=== NewsPulse ===
Contributors: unitedtheme
Requires at least: 5.9
Tested up to: 7.1
Requires PHP: 7.4
Version: 1.0.1
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Tags: news, blog, two-columns, right-sidebar, custom-colors, custom-logo, custom-menu, editor-style, featured-images, footer-widgets, sticky-post, theme-options, threaded-comments, translation-ready, rtl-language-support, block-styles, wide-blocks

A bold, image-first viral magazine theme with a mosaic front page, a homepage builder and light/dark mode.

== Description ==

NewsPulse is a bold, image-first magazine theme for viral sites, online magazines and busy news blogs.

Build your homepage from ready-made sections in the Customizer, reorder them by dragging, and use each one as often as you like:

* Front Page: a big-story mosaic with a spinning Trending sticker and a numbered trending strip
* News Exclusive: a scrolling bar of the latest headlines with a pause button
* Most Read: the most-discussed posts as numbered cards
* Must Read Carousel: a swipeable row of story cards
* In Case You Missed: a row of image tiles
* Explore Topics: round, story-style category bubbles with optional images
* Call to Action: a banner with an image, a YouTube video or a looping video background
* Widget Areas and a paginated Latest Stories feed with sidebar

Articles come with reading time, an automatic table of contents, share links (no third-party scripts), a reading progress bar, an author box, previous/next stories and related posts.

Make it yours: pick an accent color, headline and article fonts, rounded, sharp or fully square corners, a left or centered header with quick links, a sticky menu, a topbar with rotating latest headlines, and a light/dark mode toggle. Every category gets its own tag color. NewsPulse also includes 14 widgets: Recent Posts, Recent Comments, Post Tabs, Posts Grid, Spotlight, Trending, Author Card, Category Stickers, Newsletter, Social Follow, Surprise Me, Popular Tags, Quote / Editor's Note and Ad / Promo Slot.

Fonts are served from your own site, not from Google's servers.

== Installation ==

1. In your admin panel, go to Appearance → Themes and click Add New.
2. Search for NewsPulse, or click Upload Theme and choose the theme's .zip file.
3. Click Install, then Activate.

To use the homepage builder:

1. Create a page (for example "Home") and choose the "Homepage with Sections" template.
2. Go to Settings → Reading, choose "A static page" and select that page as your homepage.
3. Open Appearance → Customize → NewsPulse Options → Homepage Builder to add and arrange sections.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= How do I add images to the Explore Topics cards? =

Go to Posts → Categories, edit a category and use the "Category image" field. Without one, the newest post's featured image is used.

= How do I change the quick links next to the logo? =

Go to Appearance → Customize → NewsPulse Options → Header & Navigation → Quick Links. Pick up to four categories and choose an icon for each (15 colorful icons are included); you can also give each link a custom label. If you don't pick any, the theme shows your three biggest categories. Quick links show in both header layouts, and on smaller screens they move to a scrolling row under the logo.

= Where do I put social media links? =

Create a menu with custom links to your profiles and assign it to the "Social Menu" location. Icons are picked automatically from the link address. Turn on "Show the social menu" under Customize → NewsPulse Options → Header & Navigation to show it in the topbar; it always appears in the footer and the mobile menu.

= Can I turn off the loading animation? =

Yes: Customize → NewsPulse Options → Layout → Preloader.

= How does the table of contents work? =

On posts with at least three headings, an "In this story" list of them sits beside the article text. It sticks while you scroll and highlights the section you are reading; on phones it is a bar at the top of the article that opens the list. Change which headings it lists or how many a post needs, or turn it off, under Customize → NewsPulse Options → Single Posts.

= Does NewsPulse support right-to-left languages? =

Yes, NewsPulse includes full RTL stylesheets.


== Changelog ==

= 1.0.1 - 2026-10-31 =
* Fixed: "Function the_widget was called incorrectly" notice in the default sidebar.
* Fixed: long post and page titles no longer overflow the screen or cause horizontal scrolling.
* Fixed: excerpts of password-protected posts no longer reveal their content.
* Fixed: publishing scheduled Customizer changes no longer causes a fatal error.
* Fixed: the "Display Site Title and Tagline" checkbox now hides the title and tagline.
* Fixed: a long top bar menu no longer squeezes the date and headlines; its dropdowns stay on screen.
* Fixed: the sticky share bar no longer overlaps the sticky menu.
* Fixed: relative dates in the headlines strip now respect the site's timezone.
* Fixed: the copy-link button only says "Link copied" when the link was copied.
* Fixed: the Front Page sticker no longer repeats an HTML id when the section is added twice.
* Improved: category tags meet WCAG AA color contrast.
* Improved: the site title is the page heading on the homepage only; a separate posts page has its own heading.
* Improved: reading time and excerpts work for languages in any script.
* Improved: the headlines strip pauses while a headline has keyboard focus; the call-to-action background video has a pause button and respects reduced motion.
* Improved: the main Front Page image loads first instead of being lazy-loaded.
* Improved: default homepage section titles are translatable.
* Changed: the loading animation is now off by default.
* Changed: Customizer styles are added with wp_add_inline_style(); the accent color setting is renamed to newspulse_accent_color (saved colors carry over).
* Developer: child themes can override pluggable functions without losing their hooks; homepage section templates receive their data through get_template_part() $args.

= 1.0.0 - 2026-10-11 =
* Initial release.

== Copyright ==

NewsPulse WordPress Theme, (C) 2026 UnitedTheme.
NewsPulse is distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

NewsPulse bundles the following third-party resources:

Quick link icons (assets in inc/icons.php)
Original artwork created for NewsPulse.
License: GPLv2 or later

WPTT Webfont Loader
Copyright (c) 2020 WPTT
License: MIT
Source: https://github.com/WPTT/webfont-loader

Bootstrap Icons
Copyright (c) 2019-2024 The Bootstrap Authors
License: MIT
Source: https://github.com/twbs/icons

Outfit
Copyright 2021 The Outfit Project Authors
License: SIL Open Font License, 1.1
Source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Outfit

DM Sans
Copyright 2014 The DM Sans Project Authors
License: SIL Open Font License, 1.1
Source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/DM+Sans

Images used in screenshot.png:

Screenshot image: Woman on a beach at sunrise
Copyright: pxhere.com, released into the public domain
License: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Source: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/764600

Screenshot image: Woman jumping on a beach
Copyright: pxhere.com, released into the public domain
License: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Source: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1103572

Screenshot image: Mountain above the clouds
Copyright: pxhere.com, released into the public domain
License: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Source: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/7497

Screenshot image: Laptop, camera and notebook on a desk
Copyright: pxhere.com, released into the public domain
License: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Source: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/122

The other graphics in screenshot.png are part of the theme: the sticker icons (quick links, section headings, the Trending sticker and the dice) are original NewsPulse artwork under GPLv2 or later, and the social, search and menu icons are Bootstrap Icons under the MIT license, both credited above.
