Display settings
A cross-section of the settings that change how courses and lessons look, grouped by the decision they belong to rather than by the section they sit in.
Decision 1 — what appears on the page
The Visibility group, present identically under Course → Course single and Lesson → Lesson single.
WordPress assumes every post wants a date, an author, categories, tags, comments and a rating. Courses want almost none of that.
A defensible starting point:
| Element | Course | Lesson |
|---|---|---|
| Featured image | On | Off |
| Title | Always shown | Off if the subheader shows it |
| Post date | Off | Off |
| Author link | Off | Off |
| Author box | On if a named instructor sells the course | Off |
| Categories | Off | Off |
| Tags | Off | Off |
| Rating | Off | Off |
| Comments | Your call | Your call |
Turn things on because they earn their place, not because they are available.
Decision 2 — the banner
Both subheader groups begin with Override default subheader settings?. Until that is on, nothing else in the group applies and courses follow the theme.
Then, for each of courses and lessons:
- Enable subheader for this page?
- Display title — Post title or None
- Subheader size — Small, Medium, Large, Extra large, Full
- Default or custom background — Featured image or Custom
A large banner on a course page is a shop window. The same banner on every lesson is an obstacle students meet dozens of times. Configure them differently: bigger on courses, smaller on lessons.
Decision 3 — legibility over imagery
Add overlay? and its color, style, gradient and Overlay alpha fields.
Titles sit on top of course photographs, and photographs vary. An overlay is what makes an arbitrary image safe to write on. Test the alpha against your lightest, busiest image, not a convenient one.
Add parallax effect? and Add opacity reduction effect when scrolling? are decoration. Reasonable on a course banner; questionable on lesson pages, where students scroll constantly.
See Background, overlay and parallax.
Decision 4 — progress
Display progress bar, Progress bar position and Progress bar color, again on both sides.
The sidebar outline always shows progress, so these settings decide whether it is emphasized in the page layout too. Lesson pages benefit most: the bar moves while the student is working.
Decision 5 — navigation
Display posts nav and its three companions.
| Page | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Course | Off, unless your catalogue is an ordered series |
| Lesson | On — it is how students move through the material |
Decision 6 — the loading moment
Overlay background color and Overlay spinner, under Course → Course single → Course overlay.
Lessons load without a full page reload, and this is what covers the gap. Match the color to your page background.
Everything is site-wide
No course or lesson can override any of this. If two parts of your catalogue need different treatments, that is a theme templating job.
Verify
Change one decision at a time and check the front end after each:
- A course page, in a private window.
- A lesson page.
- Both on a phone.
Checking after every change is what tells you which change caused the surprise.