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The WordPress Theme Customization API indicates that there are a number of existing pre-built customizer sections available for the theme developer.

If you want to use any of the existing, built-in ones, you don't need to declare them with add_section(). Instead, refer to them by name. The following sections are built-in:

  • title_tagline
  • colors
  • header_image
  • background_image
  • nav
  • static_front_page

Refer to them by name? Huh, what does that even mean? To understand this more, I created the simplest theme on the planet. Here's my style.css:

/*  
Theme Name: Minimal ZZ Test Theme
Author: zipzit
Description: An absolute minimal theme, intended to test Theme Customization API
Version: 1.0
License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Tags:
Text Domain: zz-test-theme
*/
body{
    background-color: blue;
}

and index.php:

<?php   ?>
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8" />
  <title>Simple Web Page</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="<?php bloginfo( 'stylesheet_url' ); ?>" />
</head>
<body>
    <h1> this is a test </h1>
</body>
</html>

That's the entire theme. There is no functions.php file.

When I went to the wp-admin panel, Appearance --> Customize I get the following TWO (out of six possible) sections displayed:enter image description here

How does one "refer" to the section by "name"? What pulls the canned choices into the wp-admin customize panel? And my real question is: how can you hide a pre-existing choice when overriding a theme (with a child theme.) We definitely don't want our future admins the chance to change things they shouldn't be. (Yes, I know we can utilize the admin permission system to hide elements, but that's not my question...)

Anybody been here before? Many thx.

Edit/update:

Here's my exact situation. I do lots of websites, often using a child theme to modify an existing theme that gets me sorta close. I'm looking for a very simple, non-bloated bootstrap theme. I found devdmbootstrap3 which I'm pretty impressed with. The only problem is that theme generates a bunch of customization selections that we don't want to display (colors, header image, background image). I can't figure out what populates those elements. There is no add_section() calls in the functions.php file. I've been thru that file (and the entire theme, including theme-options.php) pretty carefully. Again, I think my issue is not understanding the words "refer to them by name". I just don't see where those items are called.

Hmm.. as I think about this, I can certainly install wordpress core and that template inside a localhost server, then step thru the code debugger style to find what call actually creates those elements. Ugh.

Any other ideas? Again, thx.

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2
  • 1
    The other 4 features rely on your theme declaring support for them in your functions.php, hence why they're not currently visible. Check out this article for a little more information, the first comment also tips at how to remove them.
    – TheDeadMedic
    Commented Apr 25, 2015 at 19:27
  • Nope. That's exactly where I started. I will edit my original question with more specifics. I can't figure out where those elements are being 'called' into existence.
    – zipzit
    Commented Apr 25, 2015 at 19:42

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

The default controls are registered in WP_Customize_Manager::register_controls(), which is hooked to customize_register. This action is fired in another method, wp_loaded(), which is hooked to the action of the same name.

To remove these default controls, use your own handler on customize_register with a later priority, so that it runs after register_controls() has added them:

function wpse_185386_remove_customize_controls( $wp_customize ) {
    $wp_customize->remove_section( 'title_tagline' );
}

add_action( 'customize_register', 'wpse_185386_remove_customize_controls', 50 /* Priority */ );
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5
  • Wow. Let me play around a bit. I'm curious, what the wpse_big#_ prefix for? Is that how many custom functions you've created in support of this site? Oh, and thank you!
    – zipzit
    Commented Apr 25, 2015 at 20:08
  • Haha, luckily not. If I'd created ~200k snippets for this site I'd be questioning my sanity. It's the ID of the question (check the URL), and it's a syntax that many authors here adopt (the idea being that there's always some reference back to the question if you find the code unedited in the wild).
    – TheDeadMedic
    Commented Apr 25, 2015 at 20:11
  • It also saves a lot of headache with copy-pasters who just dump it right in their project - if we start handing out code like generic_function_name it won't be long before they hit a redefine/namespace clash.
    – TheDeadMedic
    Commented Apr 25, 2015 at 20:15
  • Way cool. In fact, I can certainly use that technique when I find a reference to a function from this site (or any other), and use that function from within my own code. I've been using comments to describe 'assists' with complete url. I'm glad I asked. Is that technique listed as a best practice anywhere?
    – zipzit
    Commented Apr 25, 2015 at 20:17
  • I would suggest you keep doing the comment method, and keep all your functions "namespaced" with your own unique project prefix. Like I say, we do it as a "failsafe" for people that won't bother - it's always better to have code consistency in your project. Here's the relevant discussion on meta.
    – TheDeadMedic
    Commented Apr 25, 2015 at 20:27

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