WordPress for Beginners 2015
- WordPress for Beginners 2015 is a course specifically designed by the great folks from WordPress Informer for those who want to learn WordPress step-by-step, from the very beginning.
WooThemes Documentation - Documentation, Reference Materials, and Tutorials for your WooThemes products
WooCommerce Guided Tour - This series of videos covers anything and everything you'd need to know about installing & setting up WooCommerce.
2. Theme Installation
Thank you for choosing Woodstock Theme!
1.1 Theme Requirements
In order to proceed with the theme installation, you need to make sure you have the latest version of WordPress (4.4) on your website site. The theme has been built to work with the latest version of WooCommerce (2.5.x)
1.2 Downloading From Themeforest and Installation
Upon downloading the "package.zip" file from Themeforest, you'll have all files you need inside. Extract the "package.zip" file and inside you will find the theme zip file called "woodstock.zip", that is the file you need to install.
Please Note: You can install the theme in two ways: through Wordpress, or via FTP. If you have trouble installing the theme via Wordpress, please proceed with installing it via FTP and you will be able to get around the issue.
1.2.1 Wordpress Installation
Follow the steps below to install via Wordpress.
Navigate to Appearance > Themes.
Click Install Themes and hit the upload button.
Navigate to find the "woodstock.zip" file on your computer and click "Install Now" button.
The theme will be uploaded and installed.
Activate the newly installed theme. Go to Appearance > Themes and activate the installed theme.
1.2.2 FTP Installation
Follow the steps below to install via FTP.
Log into your hosting space via an FTP software
Unzip the woodstock.zip file and ONLY use the extracted woodstock theme folder
Upload the extracted woodstock theme folder into wp-content > themes in your wordpress installation
Activate the newly installed theme. Go to Appearance > Themes and activate the installed theme.
3. Demo Content Import
The Setup Wizard
The theme comes with a setup wizard making it really easy to install the plugins coming with it and import the demo content in two simple steps. As soon as the theme is activated, the setup wizard will start automatically.
This is what you should be seeing on your screen:
Setup Wizard Step 1: Server Requirements
Setup Wizard Step 2: Install Child Theme
Setup Wizard Step 3: Install Plugins
The following plugins are required by the theme’s demo imported, so it can import dummy content in the next step.
Setup Wizard Step 4: Import Content
The importer will help you start with the pre-built layouts from the demo and dummy content such as product pages, blog posts and widgets. In case you're using the theme on an existing site you may not want to import the demo content. In that case, simply skip this step.
You can start working on your site now
Good luck with your project!
Alternative Importing Method
If the one click demo import does not complete or takes too long, you most likely have a memory limit on your server as explained above. Here is another method to try.
Go to Tools -> Import
Choose “WordPress” from the list.
Upload the demo content .xml using the form provided on that page. The xml file can be found in the theme folder in /Demo Content/electronics or watch/content.xml
You will be asked to map the authors in this export file to users on the blog. For each author, you may choose to map to an existing user on the blog or to create a new user.
You will then have the choice to import attachments, so click on the “Download and import file attachments” box.
If the import does not fully complete, repeat these steps again as many times as necessary until you receive the Success message.
Master Slider Import
Import demo file you can find in /Demo Content/ folder of Full theme package:
To import a slider you need to navigate to Master Slider admin page and click on Import & Export button.
Use the "Choose file" button to select the exported file you previously downloaded and click the "Import" button. This will bring back your previously exported sliders immediately.
The figure below shows these options on Master Slider panel.
After slider import open homepage for edit and add Master Slider element to row:
Then edit Master Slider element and select "Homepage Slider 1"
Now you can remove text info block.
And save page. Done.
4. Theme Update
1. Update using FTP
Please note: make a backup of the theme prior to updating.
The theme is located in wp-content/themes/woodstock.
Go to http://themeforest.net/downloads to download latest version of the theme. The theme is located inside the downloaded zip in "Theme files" folder.
Copy woodstock folder into wp-content/themes/ folder. Make sure this folder is named "woodstock" (replace with old).
It seems scary but you really won’t loose any of your data. The only exception is if you have made edits to theme files like header.php, footer.php etc. These changes will need to made again to the new files. But all of your content and theme settings are preserved.
