Meridian WordPress Block Theme

A clean, professional personal brand block theme for thought leaders, coaches, and executives.

Features

• Two-column layout with sticky sidebar (profile photo, bio, social links, newsletter opt-in)
• 6 block patterns ready to use: Hero Bio, Expertise Grid, Experience Timeline, Talks Grid, Publications List, Newsletter CTA
• 6 page templates: Index, Single Post, Page, Archive, Search, 404 — plus No Sidebar and Full Width variants
• Professional design system — Inter font, 8px spacing scale, full color ramps (primary, secondary, accent, success, warning, error + neutrals)
• Full Site Editing — works entirely in the WordPress Site Editor, no page builder required
• Accessibility-ready — skip links, keyboard navigation, WCAG AA contrast
• Translation-ready — includes .pot file in /languages

Requirements

• WordPress 6.4 or higher
• PHP 7.4 or higher

Installation

From WordPress Admin

1. Go to Appearance > Themes > Add New
2. Search for Meridian
3. Click Install then Activate

Manual / Development

Option A — Clone directly into themes:

git clone https://github.com/wpgenius/meridian.git wp-content/themes/meridian

Option B — Docker (recommended for local dev):

git clone https://github.com/wpgenius/meridian.git
cd meridian
cp .env.example .env   # edit credentials if needed
docker compose up -d

WordPress runs at http://localhost:8080. The repo root mounts live into the container as the theme — no restart needed when you edit theme files.

Activate the theme from Appearance > Themes in either case.

Font Setup

Meridian uses Google Fonts — no local font files needed.

Font	Weights	Use
Inter	400, 500, 600, 700	Body text, UI, navigation
DM Serif Display	400, 400i	Optional headings / display

Both are declared via fontFace entries in theme.json with Google Fonts CDN src URLs — WordPress 6.x generates the @font-face CSS automatically. No PHP enqueue and no local downloads required.

Customization

All design tokens (colors, typography, spacing) are in theme.json. To customize:

1. Go to Appearance > Editor
2. Click the Styles icon (half-circle, top right)
3. Adjust colors, typography, and spacing globally

To edit the sidebar:

1. Go to Appearance > Editor > Template Parts > Sidebar
2. Update your profile photo, name, bio, and social links

File Structure

meridian/                   ← repo root = the theme (https://github.com/wpgenius/meridian)
├── .docker/
│   └── uploads.ini         # PHP upload config for Docker
├── .github/
│   ├── blueprints/
│   │   └── playground.json # WordPress Playground live preview config
│   └── workflows/
│       └── release.yml     # Builds & publishes release zip on tag
├── assets/
│   ├── css/
│   │   ├── global.css      # Front-end styles
│   │   └── editor.css      # Editor WYSIWYG styles
│   └── fonts/
│       └── README.txt      # Font download instructions
├── languages/
│   └── meridian.pot        # Translation template
├── parts/
│   ├── header.html
│   ├── footer.html
│   └── sidebar.html
├── patterns/
│   ├── hero-bio.php
│   ├── expertise-grid.php
│   ├── experience-timeline.php
│   ├── talks-grid.php
│   ├── publications-list.php
│   ├── newsletter-cta.php
│   └── volunteering.php
├── styles/                 # JSON style variations (Site Editor palette swaps)
├── templates/
│   ├── index.html          # Main blog index
│   ├── front-page.html     # Static homepage (profile content)
│   ├── single.html         # Single post
│   ├── page.html           # Static page
│   ├── archive.html        # Category/tag archives
│   ├── search.html         # Search results
│   ├── 404.html            # Not found
│   ├── no-sidebar.html     # Page without sidebar
│   └── full-width.html     # Full-width page
├── .distignore             # Files excluded from release zip
├── .editorconfig
├── .gitattributes
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── CONTRIBUTORS.md
├── docker-compose.yml
├── functions.php
├── index.php
├── readme.txt              # WordPress.org readme
├── screenshot.png          # Theme preview (1200x900)
├── style.css               # Theme header
└── theme.json              # Design tokens

WordPress.org Submission Checklist

• GPLv2 or later license
• readme.txt in WordPress.org format
• All required style.css headers (Author: mkrndmane)
• theme.json version 3
• templates/index.html
• Unique prefix mrdn_ for all PHP identifiers
• No custom post types, blocks, or shortcodes
• Skip links and keyboard navigation
• Translation-ready with .pot file
• No forbidden files (.sql, .xml, .sh, etc.)
• Google Fonts declared via theme.json fontFace entries (no PHP enqueue needed)
• Create screenshot.png at 1200×900px
• Run Theme Check plugin — resolve all errors/warnings
• Test on latest WordPress with default content (Theme Unit Test data)
• Submit at https://wordpress.org/themes/upload/

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for the full version history.

License

Meridian is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2 or later.

Inter font: SIL Open Font License 1.1 — https://rsms.me/inter/