Live Theme Instructions
Here are the complete instructions on using The Live Theme from Organized Themes.
Installation:
You can download the current version of The Live Theme from the support page at Organized Themes. Once you’ve downloaded the theme, go to the appearance menu in your WordPress dashboard and select themes. From there choose “add new” and upload the live.zip file you downloaded previously. Once the upload has completed, activate the theme.
Theme Options:
To configure the main theme options go to the appearance menu and select “Theme Options.” The first block will point you in the right direction if you need help. The WordPress Codex has quite a bit of help for general WordPress questions and documentation. If you have a question not answered by these instructions, please visit my support page to ask.
Styles:
The next block allows you to choose a background style. I’ve included five styles to choose from. Just select one from the drop down menu, save your changes and the new style will be active.
Identity and Navigation:
You may use the site’s title for your “logo” or if you have an image logo you’d like to use, you can use that as well. To use an image logo, go to the Media menu and select add new. Upload your logo and once it is finished, copy the URL that WordPress gives you. Now come back to the theme options page and paste that URL into the box for your logo. Save your changes and your logo will be live on the site. For best results, size your logo so that it is approximately 300 pixels wide and 70 high. I also recommend using a transparent PNG or GIF image to allow the background to be visible through the logo.
You can also add a favicon, the small icon that sits to the left of the URL in a browser’s navigation bar. Use the same upload method described above for the logo and paste the URL for your favicon into the blank. The last branding option is to include a link to your Twitter account in the header. Just enter your Twitter account URL into the box to have it appear automatically.
Call To Action Button:
The next block is for the “call to action button.” This is an optional block below the front page slideshow where you can insert a prominent link for your visitors. To use it, just select “yes” from the drop-down menu and then enter text for the button. Also make sure to enter a URL so the button links to the page you’d like it to.
Google Analytics:
The Live Theme comes with an option to add Google Analytics to your site without using a plugin. To use Analytics or any other statistic software, just choose yes from the drop-down menu and then paste your analytics code into the box. Save your changes and your site will now be tracked by Google.
Custom Styles:
The right hand side of the theme options page deals with custom styling. If you’d like to select your own colors for links, navigation and so on, just select “yes” from the drop-down menu and then enter the hex code of the color you’d like to use for that item. You can learn more about hex codes here. It is important to include the # as part of your color code (take #000000 for black as an example).
If you would like to include any custom CSS, you can also add that to the box at the bottom. You can use this to override any of the styles in the theme, or any styles that come with the plugins you use.
Slideshow:
The home page of The Live Theme features a new slideshow that is quite simple to use. First you will need to upload an image. It must be at least 870 pixels wide by 430 pixels high. Although the uploader will resize your images, it is generally best if you can resize them before uploading and also reduce their file size as much as possible while still preserving the necessary quality. Once you’ve uploaded your image, you’ll be given an option to add a link to the image to any URL you choose. You can also add a caption. Both links and captions are optional. You can have as many images as you’d like, but I would recommend having fewer that five or six to keep your page loading time down. You can also choose a different transition effect as well as the delay between transitions in the settings area.
Background Editor:
The Live Theme takes advantage of the background editor that is now part of WordPress. To change out the background image and/or color, just go to the appearance menu and select background. You will be presented with an option to upload an image to use as well as set how it repeats and what color will be used as well. Once you’ve made your changes, save them and your theme will have a new background. Please note, this is available if you are using WordPress 3.0 or higher.
Widgets:
To use widgets with the theme, go to the appearance menu and select “widgets.” You will now be presented with widgets that are included with WordPress as well as the ones from The Live Theme. To add a widget to a widget area, just drag the widget and drop it on the area you’d like to use it in. Most widgets have some options. Here’s a quick run down on the ones that come with The Live Theme:
Featured Post:
This widget will show the most recent post(s) from the category of your choosing. Just drag it to the widget area of your choice. Next select the category you’d like to display there and the number of posts you’d like to use. For the home page, please select only one post. Save your changes and you’re done. This widget takes advantage of the “featured thumbnail” option of WordPress. When you are creating a post, on the right hand side below the publish and category areas, there is a spot for “featured thumbnail.” If you select it, you can add an image that will be displayed when the post is featured with the widget.
Flickr:
This is a simple widget that displays images from a Flickr Photostream. To use it, just enter your Flickr user number (it will look something like this –28060528@N05) and choose the number of images you’d like to display. That’s it.
Twitter:
The Twitter widget displays your most recent tweets. Just enter your Twitter name as well as the number of tweets you’d like displayed and that’s it. You can also include a follow button if you’d like to. Please note, your Twitter account must be public in order to use it with this widget.
Recent Comments:
The Recent Comments widget is an improvement over the stock widget. It will allow you to display a short quote of the most recent comments as well as choose the number of comments to display.
Menus:
The Live Theme also takes advantage of the new menu creator that comes with WordPress 3.0 and higher. To use it, go to the appearance menu and select “menus.” You can create multiple menus, but note that the first one you create will be the one used in the site’s main navigation. After creating a new menu, you are presented with several options to add pages, categories and even external links all to your site’s navigation. Once you’re finished, save your changes and your new menu will be in the main navigation. If you are using a version of WordPress below 3.0, the menu on your site will follow the default arranging of pages.
Page Templates:
There are three page templates included with The Live Theme. The default has a main content area on the left and a sidebar on the right. If no template is chosen, this is the one that will be used. The other two templates can be accessed by choosing a new template on the page write screen. There is a drop-down menu below options to publish and update pages where you can select a template. The Full Width page has a large main content area and no sidebar. The site map page includes a way for your visitors to easily see the content in your site at a glance. There is also a search template that is included as well as a 404 page that includes the site map and a search box to help people find what they were looking for.
Improved Gallery:
To use the improved gallery that comes with the theme, create a page or post and upload the images you’d like to use. Once the images are uploaded, click to save your changes. Now you will be presented with an option to insert a gallery. Click insert and you will now have a XHTML valid gallery enhanced with the Fancy Box javascript light box for some flair.
That pretty well wraps up The Live Theme. If you have any questions, please visit the support page. Thanks again for your business.
