kind of support is included with your theme? This section covers how we can help, plus details about policies and refunds.
We offer support through our Support Center. In the Support Center you can find Theme Documentation, Troubleshooting, and lots of helpful WordPress Tutorials.
If you get stuck or have any questions, we’re always happy to help! Just submit a support ticket and we’ll get back to you quickly.
Our support team is happy to help answer any questions pertaining to the installation and setup of your 17th Avenue theme. Any further customizations beyond what is shown in the demo (fonts, colors, layout changes, etc) is not covered under support.
You can find our full support policy here.
You can reach our support team anytime by submitting a ticket. Just fill out the form with your question, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible (typically within 1 business day).
You’ll find everything you need in our Support Center!
You’ll have unlimited access to theme support for the lifetime of your theme. That means as long as your theme is active and supported, we’re here to help with questions and guidance!
We do! Your theme purchase includes access to our private WordPress Video Library. The library is filled with 30+ beginner-friendly videos that walk you through all the WordPress basics. Perfect if you’re just getting started!
Because our themes are digital products and can’t be “returned,” all theme sales are final. But don’t worry, we’re here to help if you run into any trouble! If you have questions about your theme or need help getting set up, just reach out to support.
If you purchased a service (like installation or an upgrade) and we haven’t started work yet, you can request cancellation for a full refund. Once work has started, refunds are no longer available.
Visit our refund policy for more information.
In some cases, yes! If you purchased a theme and it’s not quite the right fit, we may be able to offer a theme exchange or upgrade. To be eligible, your original purchase must have been made within the last 14 days. Just reach out and we’ll be happy to help.
If a theme exchange is approved, all files from your original theme must be fully deleted from your website and computer. You’ll also be responsible for any price difference between themes.