eStore 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.

How do I add the thumbnails to my posts?

When you write a post or create a product within WooCommerce, you will see list of options below the text editor labeled ET Settings. Within this box you will see four fields where you can input your thumbnail images. You can have up to four images displayed with each post, the first of which will be used as your main thumbnail for home/index pages. You can upload an image by clicking the "upload image" button next to each field. Once you upload the image, copy and past the URL to the image into the field.

You can also define a separate thumbnail image for Featured Articles to be displayed on the homepage slider. You will see a separate thumbnail field within in ET Settings box for featured thumbnails. The best size to use for these thumbnails is 1400x501px.

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.

How do I integrate a shopping cart with eStore?

eStore itself does not include any ecommerce functionality. Instead, we have made an effort to make our theme compatible with some already-existing and widely-used plugins. In not building the theme around a specific ecommerce platform, it also becomes much easier for the theme to be used with a wide array of plugins. That being said, we have pre-integrated two plugins, either of which will be the easiest to use.

1. WooCommerce (recommended!) - WooCommerce is the plugin that we recommend using with eStore, as it has the nicest feature set, interface and follows the best coding practices. After you enabled the plugin, you will see a new WooCommerce and "Products" section has been added to your WordPress Dashboard. You can use these areas to adjust your eCommerce settings and publish new products. You can find full documentation on WooCommerce here: http://wcdocs.woothemes.com/.

2. Simple PayPal Shopping Cart - This plugin is refreshing in its simplicity, but also lacks certain features found in other plugins. If you are looking for a really easy way to get your store off the ground, this is probably the plugin for you. The plugin will automatically use the price settings defined with each post from within the ET Settings, and the "ADD TO CART" button on each post page will work automatically as well. All you have to do is configure the plugin's main settings and you are good to go.

How do I set up the featured slider on the homepage?

Using WooCommerce Products: If you are using WooCommerce as your eCommerce plugin, then you can populate the featured slider with Products from a certain category. Under the Appearances > eStore Theme Options > Featured Slider tab, select your desired product category from the "Featured Category" dropdown menu. The most recent products from this category will appear in your Featured Slider.

Using Simple PayPal Shopping Cart: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 > eStore 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.

How do I set up the "deals of the day" slider on the homepage?

Using WooCommerce:WooCommerce products that are set as "Featured" will show up here. To make a product "featured," click the Products > Products link in your WordPress Dashboard. Locate the product that you would like to feature and click the "Quick Edit" button. Next check the "Featured" box and click Update. This product will now be featured in the Deals Of The Day section on the homepage. The total amount of featured products listed should be in incremends of 4 as 4 products are shown at a time.

Using Simple PayPal Shopping Cart:These posts are pulled from a specific category that you define within the Appearances > eStore Theme Options. Under the General Settings > Homepage tab, you will see a dropdown menu where you can choose which category to use for your daily deals. You will also see a field where you can choose how many items to add to the slider. It's best to choose increments of 4, as 4 slides are displayed at a time with each cycle of the slider.

How do I set a price for each product?

Using WooCommerce: If you are using WooCommerce, then the price settings will be located within the WooCommerce product settings when publishing your product.

Using Simple PayPal Shopping Cart: When you a write a post, you will notice a set of options below the text editor labeled ET Settings. Within this box will be a field for your product's price. You can also change the currency sign used from within the Appearances > eStore Theme Options page.

Setting up the categories navigation bar correctly.

This theme was made to be used with the new Nav Menu system introduced in WordPress 3.0. If you are running WordPress 3.0, then you can customize your navigation bar using the Appearances > Menus tab in wp-admin. The links added to the categories navigation bar will need descriptions before they will function correctly. These are the very short, 2-3 word blurbs that appear in gray below the larger white title of the category. To add these descriptions we need to first enabled link descriptions from within wp-admin. Once inside the Appearances > Menus page, click the "screen options" link on the top of your screen. Under "Show advanced menu properties," check the "Descriptions" option. Now when you add a link to your menu bar there will be a new field that you can fill out called "Description." This should be filled out for all of your category navigation links.

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.