=== Ace Velocity Lite ===
Contributors: acevelocity
Requires at least: 6.0
Tested up to: 6.8
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 1.0.1
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

A lightweight, responsive niche-magazine/blog theme. It provides a native WordPress homepage layout with an image-led featured slider, category article blocks, a right sidebar, and a three-column footer. Divi Builder is optional, not required for the theme's homepage or basic templates.

== Installation ==
1. Back up the site and preferably test on a staging copy.
2. In WordPress, go to Appearance > Themes > Add New Theme > Upload Theme.
3. Upload ace-velocity-lite.zip and activate it while the existing Divi Builder plugin is still active. On activation, the theme makes a one-time best-effort read of the current Divi homepage/header/footer layouts to populate its own settings. It does not rewrite existing posts or pages.
4. Open Appearance > Customize > Site Design & Layout to review and adjust the imported banner, featured stories, category sections, ad images, colors and social links.
5. Confirm the homepage, menus, sidebar widgets, images and links before deactivating Divi Builder.

== Divi content conversion ==
The theme includes a display-only fallback for common Divi shortcodes when Divi Builder is inactive. For a cleaner permanent migration, install the companion Ace Velocity Divi Content Cleanup plugin. It can convert selected posts and pages, saving the original post content in post metadata first. The static homepage is excluded from conversion automatically because the theme builds it from theme settings. Test on one article first and check the result before converting more content.

The helper is intentionally conservative, but it cannot recreate every advanced Divi module, animation, dynamic field or custom CSS rule. Original content can be restored from the helper's Restore originals tab as long as the backup metadata has not been deleted.

== Homepage configuration ==
Open Appearance > Customize > Site Design & Layout > Homepage Sections. Choose published posts or pages from the Featured Article dropdowns for the slider. Choose categories from dropdowns for each homepage section, then set the section title, post count, and grid/list layout. This replaces the previous text-line format. On fresh activation, legacy saved values are translated into these dropdowns before defaults are written. For best slider results, choose posts/pages with a featured image or an image in their content.

Header banners, footer promotional images (columns 1, 2 and 3) and the page background image are chosen from the WordPress Media Library with a Select Image button (upload new images from the same window). Image URLs saved by earlier versions keep working. Footer columns appear only when they contain a widget or a configured promotional image. In column 2 the promotional image is shown first, followed by your widgets or, if there are none, the optional generated Recent Posts list (Appearance > Customize > Site Design & Layout > Footer & Ads). The Main Sidebar and Footer Column 1-3 widget areas support standard WordPress widgets and blocks. Existing widget IDs sidebar-1, footer-widget-1 and footer-widget-2 are retained to improve widget continuity.

== Divi compatibility ==
The theme follows normal WordPress theme structure and does not require Divi. Divi Builder may be installed alongside the theme where its plugin supports the content type. Theme-level templates remain in control of the header, footer, blog archives and homepage unless another plugin explicitly replaces them. When switching to the separate Divi Theme, WordPress will deactivate Ace Velocity Lite because only one theme can be active.

== Important notes ==
- This is the first stable release (1.0.1). As with any theme, back up your site and try it on a staging copy before switching a live site.
- The current site backup contained stale Divi category IDs for one homepage section. The theme maps such a section to a matching category slug when possible, then fills a short section with recent posts so the intended visual block remains populated.
- This theme package does not include WordPress core, Divi code, Astra code, or the private database/configuration backup. It refers to images already in the WordPress Media Library, and the one-time importer reads Divi layout data if the Divi Builder plugin is installed and active during activation.

== Changelog ==

= 0.1.3 =
* Renamed the Customizer panel to Site Design & Layout.
* Fixed color and site-width live preview using the Customizer preview script enqueue.
* Replaced typed featured-slide lines with selectable published posts/pages.
* Replaced typed homepage category lines with category dropdowns and controls for title, item count, and layout.
* Added one-time migration of the previous slider and homepage section settings.

= 0.1.4 =
* Added live-preview color controls for footer widget panels and the copyright bar.
* Removed the unused Divi recommendation URL control from the public Customizer settings.
* Preserved existing footer, ad, homepage, and social customization options.

