=== ACL Trace ===

Contributors: asherz2ash
Requires at least: 6.8
Tested up to: 7.1
Requires PHP: 8.0
Stable tag: 3.2.0
License: GPL-2.0-or-later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Text Domain: acl-trace

ACL Trace WordPress Theme, Copyright 2026 Ashes Creative Labs.
ACL Trace is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2 or later.

== Description ==

ACL Trace is a terminal-inspired editorial block theme with a flexible semantic palette, responsive typography, native templates, native Navigation, and production-ready patterns. Start with the included dark neon design or switch to a light variation, then customize colors through Global Styles.

ACL Trace includes its complete theme feature set with no paid tier, locked controls, or required premium upgrade. ACL Trace is free and open-source under the GPL.

The theme uses a theme.json v3 design system and remains editable in the Site Editor. It has no build step, no frontend theme JavaScript, and no remote font dependency.

No companion plugin is required.

== Features ==

The native Front Page template displays the designed showcase at the root in both Reading modes. Selected static Page content renders between the cards and independent six-post Query Loop. A separate Posts page retains Blog Home and its inherited query. Saved template overrides retain WordPress precedence.

* Twelve native block-theme templates and four editable template parts.
* Flexible semantic palette with an included dark neon default, Trace Light, and Terminal Green style variations.
* Custom color selection without enabling the WordPress default palette.
* Native Navigation with a portable Page List fallback.
* Trace Card, button, form, Query Loop, comment, table, quote, code, Details, and media presentation.
* Eight original public patterns: Signal Hero, Signal CTA, Feature Grid, Two Column Content, Media and Text, Post Grid, Testimonials, and FAQ.
* Insert ACL Trace Showcase from the Page Pattern inserter to add the full composition as editable Page content. This is separate from selecting the showcase template.
* Select ACL Trace Showcase as any Page template for the complete showcase, independent of Reading settings and Page content.
* Six additional native posts-index showcase patterns for hero, media, cards, query, closing CTA and navigation.
* Visible keyboard focus, forced-colors support, reduced-motion behavior, and semantic landmarks.
* Separate parent and child stylesheet loading with independent versions.

== Installation ==

1. Open Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme.
2. Select acl-trace-3.2.0.zip and choose Install Now.
3. Install and activate ACL Trace.
4. Open Appearance > Editor to customize the theme.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Does ACL Trace require a companion plugin? =

No. All included theme features work without a companion plugin.

= Does changing the Text color also change theme borders? =

No. The user-editable Text color is independent from the theme's editable Border preset. Media blocks and generic Groups are border-free by default, intentional theme borders use the editable Border preset, and borders selected explicitly in the editor are preserved.

= Does ACL Trace include third-party commerce integration? =

No third-party commerce integration is included or claimed for 3.2.0.

= Can I choose custom colors? =

Yes. Custom color selection is available through WordPress core. The curated theme palette remains available, and the WordPress default palette stays disabled.

= How do I use Trace Light or return to the default dark style? =

Open Global Styles and browse styles to choose Trace Light or Terminal Green. Choose the theme default or reset the style variation to return to the included dark presentation.

= How do child themes load CSS? =

The parent stylesheet loads once. When a child theme is active, its stylesheet loads once after the parent and uses its own file modification version.

= Is an acl-trace-main development checkout upgraded automatically? =

No. `acl-trace-main` and `acl-trace` are different theme slugs. Back up the database and migrate only verified slug-scoped state before activating the production package.

== Changelog ==

= 3.2.0 (unreleased) =
* Editable semantic colors and Border preset; remove pink through the palette, including shadows, glows and interaction effects.
* Terminal Green with local monospace fonts and contrast-tested muted text.
* Refine Trace Light muted text for contrast over media gradients.
* Preserve legacy Text, Body Text, custom colors, and existing Front Page and Query behavior.

= 3.1.0 =

* Add a native Front Page showcase with selected static Page content, an independent six-post Query Loop, and normal header/footer. Preserve the separate Blog Home template and saved user overrides.
* Add a native posts-index showcase with editable hero, media composition and component-card sections; static front pages remain user-controlled.
* Complete ACL card hover, focus-within, active and reduced-motion states, with improved featured-image and imageless cards.
* Preserve the inherited Query Loop, configured posts per page and native pagination.
* Correct the Body Text palette slug and retain legacy Text blocks, CSS aliases and saved Global Styles compatibility without automatic content migration.
* Share frontend and editor assets through native block asset loading, including parent/child stylesheet ordering.
* Supply WordPress 6.8 radius fallbacks and improve responsive card layouts, keyboard navigation and visible focus.

= 3.0.10 =
* Added low-specificity defaults for the existing radius variables on WordPress 6.8.
* Load parent and child styles through the native shared block-assets hook, avoiding server-side HTTP requests for editor CSS.
* Rename the active Body Text palette slug from text to body-text to avoid WordPress's generic has-text-color class. The collision affected tested WordPress 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, and 7.1.1.
* Preserve legacy Text blocks with attribute-based frontend rendering and an editor-only compatibility script. Retain the old Text CSS variable and background/border classes.
* Adapt Global Styles palettes for presentation while preserving existing legacy palette keys on explicit saves. No automatic database or saved-content migration runs.
* Preserve all patterns, templates, template parts, variations, and unrelated palette/design identifiers.

