Overview
At it's core, the Standard Theme was developed to be a blogger's delight. All of the features have been hand-picked with this context in mind. We've seen many creative uses for Standard Theme well beyond blogging, and that is certainly a testimony for the robustness and flexibility of our theme, but know up front that out of the box this theme was crafted for blogs.
If you're reading this guide then you probably fall into one of two categories. You're either a developer/designer building a blog-centric WordPress site or you are a blogger who wants to make sure the technology behind your content will do it justice. There is the great news!
The team who built Standard Theme falls into both categories.
So regardless of which you find yourself in today, be confident that we are continuously striving to improve our theme for your needs... and ours.
Bloggers
Standard Theme's design lets your content be the star of the show.
Our theme is intentionally clean and simple so that it does not distract visitors from the most important thing of all, your content. We've strategically organized and positioned each section so that visitors can immediately know who you are and what you want to communicate. We have provided you with ad space if you want to monetize your content, all the typical social icons for visitors to find you on popular social sites, and sharing options so they can share your posts with others effortlessly. Perhaps the most important thing of all is that Standard Theme is loaded with SEO features that attract the attention of search engines like Google.
Designers & Developers
Standard Theme's design is practically a wireframe.
For many bloggers the minimalist design is ideal, especially for the reasons mentioned above. Others, however, want the design to compliment, or integrate with, the blog's content and so a custom design is required. Well, with Standard Theme's minimalist beginnings you are essentially given an empty canvas with which to start your designing endeavors. It's practically a wireframe and that rocks because it won't adversely influence your design before the creative process begins.
Of course we built this with industry standards in mind. We call Standard Theme "premium" for a variety of reasons. Like consistent syntax structure, strict semantic development techniques and valid XHTML/CSS. We use Standard Theme on our own personal and for-profit blogs! That's why we want it to be the best, load speed optimized, SEO supercharged, and content-focused blogging theme.
Tired of installing a laundry-list of plugins for every project? Yeah, so were we. That's why we baked them into Standard Theme. Advertisements? Done. SEO? Done. Author biography box? Done. Configurable social chicklets? Yep. Native threaded comments with Gravatar support? Done and done.
When you choose Standard Theme as the foundation of your next web project, you're already ahead of the game. You no longer need to spend hours trying to get everyone else's plugins to play nice with each other, ours are harmonious from the word go.
Installation
Standard Theme requires WordPress 3+ and PHP 5+.
Installing Standard Theme is no different than any other WordPress theme. It is a 3 step process.
1. Upload the theme to your WordPress admin panel. Instructions available here in the WordPress Codex.
2. Activate the theme. Instructions available available here in the WordPress Codex.
3. Configure, tweak, adjust, and customize the theme to your preference. Instructions available in the remainder of this document.
Layout
Index Page
This is the default "front page" of the theme.
Index Page Key
| # | Section | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Site Navigation Menu | Links | The site navigation links are created and managed in 3 different ways.
|
| 2 | Header | Site Title | The site title can either be an uploaded image or plain text. By default it uses a logo image that comes packaged with Standard Theme. The logo can be changed to inherit the configured Site Title via Standard Theme admin panel's General Settings menu. |
| 3 | Content | Post | Posts are created and managed via the WordPress admin panel's Posts section. If a post is in the status of "published" it will be visible in the post list on the main page. |
| 4 | Navigation | Social Icons | All social icons are configured via the Standard Theme admin panel's Sharing Options section with the exception of the RSS and Email icons which are configured via the Analytics and RSS section. |
| 5 | Header | Advertisement 468x60 Widget | The 468x60 banner image is uploaded and configured via the Standard Theme admin panel's Ad 468x60 section. |
| 6 | Sidebar | Follower Count Widget | The Follower Count box is an optional widget that is configured via the WordPress admin panel's Widgets section. |
| 7 | Sidebar | Personal Image Box Widget | The personal image box is an optional widget that is integrated into both the WordPress admin panel and the Standard Theme admin panel. Therefore it requires configuration in two places:
|
| 8 | Sidebar | Advertisement 300x250 Widget | The 300x250 advertisement is one of 3 optional widgets that are integrated into both the WordPress admin panel and the Standard Theme admin panel. Therefore each requires configuration in two places:
|
| 9 | Sidebar | Search Box Widget | The Search Box is an optional widget that is added to the sidebar via the WordPress admin panel's Widgets section. |
| 10 | Sidebar | Advertisement 125x125 Widget | The 125x125 advertisement block is an optional widget that is integrated into both the WordPress admin panel and the Standard Theme admin panel. Therefore each requires configuration in two places:
|
| 11 | Content | Page Navigation | The number of pages is relative to the number of published posts and the Blog pages show at most ___ posts setting found in the WordPress admin panel's Reading section. |
| 12 | Footer | Site Navigation | The top level items from the site's navigation menu are duplicated in the footer for usability. |
| 13 | Footer | Copyright & Affiliate Link | Copyright information and the Powered by Standard Theme affiliate link are located in the footer. Sign up for our affiliate program to earn 50% of any sales generated through this link on your site! |
Admin Panel
General Settings
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Display Blog Title in Place of Custom Logo? | Yes No (default) |
Select "yes" and the theme will display the blog's Site Title, which is configured in the WordPress admin panel. In the left navigation select Settings and then General. |
