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How to Fix Common Twenty Seventeen Theme Header Image and Menu Issues

21 threads Sep 9, 2025 Theme → Twenty seventeen

Content

The Twenty Seventeen theme's large, striking header image is one of its most popular features. However, many users encounter challenges when trying to customize its appearance and behavior, particularly in relation to the navigation menu. Based on common community support threads, this guide addresses the most frequent issues and provides clear, actionable solutions.

Common Header Image & Menu Problems

Users often report the following issues:

  • The header image cuts off important content (e.g., "cutting off heads").
  • A white gap appears between the header image and the navigation menu.
  • The navigation menu is superimposed over the header instead of placed below it.
  • The page title appears redundantly below the menu on pages.
  • Difficulty controlling which part of the header image is displayed.

Why These Issues Occur

The Twenty Seventeen theme is designed to use a specific, large image size for its header to create a dramatic, full-screen effect on the front page. The theme's CSS uses absolute positioning and complex styling to achieve its parallax scrolling and overlay effects. This predefined structure can sometimes conflict with specific image dimensions or desired customizations, leading to the visual problems described above. The issues are almost always related to the theme's stylesheet (CSS) and not a bug in the code itself.

Solutions and Workarounds

Most of these issues can be resolved by adding custom CSS to your site. You can do this by navigating to Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS in your WordPress dashboard.

1. Removing the White Gap Between Header and Menu

A frequent problem is a thin white line between the header image and a colored navigation bar. This is caused by a top border on the navigation element.

.navigation-top {
    border-top: 0;
}

2. Moving the Menu Below the Header Image

By default, the menu overlays the header. To position it statically below the image, use this code:

.navigation-top {
    position: relative;
}

3. Hiding Redundant Page Titles

To hide the page title that appears below the menu (for visual purposes, while keeping it for SEO), use accessible screen-reader-only text techniques:

.entry-title {
    border: 0;
    clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);
    height: 1px;
    margin: -1px;
    overflow: hidden;
    padding: 0;
    position: absolute;
    width: 1px;
}

4. Controlling Header Image Focus

Precise control over which part of the header image is displayed can be challenging. The theme uses a focal point system. When uploading your header image in the Customizer, use the interactive tool to select the most important part of the image. For more advanced control, you may need to pre-crop your image in an external editor to ensure the crucial elements are centered.

Important Considerations

  • Use a Child Theme: Before making any CSS or code modifications, it is highly recommended to use a child theme. This ensures your customizations are not overwritten when the Twenty Seventeen theme receives an update.
  • Image Dimensions Matter: For best results, use a high-resolution image that is at least 2000 pixels wide. The aspect ratio and focal point of your image will significantly impact how it is cropped on different screen sizes.
  • Test on Mobile: Always check how your changes look on mobile devices. The header and navigation behavior changes significantly on smaller screens.

These solutions, gathered from community experiences, should resolve the majority of common header and menu layout issues in the Twenty Seventeen theme. For more complex modifications, consulting the official WordPress documentation or a developer familiar with WordPress theme structure may be necessary.

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