Theme Options

The theme options page basically controls everything on your site. Well, not everything, but it gives you a few cool things to play around with, especially for the the front page.

To use the theme options, go to your WordPress administration panel (dashboard), click on the link that reads “Design,” then click on “Options Theme Settings.” From there you’ll see a lot of things you can input.

Use this list to navigate down the page to find the option you’re looking for.

  1. Theme stylesheet
  2. Home layout
  3. Sidebar placement
  4. Feeds
  5. Navigation and search
  6. Tab/Section
  7. Display header (Beta only)
  8. Sidebar tabs (moved to Widgets in 1.1+)
  9. Sidebar video (moved to Widgets in 1.1+)

Theme stylesheet

Version 1.1: Blue Danube, Light, and Dark.
Version 1.0 Beta: Light and Dark.

If you want to edit the core stylesheets, I suggest copying and pasting their contents into one of the custom stylesheets (don’t overwrite the header info) so you’ll have a backup copy if you mess anything up.

Home Sections 1 - 5

Their are five home page sections or blocks stacked on top of each other. Each of these five sections have many different options. You can mix and match these in any way you like. I don’t suggest using all five unless some of them are smaller, like the Tags and Flickr Photos options.

Here are some descriptions of your options (for Tab/Section options, also look at tab/section):

  • None:
    I think you can understand this well enough. This option displays nothing.
  • Excerpts:
    Gets your latest post excerpts and displays them in content-area-length sections.
    Custom fields: Thumbnail, Thumbnail Alt, Thumbnail Large, Thumbnail Large Alt
  • Feature:
    Shows your latest feature article with the tag of “Features” and an image.
    Custom fields: Feature Image, Feature Image Alt
  • Features Gallery:
    Using Smooth Gallery, this area shows a large image and transitions between posts with the tag of “Features.”
    Custom fields: Feature Full, Feature Full Alt, Feature Image, Feature Image Alt
  • Features Numbers:
    A tabbed section of posts tagged “Features.” The tabs are numbers below the post.
    Custom fields: Feature Image, Feature Image Alt
  • Flickr Photos:
    Shows your latest Flickr photos using the Flickr RSS plugin
  • Full Posts: This is mostly for the “Regular Joe” blogger. It shows your latest posts in full.
    Custom fields: Video, Image, Image Alt, Image Class, Feature Image, Feature Image Alt, Thumbnail Large, Thumbnail Large Alt, Thumbnail Thumbnail Alt
  • Post Blocks: (Category Blocks in Beta)
    This displays blocked sections of articles by category, tag, or author on your front page.
    Custom fields: Thumbnail, Thumbnail Alt, Thumbnail Large, Thumbnail Large Alt
  • Post List Tabs: (Category List Tabs in Beta)
    Displays a tabbed section of posts by category, tag, or author. One post is to the left of each tab’s content and a list of previous articles to the right.
  • Post Sections: (Category Sections in Beta)
    Content-area-length sections of posts by category, tag, or author excerpts.
    Custom fields: Thumbnail, Thumbnail Alt, Thumbnail Large, Thumbnail Large Alt
  • Post Tabs: (Category Tabs in Beta)
    Displays the latest two articles from each category, tag, or author by tabs.
  • Post Thumbnail Tabs: (Category Thumbnail Tabs in Beta)
    Shows a tabbed section of posts by category, tag, or author with a thumbnail to the right.
    Custom fields: Thumbnail, Thumbnail Alt, Thumbnail Large, Thumbnail Large Alt
  • Tags:
    Shows your tags in a content-area-length section.
  • Video Numbers: Shows your latest posts tagged “Videos” with the video (YouTube, Google, etc.) and excerpt in a tabbed section. The tabs are numbers below the post.
    Custom fields: Video
  • Video Tabbed:
    Shows a list of your latest videos (YouTube, Google, etc.) with tabs to the side of the video.
    Custom fields: Video
  • Custom 1 - 3
    Create your own home page sections with the files such as “home-custom-1.php” or “home-custom-2.php,” which are located in your theme’s “includes” folder.

Choose whether to place your sidebar on the right or left of the page.

Version 1.1+
Note: In series 1.1, the Light stylesheet isn’t styled for this.

Feeds

  • Feed Links In Header?:
    This is an option to display your feed links in the header. There is a sidebar widget to use if you choose to not display them in the header.
  • Feed URL:
    Just input your feed URL in this box.
  • Feed By Email URL:
    Input your feed’s email URL here.

Navigation Display:
This gives you the option of where and how you want your navigation menus to display on your site. Being able to use them the way you want may be limited by what theme style you’re using. Version 1.0 Beta stylesheets, Dark and Light, work best with the navigation below the header.

Search box in navigation?:
Choose whether to display a search box in the main navigation menu.

Tab/Section 1 - 8

You can choose to display from several the Home Section options (Post Tabs, Post Sections, etc.) by category, tag, or author. The default is by category.

To change the select boxes to tag or author, look in /app/config-advanced.php (1.1) or /app/config.php (1.2) for this section:

function choose_tab_type() {
	$type = __('Categories','options');
	// $type = __('Tags','options');
	// $type = __('Authors','options');
	return $type;
}

You can uncomment or comment out to suit your needs.

1.1 series: Their are some issues with author or tags with more than one word. For example, author “Justin Tadlock” (display name) might not work, but author “Justin” (display name) should. Fixed in version 1.2

1.0 beta series: The category options are for the home page layout sections. Several of these sections use categories to display their content. Input your category names (must be the same as your category slugs) to display the categories you want. Up to eight categories can be input.

Display header

This is an option to display the header, which includes the navigation menus. Some people might not like the built-in header functions and may want to edit their own header and navigation.

The sidebar tabs are still a bit limited, but you have a few options. You can have up to four tabs.

  • Latest:
    Displays your 10 latest posts.
  • Popular:
    Displays your 10 most popular posts. You must have Alex King’s Popularity Contest plugin istalled to use this option.
  • Categories:
    Shows a list of your categories.
  • Archives:
    Shows a list of your last 10 of archives by month.
  • Tags:
    This displays a tag cloud of your blog’s tags.
  • Comments:
    Shows your blog’s latest comments. You must have the Get Recent Comments plugin installed to use this option. (I may add support for other comment plugins down the road.)
  • Custom:
    Create your own custom tab in “tabs.php,” which is located in your theme’s “include” folder.

This shows a video in your sidebar of your choosing. It lies outside of any blog post. Just grab the embed URL from YouTube, Google, or some other video site and input it into the text box.

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