| Custom Logo | Image | Upload a custom logo for the site header or select a previously uploaded image from the Standard Theme gallery. |
| Custom Favicon | Image | Upload a custom favicon or select a previously uploaded image from the Standard Theme gallery. FORMAT: 16 x 16px PNG or JPG. |
| Personal Image | Image | Upload a photo or select a previously uploaded photo from the Standard Theme gallery. This option corresponds to the Personal Image widget. This widget is not in the sidebar by default and so the personal image will not be displayed. Go to the WordPress admin panel's Widgets page and drag the widget to the sidebar in order for the photograph to display. FORMAT: 300px wide PNG or JPG. Adapts to height. |
| Personal Image Link | Text URL | When a value is provided, the Personal Image will become a clickable link. |
Framework Options
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Enable CSS3 Effects? | Yes No (default) |
Selecting "yes" will add some stylistic embellishments such as rounding the corners of some of the page elements. These styles will only be visible in some web browsers. Selecting "yes" for this option will cause XHTML validation routines to report exceptions. |
| Place Navigation Below the Header? | Yes No (default) |
The site's navigation menu can be placed above or below the site's title. |
| Use Large Social Icons | Yes No (default) |
The social icons located on the right side of the site's navigation menu can be either large or small. LARGE FORMAT: 32px PNG. SMALL FORMAT: 16px PNG (default). |
| Place the Sidebar on the Left? | Yes No (default) |
The sidebar can be positioned on the right or left side of the blog. The sidebar defaults to the right side of the page, however, by selecting "yes" the sidebar will be placed on the left side. |
| Include WordPress 3.0 Background Support? | Yes No (default) |
WordPress 3.0 supports the ability to change the sites background. By selecting "yes" a new navigation item will appear in the WordPress admin panel's Appearance which will allow background image file upload and configuration. |
| Hide Navigatation Menu in the Footer? | Yes No (default) |
If your site has a lot of cateogries, or a lot of pages, they can get cramped down in footer. This will remove the links so they display at the top of the page only. |
Navigation Options
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Breadcrumbs | Yes No (default) |
Selecting "yes" will display a list of breadcrumb links above each post on the single post page. It is generally accepted that search engines favor sites with breadcrumb links. |
| Use WordPress 3.0 Custom Menus? | Yes No (default) |
WordPress 3.0 supports menu customization options that are independent of the theme and the page hierarchy. Selecting "yes" for this option will cause a new WordPress admin panel navigation item to be visible in the Appearances section so that these custom menus can be created and configured. |
| Exclude Pages from the Navigation Menus | Page names | All page names will be displayed in the site's navigation menu by default. Selected page name(s) in this list will not be visible in the site's navigation menu. Also, this option is ignored if custom menus are enabled and in use. |
| Exclude Categories in Navigation Menus | Category names | Blog post categories can be added to the navigation menu by selecting the "none" option. To exclude all categories from the site's navigation menu, select them all from the list. |
Post Thumbnails
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Post Thumbnails on Your Blog? | Yes No (default) |
Show or hide all post thumbnails. Selecting "yes" will make the post thumbnail images visible. |
| Post Thumbnails in Single View | Yes No (default) |
Post thumbnail images can be removed from single posts. Selecting "yes" will make them visible in both the post list and individual post pages. |
Author Box Settings
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Display Author Box? | Yes No (default) |
Selecting "yes" for this option will display an author biography box below each post. |
| Display Twitter Link? | Yes No (default) |
Selecting "yes" for this option will add a link in the author box to the author's twitter account. |
| Display Facebook Link? | Yes No (default) |
Selecting "yes" for this option will add a link in the author box to the author's facebook account. |
| Display Share By Link? | Yes No (default) |
Selecting "yes" for this option will add a share link in the author box. |
Comment Options
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Display Allowed Comments Markup? | Yes No (default) |
Selecting "yes" will display instructions for permissible HTML commenting markup. |
| Default Gravatar Image | Image | Upload an image or select a previously uploaded image from the Standard Theme gallery. This is the image that will be used for any commenter that does not have a gravatar configured the Gravatar service (http://gravatar.com). |
Sharing Options
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| TweetMeme | Yes No (default) |
Select "yes" to include the TweetMeme button in the floating share menu on the single post page. |
Yes No (default) |
Select "yes" to include the Facebook button in the floating share menu on the single post page. | |
| AddThis | Yes No (default) |
Select "yes" to include the AddThis button in the floating share menu on the single post page. |
| Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. | |
| Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. | |
| Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. | |
| Posterous | Full URL | Input the full URL if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. |
| Vimeo | Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. |
| YouTube | Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. |
| Digg | Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. |
| Flickr | Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. |
| FriendFeed | Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. |
| LastFM | Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. |
| MySpace | Username | Input your username if you want the respective social icon and link visible in the page navigation menu. |
Ads 125x125
Standard Theme supports up to 10 ads in the Ad 125 widget and the following configuration options are the same for each of them. Once the ads are configured in the Standard Theme admin panel, they must be added to the sidebar via the WordPress admin panel's Widgets section.
