Vertex Theme Documentation

How to install 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.

Adding thumbnails (aka "featured images") to your posts

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.

Defining a Custom Logo Image

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 Header/Call To Action

The header/call to action to comprised of 4 elements.

Logo Image - Your logo image is defined as outlined above. Once defined, your logo appears first in your header.

Website Description - Your description, displayed below the logo in a red bar, can be adjusted via the "Settings > General" tab in your WordPress Dashboard.

Call To Action Button - Your call to action button can be adjusted within ePanel. Click "Appearances > Vertex Theme Options" and locate the "Call To Action Button Url" and "Call To Action Button Text" options listed under the General Settings tab.

Header Background Image - Your header background image can be adjusted via ePanel. Click "Appearances > Vertex Theme Options" and locate the "Header Section Custom Background" setting. Click the "Upload Image" button to upload and define a new header image.

Adding Projects

Projects give you a way to showcase your recent work. When a new project is added, it is displayed on the homepage within a grid-based gallery. To add a new project, you can use the "Project" custom post type. After you activate Vertex, you will notice a new "Projects" tab has been added. Click Projects > Add New to create a new project. You can add an image to your project using the "Featured Image" link (more info on adding Featured Image above in the "Adding thumbnails (aka "featured images") to your posts" section).

You can also add galleries to your projects using the standard WordPress Gallery function. To add a gallery to your project, click the "Add Media" icon above the text editor. Next click the "Create a Gallery" link and select the image you would like to add. Once selected, click the "Create A New Gallery" link, followed by the "Insert Gallery" link.

Configuring The Homepage Slider

The featured slider can be set up using two different methods. You can either populate the tabs using Pages, or you can populate it using posts from a designated category. In the Appearances > Vertex Theme Options page in wp-admin, under the General Settings > Featured Slider tab, you will see an option that says "Use Pages." If you select this option then pages will be used, if you don't then posts will be used. If you want to use Pages then you simply select "Use Pages," and then below the option select which pages you would like to display in the slider. If you don't use pages, then simply select the "Featured Category" from the dropdown menu and posts from that category will be added to the slider.

You should also define an image to be used for each page. To add an image to your slider, edit any Post/Page in your slider and add a featured image using the "Featured Image" link to the right of your text editor, or by using the Thumbnail Custom Field as outlined in the "How do I add the thumbnails to my posts? " section above.

Adding Testimonials

To add a new testimonial, you can use the "Testimonials" custom post type. After you activate Vertex, you will notice a new "Testimonials" tab has been added. Click Testimonials > Add New to create a new testimonial. The body content of your post will be used as the testimonial quote. You can add an photo to your testimonial using the "Featured Image" link (more info on adding Featured Image above in the "Adding thumbnails (aka "featured images") to your posts" section).

Adding Team Members

You can add members to your team using the "Team Members" custom post type. When you create add a new team member, that person's bio will be added to your homepage and within the Team Page Template. To add a new team member, click "Team Members > Add New." The content of your post will appear on the Team page as the member's bio.

Adding A Photo - Each team member needs a photo. To define a photo for your team member, simply define a "Featured Image" for the post (more info on adding Featured Image above in the "Adding thumbnails (aka "featured images") to your posts" section).

Adding Skills - Each member bio can include a list of skills. When you create a new Team Member custom post type, you will notice some additional settings below the text editor called "ET Settings." To add a new skill, click the "Add Skill" button and then fill in the name of the skill and a percentage of expertise. You can also define a "position" for each member, such as "Web Developer" (or whatever position the member fills within your company).

Creating A Team Page - Once you have added some team members, you next need to create a Team page. To do this, simply create a new page and select the "Team" page template from within the "Template" dropdown menu to the right of your text editor within the "Page Attributes" panel. Once published, this page will display a bio of all your team members.

Adjusting Page Descriptions

Below your Page title on each page can be added a unique page description. This description is placed within a colored box just like your website's desription on your homepage. To add a description to a page, you must create a new custom field with the name "Description" (make sure to use a capital D). In the Value field, input the text that you would like to use for your description.

Customizing your theme's colors using the Theme Customizer

Vertex 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.

Using Sample Data to populate your first installation

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.

Using Shortcodes - Create advanced layouts with ease

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/

Using Page Templates To Create Advanced Layouts

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.

Translating The Theme To Another Language

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

How To Update Your Theme To A New Version

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.