NOTE: If you did some customization/code changes directly in our theme files you might loose them after updating all files.
We suggest you to customize our theme using child theme and don’t change actual theme files as this will make it easier to update your parent theme.
2. Update using WordPress Envato Market (Automatic Updates)
The Envato Market plugin can install WordPress themes and plugins purchased from ThemeForest & CodeCanyon by connecting with the Envato Market API using a secure OAuth personal token. Once your themes & plugins are installed WordPress will periodically check for updates, so keeping your items up to date is as simple as a few clicks.
You can add a global token to connect all your items from your account, and/or connect directly with a specific item using a singe-use token & item ID. When the global token and single-use token are set for the same item, the single-use token will be used to communicate with the API.
2.1 Installing the Envato Market plugin
The latest version of the Envato Market plugin comes with theme. After install and activating the plugin, click on the “Envato Market” icon from the left sidebar. Here you have two options:
Global OAuth Personal Token
Single Use OAuth Personal Tokens: This works for individual items and additionally requires the Envato Market item ID. This is useful for a freelancer who has installed themes and/or plugins on a client site.
To generate your personal token, click on this link & login using your Envato Market login details.
Copy & paste your unique token into the Envato settings inside your WordPress dashboard.
Click on “Save Changes”.
Once you have configured this properly, you will see a screen where you can install or update your already purchased plugins & themes.
5. Menus
Woodstock features 4 menu areas: the main navigation in the header, the menu in the top bar, the my account menu and the footer menu.
1. Creating Menus
By selecting the Appearance > Menus option from the left WordPress admin sidebar, you can manage & create your sites menus and menu items, and select where certain menus are shown.
To create a menu:
Click the “create a new menu” link
Enter a name for the menu, this can be anything e.g “Header Menu”, “Footer Menu”, “Top Menu”.
Click the “Create Menu” button
2. Menu Locations
Once you’ve created your menu, you need to assign it to the menu location which you would like to use it for. You can do so by setting it under the Manage Locations tab, once you’ve navigated to Appearance > Menus from the WordPress admin sidebar menu.
You can also set the top bar menu, and footer menu here, so if you would like to use both make sure you create a menu for each area.
3. Mega Menu
Mega Menu functionality is built-in to Woodstock, so you can easily create mega dropdowns without any extra plugins or configuration. All you need to do is create a menu that goes into 3 tiers. You can have as many items with a mega menu as you like. Menu items that only have one level of children will show a standard dropdown.
Once you’ve set your structure, you need to open up the parent menu item, and check the “Enable Mega Menu” checkbox. Here you can also set the number of columns, and also alter the styling. See far right for an example.
Enable Mega Menu Functionality
6. Pages
1. Page templates
Here is a list of pages templates that are included in this theme
Default template
- Default content template.
Full Width Page
- 100% width template. Use this if you want to have full-width content
Narrow Page
- Narrow width template. Use this if you want to have narrow content
Page with Left Sidebar
- Default content with a left sidebar
Page with Right Sidebar
- Default content with a right sidebar
2. Page settings
You can setup page title area, page subtitle, top/bottom padding and title area background image
3. Homepage/Blog setup
Go to Settings > Reading
Select "A static page"
For Front page select the Homepage page you want in the select box.
For Post page select a page called "Blog".
7. Theme Options
The theme comes with a theme options panel, which is packed with a lot of useful options, that let you easily customize the theme, without having to manually change anything in the source files. The options panel is found under the Theme Options of your WordPress admin panel menu.
Some Options screenshots:
General Settings
Logo & Favicon
Header Settings
Shop Settings
Styling Settings
8. Widgets
1. Widget areas
Here is a list of pages templates that are included in this theme
Sidebar
The default sidebar visible on Blog and Pages with sidebar template
Shop Sidebar
Sidebar for shop category pages. Visible if category with sidebar is selected in Theme Option Panel
Product Page Sidebar
Sidebar for single product pages. Visible if product with sidebar is selected in Theme Option Panel
Footer 1 - 4
Sidebars for footer area. Visible if footer sidebars is selected in Theme Option Panel
2. Custom Sidebars with Woosidebars plugin
With WooSidebars you can override any widgetized area on your WordPress-powered website, displaying different widgets for different screens... without touching a line of code.
