Themes
A theme is how an organization's website looks. As a partner you can create one, publish its versions, and decide who can install it.
The theme is developed on your machine: how to write the files and how to publish a version is in the Creating and developing a theme guide. This section covers the rest: creation, cover image, distribution.
Creating a theme
From Themes → Add theme you enter two things:
- the name, which organizations will see;
- the identifier, which goes into the theme's
manifest.json.
It is the key Riseact uses to recognise that a new version belongs to this theme. It cannot be changed: changing it would create a different theme, and the organizations that installed the first one would stop receiving updates.
You can also skip this step: if you publish straight from the CLI, the theme is created on the first riseact theme release using the identifier in the manifest. Creating it here reserves the identifier before you start working.
Publishing a version
Two routes, same result.
From the CLI, when the theme is ready:
riseact theme release
From the panel, with Actions → Upload theme as ZIP: you upload the theme archive and write what changed in this version. You prepare the archive with riseact theme package.
Either way the version is read from manifest.json and has to be higher than the previous one. If a file is not valid the release is refused and every problem found is listed: no partial version ever reaches your clients' sites.
What you write travels with the version: organizations read it before deciding whether to update.
Who can see the theme
On the theme page, the Visibility box offers two choices.
Not shared — the theme stays yours. You can only install it on the organizations you are developing with.
My organizations — every organization you administer finds it under Website → Theme store in its panel and can install it. No approval needed: you are choosing among clients you already manage.
It is the most direct way to deliver a bespoke theme to a client. Installing publishes nothing: the theme lands in the organization's library, and it decides when to switch to it.
Publishing to the store
The theme store is where every Riseact organization can find your theme. Appearing there needs our approval.
Before asking, upload the cover image from the theme page: it is what appears on the store card, and a wide screenshot of the homepage works best.
Then press Submit for Approval. You can attach a message — an address where the theme can be seen in action is the most useful thing. We reply by email.
At least one published version is required: without one there is nothing to review.
Updates and customizations
When you publish a new version, the organizations that have the theme installed see it appear and decide whether to move to it. The update replaces the theme's code but not their choices: colours, texts and page composition stay as they left them.
Exactly what gets replaced and what is kept is in the theme development guide: worth reading before designing a theme.