Basics

Requirements

  • A domain name and a web host -- see our Resources page for a list of WordPress hosting services
  • You must be able to create and/or upload a .htaccess file
  • WordPress version 2.8 or higher
  • To test whether your hosting service meets the requirements to run the Artsite Framework theme you can download and run the Server Check↓ script.

Installation

  1. Create a MySQL database
  2. Download and install WordPress↑ (See Installing WordPress which also has a list of Resources, Also check out our Resources page). Or you can have us install everything for you.
  3. Download↓, unzip, and then, using an FTP program (free FTP programs: Cyberduck for Mac OS X, FileZilla for Windows and Mac), upload the "artsite-framework" theme folder to the WordPress /wp-content/themes folder
  4. Upload or create the .htaccess file. Remember, the file must reside in the WordPress root directory.

Setting up the WordPress environment

  1. Go to Appearance and activate the theme.
  2. Create a Home page, and if you wish a "blog″ page. Both the home page and the blog page can be called whatever you want. Such as Home, Welcome, Main... for the home page -- just make sure to assign it the “Front” template. Blog, News, Events, Journal, Thoughts... for the blog page.
  3. Go to Settings > Reading Select the radio button A static page under “Front page displays” and then select your Home page for the Front page. If you've created a blog page then select your page from the Posts page popup.
  4. Go to Settings > Permalinks Select the Custom Structure radio button and type in /%category%/%postname%/ or copy and paste this code. The paging system will not work without doing this and of course setting up the .htaccess file.

User

Setting up your Gallery Pages

  • Create a new page, name your gallery, and assign it the Gallery template [screen shot] then upload your images. You can create as many gallery pages as you wish, they will be placed in your Menubar (see below).

Setting up your Menubar

  1. Go to the Artsite Menu and select Menubar Manager.

Using the “Theme Options” to customize the look of your site

  1. Go to the Artsite Menu and select Theme Options.
  2. From there you can set your sites General Layout & Color Settings, Header Settings, Sidebar Settings, Footer Settings, and Font Settings.

Using Artsite’s Widgets to create Menus, Bookmarks, and License Notice

  • First, go to Appearance > Widgets and you’ll see the available widgets on the left of the page. On the right side of the page will be the theme’s available Widget areas.
  • To place a widget, select a widget area and then drag the widget to it [see it in action].
  • If you created a blog you can use the “Sidebar Menu Lists” widget area for your “Categories Menu” and/or “Archives Menu” widgets.
  • A good place to display any license information is in the Footer of your site. Artsite Framework provides the License Notice widget which allows you to easily select the type of license you wish to use and your attribution. The widget will automatically create the appropriate code and formatting for your selected license.
  • Here is what a completed Widget areas might look like.

About The “About” Page

  • WordPress automatically creates an About page. You can rename this and use it as your Biography, C.V., Artist Statement or whatever page. Or you can just leave the name as it is and put in some “about” info, such as any contact information.
  • Assign the About Template to the page.

Guides

Developer

Customizing the Theme

The path to the custom folder is /wp-content/themes/artsite-framework/custom and inside are the following items...

  • [content]
  • [css]
    • gallery.css
  • favicon.ico
  • functions.php
  • [js]
  • style.css
The brackets “[]” indicate a folder.

Any file placed in the content folder with the same name as one of the main template files will override that file’s content. Ex. if you place a file called front.php inside the content folder that file will be used for the content on the front page instead of the default content.