Configure and review your first POM site

Use this checklist after installing and licensing POM Theme. Its purpose is to produce one representative, reviewable slice of the site before you create every page or import a large content set.

Choose a staging site and one page that contains real navigation, headings, body copy, an image, a button, and a form or other primary action when the project needs one.

1. Confirm the foundation

• POM is the active theme.
• The server meets the PHP minimum shown in the theme metadata.
• WordPress and POM Theme are current for the project.
• Settings → POM Theme → License shows a valid connection.
• The site title, public URL, language, timezone, permalinks, and administrator email are correct.
• A current backup or recoverable staging snapshot exists.

Do not begin by copying production content into an installation whose URL, language, or permalink decisions are still temporary.

2. Establish the shared visual language

Open Settings → POM Theme → Design system and configure only the values needed for the representative page:

1. Add the primary brand assets under Brand.
2. Define the working Color palette.
3. Configure the required Fonts.
4. Create the default and additional Buttons.
5. Review General styles and the component styles used by the page.
6. Save, then use Theme preview to catch obvious global inconsistencies.

Prefer a small, named system over many near-identical choices. The goal is to prove inheritance, not to finish every possible style.

3. Build the persistent frame

Open Settings → POM Theme → Site layout:

1. Select and configure the Header.
2. Configure Mobile navigation independently.
3. Decide whether the site uses a Subheader and Breadcrumbs.
4. Configure the Footer.
5. Enable the contact dock or custom sidebars only when the project requires them.
6. Save before assigning conditional menu locations.

Then open Appearance → Menus → Manage Locations and assign only the locations used by the selected header configuration. Add footer or sidebar widgets under Appearance → Widgets where required.

4. Prove one page in the builder

Create or edit the representative page and use the POM Page Builder when it is enabled for your role and post type.

1. Build a clear row-and-column structure.
2. Use real-length headings and body copy.
3. Add optimized media with meaningful alternative text where the image conveys information.
4. Apply global palette and button choices instead of recreating them locally.
5. Configure the component's mobile and tablet behavior.
6. Preview the frontend while signed out.

Verify that keyboard order follows the visual reading order and that the main action remains understandable without relying on color alone.

5. Add only the systems the page needs

• If the page collects data, enable Settings → POM Theme → Forms → General, create the form under Forms, and complete a real submission.
• If it renders structured records, define the content model before creating production records.
• If it repeats record presentation, create and assign the relevant dynamic template.
• If visitors filter records, configure the faceted-search context after the content model and result template are stable.
• If it is part of a store, keep product and commerce data in WooCommerce and configure only the required POM presentation features.

Leave unused optional systems disabled. A smaller enabled surface is easier to review and maintain.

6. Review the representative slice

Check the page:

• signed out and with each relevant authenticated role;
• at narrow mobile, tablet, laptop, and wide desktop widths;
• with keyboard-only navigation;
• with long headings, missing optional media, and realistic form errors;
• in every enabled language;
• with caches bypassed or deliberately refreshed after the source settings are final.

Also open one 404 page, one search result, and one archive or single view the project will use. They reveal global template gaps that a landing page cannot.

First-site result

You are ready to expand the site when:

• another editor can identify where each visible decision is owned;
• the representative page inherits the global design system;
• desktop and mobile navigation both work;
• the primary visitor action completes successfully;
• optional systems have a named owner and a reason to be enabled;
• no launch-critical behavior depends on placeholder content.

Continue with the relevant chapters in the documentation map. Use the production launch checklist only after the complete site is assembled.