If this is your first WordPress theme, this section will walk you through the steps necessary to install iFeature Free.

First login to WordPress. Typically located at http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin

Once logged in press the “Appearance” tab in the left-hand menu of WP-Admin Dashboard and press “Themes”. Then press the “Install Themes” tab at the top of the page.

Next, press the “Upload” tab and press the “Choose File” button and browse to the location where you downloaded ifeature.zip. Alternatively, you can use the “Search” and search for “iFeature” and you should be able to find and install the theme directly from WordPress.org. Once the file has been selected, press the “Install Now” button. Once the theme has been uploaded, and installed, simply activate the theme and you are ready to begin using iFeature Free.

iFeatureʼs menu is only designed for around 4-6 menu titles depending on the length of your menu items. If titles in your menu are displaying below the menu then you need to either reduce the number of menu items or length of your menu titles to maintain visual consistency. The iFeature menu supports drop-downs by default, so we encourage our users to take advantage of this feature to include more items in the menu.

iFeature supports both the default WordPress menu, and the new WordPress 3.0+ menu system located under Appearance.

iFeature also has a second menu in the Footer that is uses both the default WordPress menu and WordPress 3.0+ menu system designed to display parent pages.

iFeature uses WordPressʼs template management system allowing you to change the layout of your Pages individually. If want to change the layout of a Page simply login to WP-Admin, and Edit the Page you would like to assign a different template. Once you are viewing the WP-Admin dashboard for the Page you would like to edit locate the “Page Attributes” section on the right.

From there select the Template with the layout you would like to use:

The Default Template includes the Page content on the left, and the Sidebar on the right.

The Full Width Page includes Page content only, and does not have a Sidebar.

WIDGETS

iFeature offers several Widgetized areas using WordPressʼs built-in Widget dashboard. iFeature offers Sidebar Widgets, and Footer Widgets.

To make changes to Widgets go to the Appearance tab in WP-Admin, and select “Widgets”.

Grab the widgets you wish to use into the designated area to the right within the Widgets dashboard.

Sidebar Widgets

Sidebar Widgets supports multiple Widgets, simply drag and drop them in the order you would like and they will display on sidebar section of your website (see image to the right).

Footer Widgets

The Footer also uses Widgets, and supports up to 4 widgets that are displayed horizontally left-to-right. Simply drag and drop them in the order you would like and they will display in Widgetized Footer area of your website.

In order to begin customizing your install of iFeature, click on “iFeature Settings” in the Appearance tab in the left-hand menu of WP-Admin. Here you will find five different option categories: “General”, “Header”, “SEO”, “iFeature Slider”, and “Footer”. To edit one of these categories, simply click the tab you wish to edit.

When you are done editing your options, press the “Save Settings” button. If you ever want to revert back to the default iFeature settings, press the “Reset” button at the bottom of the page (this will delete all of your settings so make sure you backed up all of your setting information separately). There you will also find links to the official iFeature support forum and the web version of this documentation.

Continue reading for a detailed explanation of the settings within each option category.

Choose a font:

Select the font you would like to use from the drop-down menu. The default font is Cantarell, and you have a choice between a number of standard web fonts and Google fonts.

Custom Favicon:

Here you can enter a URL to a custom favicon image. A favicon is a 16 pixel by 16 pixel image which appears next the URL in most web browsers. If you need help generating a favicon, we recommend a website like http://favicon-generator.org/. Once you have your favicon image, simply upload it to the WordPress Media section (found in the left-hand sidebar in WP-Admin) and enter the URL in the text field.

Google Analytics Code:

Use this field to enter your Google Analytics Code, which will automatically be inserted into the footer. For more information about Google Analytics, please visit http:// www.google.com/analytics/.

Show Facebook Like Button:

If you would like to include a Facebook Like Button at the bottom of your blog posts, check off this radio button.

Logo URL:

Enter the link to your custom logo image here. The maximum height for your image should be 60 pixels, and the image should be uploaded to the WordPress Media section which can be found in the left-hand menu of WP-Admin. If you would like to use the text of your siteʼs title instead, enter the word hide instead.

Header Contact Area:

This is where you can enter a custom contact message (such as a phone number) which will be displayed in the top right hand corner of the siteʼs header. If you would like to hide this section from appearing on your homepage, enter the word hide instead.