= 0.1.5 =
* Header & Banner: new Header height slider (minimum height of the logo/banner row, 64-200 px; 64 = previous look). Banner image is now chosen with the Media Library (select, upload, replace, remove) with a preview and size hint; the old URL field is kept as an advanced field and existing URLs keep working. The banner destination URL is unchanged.
* New Page Background section (after Colors & Layout): background color, optional Media Library image and a simple Cover / Tile / Center choice. It styles only the outer canvas around the white site container and updates live in the preview without reloading it.
* Footer & Ads: Media Library selectors and destination URLs for all three footer columns, including the previously missing Column 2. Column 2 shows its image above the widgets / recent-posts list. Columns 1 and 3 behave as before.
* Homepage Sections: opening the section now shows the homepage in the preview (once per opening, subdirectory-safe, unsaved changes are preserved).
* Copyright line: text color, font family (system fonts only) and documented placeholders {year} and {site}; {year} now uses the site time zone. Copyright text now previews live.
* Social Links: clear instructions on where icons appear (top-right of the header); icons are larger and keyboard accessible; the preview updates immediately; bare addresses get https:// and javascript:/ftp: links are rejected. The X and YouTube icons are drawn as SVG so they no longer depend on installed fonts.
* All new settings are sanitized (colors, allow-listed fonts/modes, numeric ranges, image attachment IDs). No existing setting keys were removed or renamed.

= 0.1.6 =
* New: one-click updates from the AceVelocity update server. New versions appear on Appearance > Themes and Dashboard > Updates like any other theme (requires WordPress 6.1 or newer to receive updates). Nothing about your site is sent.
* No changes to the design, templates or settings.

= 0.1.7 =
* New: theme preview image (screenshot.png) so the theme shows a thumbnail on Appearance > Themes.
* Fixed: the homepage featured slider now fills its full width (it could leave a few empty pixels on its right edge on wide layouts).
* No changes to settings or templates.

= 0.1.8 =
* Updated the theme preview image (screenshot.png) with a modern, AI-inspired look. The preview shows the theme with a custom colour scheme set in Appearance > Customize > Site Design & Layout; your own colours are not changed.
* No changes to settings or templates.

= 0.1.9 =
* Preview image now also shows a square image widget in the sidebar (for an ad or promo image).
* No changes to settings or templates.

= 0.2.0 =
* New: Appearance > Customize > Site Width & Layout. Choose Boxed (the previous look, still the default), Full-width bars with boxed content, or Full width.
* New: the site width slider now goes up to 1920 px (was 1400 px).
* New: option to remove the small side padding on phones so content reaches the screen edges.
* New: Recommendations. Short, clearly labelled tips in the Customizer, plus an Appearance > Upgrade to Divi page, suggest Divi where this theme has limits. These are affiliate links and are disclosed next to every link. They are shown only in the admin area, never to site visitors.
* Default look and existing settings are unchanged.

= 0.2.1 =
* The Divi recommendations can no longer be switched off (the Customizer Recommendations section is removed). They only appear in the admin area, never to site visitors.
* Redesigned the Appearance > Upgrade to Divi page as a persuasive, mobile-friendly page: benefit-led headline, pain points, features, comparison, how-to-start steps, money-back guarantee, FAQ and repeated calls to action (including a sticky button on phones). Affiliate disclosure unchanged.

= 0.2.2 =
* Fixed first-activation ordering so default theme options are not written before the legacy Divi settings importer runs.
* Legacy featured slides are mapped to their matching published post/page using exact title matching and generated permalinks.
* Legacy homepage category sections are converted to the new category dropdown settings before saving options, including a fallback for stale category IDs.
* No post/page content is rewritten and existing configured theme options are not overwritten.

= 0.2.3 =
* Increased the header banner layout capacity to support 728 × 90 creatives while preserving responsive behavior.

= 0.2.4 =
* Documentation tidy-up only: corrected version references and changelog order. No code changes.

= 1.0.0 =
* First stable release. Version number only: no code changes since 0.2.4.

= 1.0.1 =
* New: Appearance > Settings now shows the installed version and a "Check for updates now" button.

== Upgrade and rollback ==
Upgrade: from 0.1.6 onwards updates arrive automatically on Appearance > Themes. To upgrade from an older version (or to install manually), go to Appearance > Themes > Add New Theme > Upload Theme, upload ace-velocity-lite-1.0.1.zip and choose "Replace active with uploaded" (older WordPress versions say "Replace current with uploaded"). Settings, posts, pages, menus and widgets are not modified. Rollback: upload the 0.1.4 ZIP the same way. Version 0.1.4 ignores the new settings, and the banner, footer images and social links keep displaying because their image URLs are still saved. Options introduced in 0.1.5 (header height, page background, copyright color/font, attachment IDs, column 2 image) are discarded the next time settings are saved in 0.1.4.
