memberliteWe’re excited to announce a new phase in the Memberlite theme lifecycle plus the release of the Memberlite Shortcodes plugin.

Download Memberlite 3.0 Now

This update prepares Memberlite for submission to the WordPress.org theme repository. One requirement for this is that some functionality needed to be moved into plugins. Most of the bundled shortcodes have been moved into the Memberlite Shortcodes plugin that we’ve added to the WordPress.org plugin repository. The memberlite_levels functionality has been merged into our Advanced Levels Shortcode addon. After upgrading to Memberlite 3.0, you will need to install these two plugins if you use any of the Memberlite shortcodes. Use the steps below to upgrade Memberlite and install the new required plugins.

As soon as the theme is accepted into the WordPress.org theme repository, we will push out a minor update to tell the theme to update through WordPress.org going forward.

To find out more about Memberlite 3.0, you can now browse the demo site of the entire Memberlite Theme or view full theme documentation.

Memberlite Demo Site


Adhering to WordPress theme standards and best practices.

In preparation for the theme’s submission to the WordPress.org Themes Repository we’ve updated the code to fully adhere to WordPress’ standards and guidelines as outlined in the Theme Check plugin.

For this reason, all shortocdes have been extracted to a separate plugin: Memberlite Shortcodes. This is not only a requirement for themes in the WordPress repository, but also a critical consideration should a site using Memberlite decided to switch themes (all the shortcodes will still “work” regardless of your active theme).

View the Memberlite Shortcodes Plugin

Already using the Memberlite Theme?

Below are the step-by-step directions for upgrading to the new version and installing the companion Memberlite Shortcodes plugin. Before beginning this process we recommend taking a backup of your WordPress site.

  1. Back up your site files and database [instructions]
  2. Upgrade your theme via the WordPress Updates admin page, or download the theme and upload it to your /wp-content/themes/ folder.
  3. Install and activate the Memberlite Shortcodes plugin.
  4. If you were using the shortcode [memberlite_levels], you must also Install and/or Upgrade to v.3 of the Advanced Levels Page Shortcode Add On.
  5. If you are using a caching plugin, delete and rebuild your cache.

Custom Logo and Header Images

One known display update you may see after upgrading relates to your site logo and header image. This portion of Memberlite has been overhauled to use the new WordPress 4.5 Custom Logo feature. You can now specify a Custom Logo for your theme as well as a custom header background image.

We have put code in place to load your previous header image as the custom logo. You may still want to follow the steps below to update your custom logo or to add a new header image (background) to your site.


To set your custom logo:

  1. Navigate to Appearance > Customize > Site Identity
  2. Upload your Custom Logo (recommended size is 360px x 100px; smaller or larger images are acceptable. Smaller images will be displayed “icon style” to the left of your Site Name and Description)
  3. Crop if necessary
  4. Toggle the display of your “Site Title & Tagline” if desired.
  5. Save changes by clicking the “Save & Publish” button.

You can also modify the header area’s column ratio under Appearance > Customize > Memberlite Options to make room for more landscape (i.e. “wider”) logo designs.


To set your header image:

  1. Navigate to Appearance > Customize > Header Image
  2. Upload your Header Image (recommended size is 1440px x 110px; smaller images will be tiled)
  3. Crop if necessary
  4. Save changes by clicking the “Save & Publish” button.

Please bear with us as we update the theme documentation for version 3.0. We've been holding back on updating specific guides so existing theme users could still get support.