diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index bc76bdc..663fc19 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -36,6 +36,20 @@ To change the social icons, edit ``mpl_sphinx_theme/mpl_icon_links.html``
To change the style, edit ``mpl_sphinx_theme/static/css/style.css``
+Overriding hard coded elements
+------------------------------
+This theme is primarily designed to be used with subprojects that are part of the main
+Matplotlib webiste (e.g., [our cheatseets](https://github.com/matplotlib/cheatsheets]
+and [list of third-party packages](https://github.com/matplotlib/mpl-third-party)).
+As such several elements are hard coded. However, the theme may also be used by
+other subprojects that need to change the hard-coded defaults.
+The following sections explain how to reset these back to their defaults by modifying
+``html_theme_options`` in ``conf.py``.
+
+Header section links
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Use a copy of [the default pydata-sphinx-theme navbar](https://github.com/pydata/pydata-sphinx-theme/blob/main/src/pydata_sphinx_theme/theme/pydata_sphinx_theme/components/navbar-nav.html) and set the ``'navbar_center'`` key to this HTML file in ``html_theme_options``.
+
Building
--------
To build the theme with a sample page, navigate into the ``doc/`` directory and run
diff --git a/mpl_sphinx_theme/_version.py b/mpl_sphinx_theme/_version.py
index b4ba1b2..dc30c65 100644
--- a/mpl_sphinx_theme/_version.py
+++ b/mpl_sphinx_theme/_version.py
@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@
# Copyright (c) Matplotlib developers.
# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
-version_info = (3, 8, 0)
-__version__ = ".".join(map(str, version_info))
+version_info = (3, 9, 0)
+__version__ = ".".join(map(str, version_info)) + "rc1"
diff --git a/mpl_sphinx_theme/search.html b/mpl_sphinx_theme/search.html
deleted file mode 100644
index aacae3d..0000000
--- a/mpl_sphinx_theme/search.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,45 +0,0 @@
-{% extends "layout.html" %}
-{% set title = _('Search') %}
-{%- block scripts %}
- {{ super() }}
-
-
-{%- endblock %}
-{% block body %}
- {{ _('Search') }}
-
- {% trans %}Searching for multiple words only shows matches that contain
- all words.{% endtrans %}
-
-
- If you want to limit your search to working code examples, include the
- keyword "codex" (mnemonic for code example) in your search, e.g.,
- "codex ellipse".
-
-
- {% if search_performed %}
- {{ _('Search Results') }}
- {% if not search_results %}
- {{ _('Your search did not match any results.') }}
- {% endif %}
- {% endif %}
-
- {% if search_results %}
-
- {% for href, caption, context in search_results %}
- - {{ caption }}
-
{{ context|e }}
-
- {% endfor %}
-
- {% endif %}
-