Visual Composer is a premium drag drop plugin that comes bundled with the theme. It provides 40+ elements that can be easily added to your page. In addition to extending functionalities of existing elements, Woodstock theme has added additional elements. With this set of elements, you will be able to create unlimited varities of pages.
The Visual Composerplugin comes bundled with the theme. We'll always make sure to include the latest version in the main theme package so you can update yours.
10. Shop - Product Image Sizes
If you installed the theme on an existing site, you need to make sure the product image sizes in WooCommerce will fit your newly installed theme.
Where can I find the Image Size Settings for Products?
In your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to Appearance > Customize > WooCommerce > Product Images.
There is no fixed size to be set for the product images, but you may want to increase or decrease the size. For example, if the images are looking blurry or pixelated, you'll need to increase the size to avoid having small images being stretched.
11. How to show category/categories/subcategories and add category icon image.
First go to the Theme Settings -> Shop Settings -> Shop Catalog and check 'Categories in page heading'
How to add category icon image.
Go to the Products -> Categories and select/create Category for edit and upload catalog icon.
12. What is WooCommerce?
The world's favorite eCommerce solution that gives both store owners and developers complete control. Sell anything. Beautifully. Get started for free.
This collection of videos covers anything and everything you'd need to know about installing, setting up WooCommerce, creating products, getting paid, and more!
In case you're seeing a notification in your administration dashboard saying the theme includes some outdated WooCommerce templates, it means you've recently updated WooCommerce but haven't updated the theme yet.
Updating the theme to its latest version will fix the outdated templates.
15. Child theme
A child theme is a theme that inherits the functions and styles of the other theme, called the parent theme. Child themes are the recommended way of modifying an existing theme. My theme has full support for creating child theme.
First please activate WCBoost - Variation Swatches plugin. Then go to the Products -> Attributes section and select attribute for edit and select swatch type for it (Color, for example)
Then configure terms for current attribute.
How to enable product attribute below product item?
This feature only applies to variable products. Go to Theme Settings > Shop Settings > Shop Catalog > Product Attribute to select the attribute you want to show on.
You can change the attribute for a product you want. Edit a variable product > Product Attribute tab and select the attribute you want to show.
How to show attribute swatches widget on sidebar?
Go to the Appearance -> Widgets section and add WoodstockAttributes Filter widget
How to show the selected attribute's label?
Navigate to Appearance -> Customizer -> WooCommerce -> Variation Swatches and check "Show the selected attribute's label"
17. Woodstock Updates History
Version 2.9.1
— November 13, 2023
Updated: WooCommerce 8.2.2 support
Updated: Bundled plugins
Version 2.9.0
— August 4, 2023
Updated: WooCommerce 7.9.0 support.
Updated: Bundled plugins
Version 2.8.9
— June 29, 2023
Updated: WooCommerce 7.8.1 support.
Updated: Bundled plugins
Version 2.8.8
— May 7, 2023
Updated: Bundled plugins
Version 2.8.7
— February 16, 2023
Fixed: Twitter share
Updated: WooCommerce 7.4.0 support.
Updated: Bundled plugins
Version 2.8.6
— January 25, 2023
Fixed: Demo import
Updated: WooCommerce 7.3.0 support.
Updated: Bundled plugins
Minor bug fixes
Version 2.8.5
— November 2, 2022
Added: WooCommerce 7.0.1 support.
Updated: Bundled plugins
Version 2.8.4
— October 23, 2022
Added: WooCommerce 7 support.