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Rotate 125px Advertisements? | Yes No (default) |
Selecting "yes" for this option will randomly change the position of the ads within the widget each time the page is loaded. |
| 125px Ad #1 - Image | Image | Upload an image for the ad or select a previously uploaded image from the Standard Theme gallery. FORMAT: 125x125px image PNG, JPG, or GIF. |
| 125px Ad #1 - Destination | Full URL | This is the link that is followed when a user clicks on the advertisement image. |
Ads 300x250
Standard Theme supports up to 3 ads in the sidebar and the following configuration options are the same for each of them. Once the ads are configured in the Standard Theme admin panel, they must be added to the sidebar via the WordPress admin panel's Widgets section.
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Advertisement Image #1 | Image | Upload an image for the ad or select a previously uploaded image from the Standard Theme gallery. FORMAT: 300x250px image PNG, JPG, or GIF. |
| Adsense Code #1 | text code | This is optional. Used for AdSense advertisements only. |
| Advertisement Destination #1 | Full URL | This is the link that is followed when a user clicks on the advertisement image. |
Ads 468x60
Standard Theme supports only 1 ad in the header's top bar . Once the ad is configured in the Standard Theme admin panel, it must be added to the top bar via the WordPress admin panel's Widgets section.
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Advertisement Image #1 | Image | Upload an image for the ad or select a previously uploaded image from the Standard Theme gallery. FORMAT: 468x60px image PNG, JPG, or GIF. |
| Adsense Code #1 | text code | This is optional. Used for AdSense advertisements only. |
| Advertisement Destination #1 | Full URL | This is the link that is followed when a user clicks on the advertisement image. |
Analytics and RSS
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| RSS Feed | Full URL | The address of your blog's RSS feed (such as FeedBurner). When configured, an RSS icon will display in the social area of the top navigation. |
| FeedBurner Email | Full URL | The address of your FeedBurner email feed. When configured, an envelope icon will display in the social area of the top navigation. |
| Google Tracking Code | Code | Paste the Google Tracking code here. This will be added to the head of the blog. |
| Custom Logo | Embed Code | Paste other analytics tracking code here. This will be added to the body/footer of the blog. |
Affiliate Code
Learn more about the affiliate program on our website.
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Make Some Cash! | Full URL | After you have registered for our affiliate program, come back and insert the provided affiliate URL. |
Theme Updates
This is a notification area to alert you of theme updates.
Import/Export
You can save all of your Standard Theme admin panel settings or import your previously saved settings. This is useful if you are moving hosts, deploying/promoting a blog from a staging server to a production server, or if you are a designer/developer who uses Standard Theme as a default starting point for your projects.
| Option | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Export Code | Text code | Copy the code and save it outside of WordPress. |
| Download Export Code | File | Click the Download File button the save the export code to a file. |
| Import Standard Options | Text code | Paste previously exported code into the box to be imported. |
| Import Options Code Button | File | Click the button and browse to the previously downloaded options code file. |
| Restore Theme Defaults | N/A | Click the button to erase all of your Standard Theme admin panel settings and start with the factory defaults once again. |
Widgets
Standard Theme comes bundled with 7 custom widgets. These widgets are tightly integrated into the theme and rely on options that are configured in the Standard Theme admin panel.
