eGamer Theme Documentation

Learn how to use your new theme

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.

What's with the reviews/ratings section on the homepage? How does it work?

This theme was made for gaming sites, but it certainly can be used for whatever you like. However, because a lot of gaming websites like to review games I decided to input a basic author rating system. The recent reviews section can be turned off from within the theme's options menu, you are not required to add review posts.

Whenever you make a post you can assign it a rating value. To do this create a custom field with the Name "rating" and a Value of how many stars you would like to give the post. Simply input any number between 0-5. (no decimals) Once you save your post a rating will appear on your post page as a star value. On the homepage, there is a section that displays recent reviews. This sections searchers through all your posts and gathers any post that has a rating assigned to it, and then displays the most recent 4 reviews in a descending fashion.

How do I add videos to my posts, and how does the Recent Videos section on the homepage work?

This theme can embed videos from other sources, but does not have a native video player. This means that you can only post videos that are taken from online video sources such as Youtube. When you make a new post you will need to add a custom field with the Key "Video" In the Value area just paste the embed code from your video host. For example, an embed code from youtube looks like this:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WneDU-K3Sww&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WneDU-K3Sww&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

You will notice that some video hosts try to add in links to their website, you probably want to delete these. All you need is the object and or embed codes.

Important Note: There is a bug with the upgrade of WordPress 2.6 that adds random "/" to the embed code when you add it. For this reason you need to add the code twice. After you click "Add Custom Field" you will notice that the code in the value area refreshes and the "/" appear. After this occurs simply delete the embed code from the value area and paste in the original embed code again and then press the "update" button. If you don't do this the video won't show up.

Whenever you add a video to your post, using the method above, it will be displayed cleanly above your post content on single post pages. On the homepage there is a section called Recent Videos. This box searches through all your posts and gathers the ones that have a Video Custom Field assigned to them. It then displays the most recent video on the homepage. This section can be turned on and off from within the theme's options menu.

How do I add my title/logo?

In this theme, the title/logo is an image, which means you will need an image editor to add your own text. You can do this by opening the blank logo image located at Photoshop Files/logo.jpg, or by opening the logo PSD file located at Photoshop Files/logo.psd. Replace the edited logo with the old logo by placing it in the following directory: theme/eGamer/images. If you need more room, or would like to edit the logo further, you can always do so by opening the original fully layered PSD file located at Photoshop Files/eGamer.psd

How do I manage advertisements on my blog?

You can change the images used in each of the advertisements, as well as which URL each ad points to, through the custom option pages found in wp-admin. Once logged in to the wordpress admin panel, click "Design" and then "Current Theme Options" to reveal the various theme options.

Can I change how many recent posts are displayed on the homepage?

You sure can. The number of recent posts being displayed on the homepage can be changed at any time via the custom option pages in wp-admin.

How do I setup the Featured Articles on the homepage?

The Featured Articles are pulled from a specific category. You can choose which category is used for the Featured Articles section via the Theme Options page in wp-admin. Under the General > Featured Articles section of ePanel (the elegant themes options page) you will see a dropdown menu where you can choose your featured articles category.

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.

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