Updated: Bundled plugins
Version 2.8.3
— September 8, 2022
Fixed: Problem with shop thumbnails. The options at Appearance > Customize > WooCommerce > Product Images now work correctly. If necessary run the thumbnails regeneration function WooCommerce > Status > Tools > Regenerate shop thumbnails
Rebuild Product Categories Thumbs Visual Composer element
Added Product Categories Thumbs slider
Fixed reviews stars on IE
Updated Bundled plugins
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.9.4
— November 7, 2017
WooCommerce 3.2.x support
Updated: Bundled plugins
Updated: Select2 plugin
Fixed: Currency switcher of latest WooCommerce Multilingual plugin
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.9.3
— August 7, 2017
Updated: Latest WooCommerce 3.1.1 support
Updated: Bundled plugins
Fixed: Currency switcher of latest WooCommerce Multilingual plugin
Fixed: Search by SKU for Variable products
Added: Ability to disable hover effect for catalog products from Theme Options
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.9.2
— May 24, 2017
Updated: Latest WooCommerce 3.0.7 support
Updated: Bundled plugins
Added: Search by SKU
Added: Yelp network to Social Media
Added: Ability to disable product image lightbox from Theme Options panel
Fixed: Order by in Visual Composer shortcodes
Fixed: Cart view on mobile
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.9.1
— April 20, 2017
WooCommerce 3.0.3 support
UberMenu support
Fixed: Featured products slider (Visual Composer element)
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.9
— April 12, 2017
WooCommerce 3.0.x support
Fixed Display All categories in catalog
Fixed Subcategory display settings
Updated Bundled plugins
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.8
— March 12, 2017
Fixed display Mini cart on Cart page
Updated Google maps Visual Composer element
Added "Always show add to cart button" feature
Fixed scroll for off-canvas sidebars
Updated: Bundled plugins
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.7
— November 7, 2016
Updated: Bundled plugins
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.6
— October 20, 2016
Updated: Bundled plugins
Fixed: Single Product page image lightbox
Fixed: missing a text-domain
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.5
— August 22, 2016
Updated: Bundled plugins
Fixed: Off-canvas Shop sidebar
Fixed: Off-canvas sidebar when title area disabled
Fixed: Product categories shortcode 1 column for portrait mobile
Fixed: "Only First Product Category" on shop catalog
Added: Hide Title Area section on blog posts from Theme Options
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.4
— July 23, 2016
Updated TGM Plugin Activation to latest version
Updated: Woocommerce 2.6.3 support
Updated: bundled plugins
Fixed 'Update Cart' on Cart page
Fixed Product sliders when 1 column selected
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.3
— June 24, 2016
Updated: Woocommerce 2.6 support
Updated: bundled plugins
Added: RTL support
Fixed: Catalog Mode
Fixed: WPML language switcher
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.2
— April 18, 2016
Updated: Wordpress 4.5 support
Updated: bundled plugins
Fix: product mobile view styles
Fix: Navigation admin styles/js
Fix: off-canvas sidebar
Fix: blog sidebar
Fix: sharing pinterest
Added: Social network selection for sharing from Theme Options
Minor bug fixes
Soon:
- RTL Support
Version 1.1
— April 11, 2016
Fix: Navigation remove item
Fix: 2 columns on mobile view
Fix: Left/Right padding on mobile view
Fix: Font color for dark version select tag
Updated: bundled plugins
Minor bug fixes
Version 1.0
— April 5, 2016
Initial Release
18. Theme requirements
Many issues you may run into such as; white screen, demo content fails when importing, empty page content, changing skin problems and other similar issues are all related to low PHP configuration limits. The solution is to increase the PHP limits. You can do this on your own, or contact your web host and ask them to increase those limits to a minimum as follows:
max_execution_time 300
memory_limit 128M
post_max_size 64M
upload_max_filesize 64M
max_input_time 60
max_input_vars 1000
Also consider upgrading your PHP version to the latest version, the newer the better.
How To Verify Your Current PHP Limits?
You can check your PHP configuration limits them by installing the FastDev plugin and then going to WordPress dashboard > Fastdev > and choose PHP tab to compare your server info (see example). The first column (Local) refers to your installation value, and the second column (Master) refers to the limits of your host. The latter values are often lower if you have selected a cheaper hosting package.
Updating your PHP version
In most cases, you cannot update the PHP version yourself and need to contact your host about this. The upgrade process is an easy process and should be something your host can do for you without impacting your website or charging you a fee. Here’s a letter you can send to your hosting company:
Dear host,I’m running a WordPress theme on one of your servers and WordPress and this theme has recommended using at least PHP 7 or higher. WordPress, the content management system that my theme uses, has listed PHP 7.2 as the recommended version on their requirements page: https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/Can you please let me know if my hosting supports PHP 7.0 or higher and how I can upgrade? Also please increase those limits to a minimum as follows: max_execution_time 300memory_limit 128Mpost_max_size 64Mupload_max_filesize 64Mmax_input_time 60 Looking forward to your reply.