The Widgets section is located under Appearance in the WordPress admin panel.
| Widget | Description |
|---|---|
| Follower Count | This widget displays a total number of followers based on RSS subscribers and twitter followers. Enter your twitter name (not the URL and without the '@' symbol) and your FeedBurner name (not the full URL). NOTE: Web host security settings may prevent Standard Theme from communicating with Twitter or FeedBurner. If so, this widget will not function. |
| Personal Image | This widget displays a clickable image in the Sidebar. To configure, first go to the Standard Theme admin panel, select General Settings and upload a personal image. Then drag this widget onto the sidebar. |
| Search | This widget allows visitors to search published blog posts. The Standard Theme search widget functions the same as the native WordPress search widget, but is styled and formatted for uniformity with the theme. |
| Ads 125x125 | This widget displays a two-column grid of 1 - 10 ads. There is a dedicated section in the Standard Theme admin panel to configure the ads for this widget. |
| Ad 300x250 #1 | This widget displays a single, large ad. There is a dedicated section in the Standard Theme admin panel to configure the ad for this widget. |
| Ad 300x250 #2 | This widget displays a single, large ad. There is a dedicated section in the Standard Theme admin panel to configure the ad for this widget. |
| Ad 300x250 #3 | This widget displays a single, large ad. There is a dedicated section in the Standard Theme admin panel to configure the ad for this widget. |
Templates
Standard Theme comes with 5 page templates. You can change a page's template by selecting a new one from the Page Template drop-down box when editing a specific page.
| Template | Description |
|---|---|
| Default Template | The default page template contains all the major sections of the layout, including the sidebar. |
| Full | The full page template contains all the major sections of the layout except the sidebar. This leaves more room for page content such as wide images or video. |
| Archives | The archives page template contains all the major sections of the layout, and includes a directory of published posts. This is is a keyword-rich page that is good for SEO. |
| Redirect | This page template will not render an actual page. Instead, enter a URL for the page's content and visitors will be redirected to the specified URL. This is useful to create a link in your main navigation that takes the visitor to off-site content. It is also useful if you move an important page (or post) and you don't want Google (or a visitor) to land at a dead end. Use this to bounce the visitor to the new location. |
| Sitemap | The sitemap page template contains all the major sections of the layout, and includes a directory of pages. This is is a keyword-rich page that is good for SEO. |
Affiliates
Earn 50% of each sale.
Register to become a Standard Theme affiliate and we will share our earnings with you. When a visitor to your site makes a purchase after clicking on one of the Standard Theme ads, or the "Powered by Standard Theme" link in the footer, you will earn 50% of the sale.
Support
A Support License is available for Standard Theme related queries, but the license offers much more than technical support. For a one-time fee this license upgrade offers:
- All future version updates for the life of the theme.
- Monthly theme customizations.
- Technical support by the same engineers that are actively building the product.
- Killer, growing, and helpful developer community.
- Cool extras like tutorials and centralized area for downloads.
Are you ready to upgrade? If so click here.
Troubleshooting
This is a list of the most common server configuration and environment issues that prevent Standard Theme from working right out of the box.
- Plugin Conflicts. It's always a good idea to deactivate all plugins before activating a new theme. Once the new theme is up and running, activate the plugins again one at a time to determine if one is causing a conflict.
- Installation Failure. There are multiple ways to install a theme, and results may vary depending on your individual environment and server setup. The most reliable way is to upload the theme via the Appearances section of the admin panel, however direct FTP upload is also an option. Having trouble? Try both. And if you FTP, try both the zipped and unzipped versions of the theme.
- Incompatible WordPress Version. Standard Theme requires WordPress version 3.0 and higher. If a new version of WordPress has recently been released, please do not upgrade right away. First check our release notes for confirmation of compatability. In general, an older version of Standard Theme may or may not work on newer release of WordPress.
- Incompatible PHP Version. Confirm that your web host is using PHP 5. If you're not sure how to check then contact your host.
- Incompatible PHP Settings. Our theme requires PHP short tags to be enabled so check your php.ini file. If you're not sure how to check then contact your web host's technical support and ask them to enable PHP short tags for your account.
- Browser, Browser Plugin, or Browser Settings Conflict. There are many issues that could prevent Standard Theme from rendering correctly at the browser level. For example, our admin panel uses javascript (jQuery) and it could be restricted at the browser-level.
- Restrictive File Permissions Your theme files and folders need to be accessible and readable on the host and the uploads and cache folders should be read/write.