Learn how to use your new theme
Before you can upload your theme, you first need to download the theme package from the Elegant Themes Members Area. Log in and locate your desired theme on the list and click the "download" link. There will be two download options: Theme Package and PSD Files. Click the "Theme Package" link to download the theme. Next you must upload the .ZIP file you just downloaded to your website via the WordPress Dashboard. Log in to wp-admin and click the Appearances > Themes tab. Next click the "Install Themes" button and then click the "Upload" link. Click "Choose File" and locate the .ZIP file you just downloaded and click "Install Now." Once then theme has been uploaded, you can activate it from within the Appearances > Themes tab.
For each post, you can define an image that will be displayed along with your content on Posts and Category pages. Thumbnail images (aka Featured Images) are added using the "Featured Image" option within your WordPress Dashboard. Whenever you create or edit a post, look for the "Featured Image" box. This box will be located to the right of your text editor or below your text editor depending on the size of your screen. Click the "Set featured image" link and upload the image that you would like to use. Once uploaded, scroll down and select "Full Size" as your image size, and then click the "Use as featured image" link. This image will now be used as your Thumbnail image for the post.
Important Note: The WordPress thumbnail function re-sizes the image you upload based on what thumbnail sizes are needed for your theme. Each time you change a theme, you may need to re-generate these thumbnails so that they fit your new theme correctly. You can use the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin each time you switch themes to re-generate your thumbnails. After enabling this theme, you should run this plugin to update all of your old thumbnails to avoid design inconsistencies.
You can define your own logo image from within the ePanel theme options page in your WordPress Dashboard. Within ePanel, under the General Settings > General tab, locate the "Logo" field. In the field, input the full URL to your logo image. You can use the "Upload Image" button below the field to upload your logo image if haven't already done so. After installing, copy and paste the URL to the file into the field and click "Save" to save your ePanel settings.
If you don't already have a logo image, then you can use the included logo.psd file as a starting point. If you have Photoshop, this file can be opened and the logo's text can be easily edited using Photoshop's type tool. If you don't have Photoshop, then you can use included logo_blank.png file as a blank canvas in a different graphic design program. These files (logo.psd and logo_blank.png) are located within the Theme Package inside the /psd/ folder.Configuring The Featured Posts - At the top of the homepage is a grid of 4 Featured Posts. These four posts are the most recent posts pulled from a category of your chosing. To configure the slider, navigate to the Appearances > Nexus Theme Options page and then click on the General Settings > Featured Posts tab. From the Featured Posts Category dropdown menu, choose the category that you would like to feature. Whenever you add a post to this category, it will be featured on the top of your homepage.
Adding Content Modules - Nexus uses a unique drag and drop builder system to populate the homepage content area. Once the theme is activated, click the Appearances > Nexus Homepage Builder link. Using the builder, you can add new modules to your homepage. There are four different modules to choose from. To add a module, simply click on the link and then fill in the options that appear. Once multiple modules are added, you can re-arrange their order by dragging and dropping the options box to a new location in the list.
Adding Widgets To Your Sidebars - On the homepage, there are two sidebars that you can add content to. Using our theme's custom widgets, you can build out great content variation within your sidebars. To add new widgets to your homepage sidebars, navigate to the Appearances > Widgets page and then drag and drop your desired widgets into the "Sidebar" and "Homepage Sidebar" areas The "Homepage Sidebar" is only displayed on the homepage, while the "Sidebar" is displayed on all pages.
When you view a category, there are two featured posts at the top of the page. You can chose which posts appear in this area by defining "sticky posts." When a post is "sticky," it will stick to the top of the category that it is in. To make a post sticky, navigate to the Posts > All Posts page in your WordPress Dashboard. Locate the post that you would like to feature, and click the "Quick Edit" button. Check the option to "Make this post sticky" and then click "Update." Your post will now be featured at the top of the category page.
Nexus comes with various banner ad spots throughout the design. You can manage your 460x68, 970x90 and 728x90 ad spots via the Advertisements tab in ePanel. Click Appearances > Nexus Theme Options, and then navigate to the Advertisements tab. Here you can define a banner image and URL for each ad spot, and enable/disable each ad individually.
Nexus also has ad spots available in the sidebar. These are managed using widgets. To add a banner to your sidebar, simply drag the ET: Centered Advertisements widget into your desired sidebar and configured the widget options to define your ad size, banner and destination URL.Your default header background image can be changed within the Appearances > Nexus Theme Options page under the General Settings > General tab. Simply upload your desired header image and click save, and your new header image will be displayed in the header background of all of your pages.
You can also define a unique header background image for each post/page. By default, the Featured Image of your post or page will be added to your header. If you would like to use an image other than your Featured Image for your header, then you can do so via the ET Settings panel. Whenever you write a post, you will notice that some new options have been added below the post text editor. Locate the "ET Settings" box, and upload a new image using the Header Image option.
Nexus uses the WordPress Theme Customizer interface to allow you to adjust your theme's colors quickly and easily. To use the Theme Customizer, click the Appearances > Themes > Customize link. This will launch the customizer along with various color options.
If you are starting from scratch, and installing your theme onto a WordPress blog that does not have any content yet (posts, pages, categories, etc), then you can choose to import our sample data file, which will populate your new WorPress blog with "dummy content." This dummy content is just a bunch of gibberish text, however, it will give you a good template to work with. Instead of following the above instructions, some people prefer to simply upload the sample data first, and then replace the dummy content with their own. To do this, you can use the Tools > Import feature in wp-admin to import the included sample data file. This sample data file comes with all themes, and is located in your theme folder here: sampledata/sample.xml. When performing the import procedure, be sure to check the "Import epanel settings" box.
All of our themes come with a comprehensive collection of shortcodes. These shortcodes allow you to use pre-made design elements to create advanced page/post layouts without any HTML knowledge. When you install the theme, you will notice that some new buttons have been added to the WordPress text editor. Clicking these buttons will reveal options for adding shortcodes to your post. For complete shortcode documentation you can refer to the video on the left, as well as the following documentation page: http://www.elegantthemes.com/preview/TheProfessional/357-2/
All of our themes come with a collection of page templates that can be used for a variety of purposes. You can apply each of these page templates to any page that you have created. When you edit a page in wp-admin, you will notice a Templates dropdown menu to the right of the text editor. Here you can select from a list of available page templates. Once a template is selected, additional settings will appear in the "ET Page Templates Settings" box below the dropdown menu. These settings should be configured to acheive the desired result, as outlined in this video tutorial.
You can use the included Mo and Po files (located in the /lang folder of your theme) to translate the various English words that occur throughout the design. You can learn more about translating WordPress here: Translating WordPress
Updating your theme is done via the WordPress Dashboard just like any normal theme. Before you can update, however, you must first authenticate your Elegant Themes subscription using the Elegant Themes Updater Plugin. Once authenticated, you can update your Elegant Themes using the standard update interface in WordPress.
To authenticate your WordPress installation, you must first download and install the Elegant Themes Updater. Download the ZIP file here, and then install it via the Plugins > Add New link in your WordPress Dashboard. Once it has been installed and activated, navigate to the Settings > General tab and scroll to the bottom of the page. You will notice that a new section has been added called "Elegant Themes Automatic Update Settings." Here you will need to input your Elegant Themes Username as your Elegant Themes API Key. You can find your Elegant Themes API Key here. Once both fields have been filled in, click the "Save Changes" button. You can now update your theme when a new version has been released via the Dashboard > Updates page, or via the Appearances > Themes page.
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