= 3.0.9 =
* Restored the dedicated ACL Trace Theme URI so the theme details screen links to the official theme page.
* Replaced screenshot.png with a more polished, better-optimized theme preview.

= 3.0.8 =
* Reworded theme descriptions around the flexible semantic palette while keeping dark magenta and cyan as the default presentation.
* Renamed user-facing semantic palette labels without changing any existing color slug.
* Enabled custom color selection while keeping the WordPress default palette disabled.
* Added the Trace Light style variation with readable semantic colors, surfaces, borders, focus states, and status colors.
* Added author website metadata plus factual free-feature and GPL disclosures.
* Updated the theme screenshot to represent the theme without presenting magenta as a required palette.

= 3.0.7 =
* Fixed compatibility with Gutenberg's theme JSON data object while preserving the named border-radius presets.
* Removed the front-page template override so the latest-posts homepage uses the theme's Query Loop and a static front page uses the canonical page layout.

= 3.0.6 =
* Added verified WordPress 6.8 compatibility while retaining support for WordPress 6.9 and 7.0.
* Preserved named border-radius presets on WordPress 6.9 and later while retaining the standard custom radius control on WordPress 6.8.
* Replaced the unsupported Query block spacing attribute with an equivalent scoped CSS fallback.

= 3.0.5 =
* Added a `licence.txt` compatibility notice for the legacy filename used by WordPress.org Theme Check 20231220.
* Retained the standards-correct `license.txt` file and complete GPLv2 text. No functional theme changes are included.

= 3.0.4 =
* Ensured WordPress.org Theme Check detects the ACL Trace copyright and GPL licensing notice through `license.txt`.
* No functional theme changes are included.

= 3.0.3 =
* Clarified and normalized theme copyright and GPL licensing attribution for WordPress.org validation.

= 3.0.2 =
* Moved the subtle theme border color to an internal custom token outside the user-editable palette.
* Preserved user-selected Image borders and all block border and radius controls.
* Reset the ACL Image Plus wrapper border while preserving explicit media-element borders.

= 3.0.1 =
* Decoupled decorative and component borders from the Global Styles Text color.
* Added the Border Subtle semantic token while preserving the legacy Border preset for existing content.
* Completed width-only template separators with explicit neutral border colors and styles.
* Preserved border-free media and generic Group defaults plus explicitly selected editor borders.

= 3.0.0 =
* Established the presentation-only architecture and ACL Site Essentials separation.
* Preserved canonical native templates and moved the design foundation to theme.json v3.
* Added the dark Trace Magenta identity, responsive typography, and semantic component system.
* Consolidated the production pattern library to eight patterns.
* Improved focus, forced-colors, reduced-motion, overflow, and responsive behavior.
* Hardened release metadata, portable Navigation, child-theme styles, packaging, documentation, translation, and screenshot assets.
* Removed unvalidated third-party commerce support declarations and claims.

== Upgrade Notice ==

= 3.0.10 =
Fixes radius defaults, shared editor assets, and the Text color-preset collision. The active palette uses body-text; existing text selections continue to render without resaving. No automatic database migration or saved-block rewrite occurs. Rolling back to 3.0.9 restores its original collision.

= 3.0.9 =
Restores the official theme-page link and refreshes the optimized theme preview. No theme functionality changes are included.

= 3.0.8 =
Adds flexible semantic color labels, custom color selection, and the Trace Light style variation while preserving all existing palette slugs and the default dark presentation.

= 3.0.7 =
Fixes Gutenberg theme JSON compatibility and restores the expected latest-posts and static-front-page template routing.

= 3.0.6 =
Adds verified WordPress 6.8 compatibility while preserving WordPress 6.9 and 7.0 behavior.

= 3.0.5 =
Adds a compatibility copyright notice for the legacy filename used by WordPress.org Theme Check. No functional theme changes are included.

= 3.0.4 =
Ensures WordPress.org Theme Check detects the theme copyright and GPL licensing notice. No functional theme changes are included.

= 3.0.3 =
Clarifies theme copyright and GPL licensing metadata. No functional theme changes are included.

= 3.0.2 =
Theme borders now use an internal custom token instead of inheriting the user-editable Text color. The ACL Image Plus wrapper remains border-free unless its media element has an explicit border.

= 3.0.1 =
Theme borders use the dedicated Border Subtle token instead of inheriting the Text color.

= 3.0.0 =
Development folders named `acl-trace-main` are separate from the production `acl-trace` package. Back up and migrate verified slug-scoped state before activation.

== Copyright ==

ACL Trace WordPress Theme, Copyright 2026 Ashes Creative Labs.
ACL Trace is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2 or later.


== Resources ==

* Theme source, including assets/color-compat.js: Copyright 2026 Ashes Creative Labs, GPLv2 or later. Source: this theme distribution, https://acltracks.com/acl-trace/.
* screenshot.png: Copyright 2026 Ashes Creative Labs, GPLv2 or later. Source: a capture of this theme rendered with its native blocks and default dark palette.
* Fonts: local system font stacks only; no font files or third-party libraries are bundled.