Social Icons:

The header also features seven social icons which you can apply your own links to: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Maps, Contact, and RSS. Simply fill in the appropriate link for each icon, or enter “hide” to hide the icon.

Home Description:

Home Description is used by search engines and sites like Facebook to display a description of your website. Enter a more detailed META description of your homepage here. For example, www.blogaboutdogs.com could use a home description of “BlogAboutDogs.com is your number one news source about everything dogs. Featuring a forum, image gallery, and an online store, and much more. “The Home Description setting is independent from any other WordPress settings, so if you do not enter any information then no META description will be set.

Home Keywords:

Keywords are used by search engines to help people find your website. Enter a series of your siteʼs important keywords here, each separated by a comma. You should only select keywords that are the most important and relevant to your siteʼs content. For example, blogaboutdogs.com could use the following home keywords: “dogs, blog, dog pictures, dog forum, pets, online pet store”. The Home Keywords setting is independent from any other WordPress settings, so if you do not enter any information here no META keywords will be set.

Optional Home Title:

By default your homepage title is your WordPress Site Title, followed by your WordPress Tagline. If you would like to over-ride the default Tagline and enter your own custom Home Title you can do so using this option. Enter the Optional Home Title of your homepage here. For example, www.blogaboutdogs.com could use a home title of “a blog dedicated to everything about dogs”. If you do not enter a value here, the tagline entered in your WordPress General Settings will be used instead (your website name will be displayed no matter which option you choose).

Hide IFeature Slider:

If you do not want to use the iFeature Slider on your site, check this box.

Show post from category:

This is where you can assign a specific post category to be used with the feature slider. By default the feature slider pulls from all categories, so if you have a specific category that you would like to use (for example: featured), this is where you would enter it.

Number of Featured Posts:

Enter the number of featured posts that you want the feature slider to cycle through. The default is 5.

Slider Delay Time:

10Enter the time that you want each slide to appear before it changes to the next one. The time is entered in milliseconds, so if you want a 7 second delay, enter 7000. The default is 3500, which is 3.5 seconds.

Hide the Navigation:

Check this box if you would like to hide the feature navigation within the feature slider, and directly underneath it.

Image Custom Field:

This is where you can set the custom field that the feature slider pulls the images from. The default image custom field is “feature-image”. For a detailed explanation see “Using the iFeature Slider” below.

Text Custom Field:

This is where you can set the custom field that the feature slider pulls the text description from. The default image custom field is “feature-text”. For a detailed explanation see “Using the iFeature Slider” below.

For a detailed explanation see “Using the iFeature Slider” below.

Here we will provide a step-by-step guide for using the iFeature Slider. The iFeature Slider is used to display featured site content at the top of your homepage and is controlled using posts. To begin using the iFeature Slider you can either create a new post or edit an existing post that you would like to make featured.

Once you have your post content ready, the first step is to make sure that your post is published under the proper category. By default the iFeature Slider pulls from every category, so if you want to use it in this way you are ready to move on to the next step. If you have assigned a specific category in the iFeature Slider Settings (for example: featured), then you must place the post in this category. If you need to create this category, press the “add new category” button under the “Categories” menu on the right-hand side of the post edit page, type the name you have specified, and press enter.

Next you must tell the feature slider where to pull the image to be displayed. To do this you will use the iFeature Slider Options box which can be found below the post window (see image below).

To add an image to your featured slide, use the image uploader to browse and select your image. Then simply update (or publish if it is a new post) and you will see a thumbnail of the image you uploaded. If you wish to chance the image, simply delete and upload a new one. (Note: image size is 640 by 330)

13The iFeature Slider also allows for some custom text to be displayed below the post title. To use this, enter your custom text into the text input field and update or publish your post. This section is optional, so if you do not wish to use custom text simply use this text field blank.

Slides are ordered chronologically by the post date of the posts. The newest post will display first. Below is an image representing what a post page should look like to utilize all the slider options available. The post title becomes the title of the slide, the uploaded image will display in the slide itself, and the custom text will display below the title if used. If you are using a specific category for your slider, do not forget to place your post under that category.

Footer Copyright:

Here you can enter your custom footer copyright text. By default it displays your site title, and if you wish to hide this feature enter the word “hide”.