Hello.
Thanks for purchasing Blake von Hauer!
1. Introduction
Thank you for purchasing Blake von Hauer. This document includes the necessary information about using it.

Please do share any thoughts or comments with us. We'd like to hear from you!

If you need help, please do not hesitate to ask us. We'll be ready to reply you on our ThemeForest comments page.

Follow us on ThemeForest, Facebook or Dribbble to keep in touch!
2. Installation
Extract the zipped package that you downloaded from ThemeForest. You'll find a file named "blake-von-hauer.zip" in "Theme" folder. Now there are 2 ways to start using it:

1) Extract the "blake-von-hauer.zip" file and upload the extracted folder to the ".../wp-content/themes/" folder on your server.

2) On WordPress admin panel, go to "Appearance > Themes" and click the "Add New" button at the top of the page. Then click "Upload Theme" button. Pick "blake-von-hauer.zip" file and click "Install Now" button.

After uploading the theme, you need to activate it. Go to "Appearence > Themes" page and click Blake von Hauer's "Activate" button. And you're done.

If you face any problem, please visit ThemeForest Knowledgebase to learn how to install a WordPress theme.
3. Demo Content Instructions
Before importing the content, please watch out these:
  • Use WordPress Reset to clean the database and import the data from scratch if needed. After that, don't forget to pick Blake von Hauer from "Appearance > Themes" to see the theme.
  • Please ensure that you've installed and activated all of the plugins before importing the data.

Step 1) Importing the Demo Content
  1. Navigate to "Tools > Import".
  2. Click WordPress.
  3. Click Browse and point the xml file you've got.
  4. Click Upload file and import and wait.
  5. When the page refreshes, assign authors from the drop downs, check Download and import file attachments and click Submit. You're done when the process is finished.
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Step 2) Setting Your Menus
Please set the menu locations to see the menus properly. To do this, navigate to "Appearance > Menus", select the menu you want to show and check one of the location checkboxes. Demo settings are like that:

(Menu Name : Menu Location)
toPrimary : Primary Menu
toHeader : Header Menu
toFooter : Footer Menu

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Step 3) General Settings
a) Navigate to "Settings > Reading" and;

Choose "Your latest posts" for "Front page displays".
Set the "Blog pages show at most" to 11.

b) Navigate to "Settings > Permalinks" and choose "Day and name".

c) Navigate to "Appearance > Customize" and set the values like below:

4. Header > 4.5. Logo Image: Pick the Blake von Hauer logo from your media library or upload your own.
6. Layout Options > 6.4. Blog Homepage Display Options: Choose "(1 + 2) Columns + Sidebar".
6. Layout Options > 6.5. Blog Homepage Listing Style Options: Set inputs to 3, 4 and 4 by following A, B and Z.
6. Layout Options > 6.6. Archive Display Options: Choose "(2 + 3) Columns".
6. Layout Options > 6.7. Archive Listing Style Options: Set inputs to 2, 3 and 6 by following A, B and Z.
7. Post Formats > 7.3. Gallery Posts > Gallery Position: Choose "Instead of Featured Image".
11. Social Accounts: Write the URL addresses of your accounts that you'd like to see.

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THAT'S ALL! If you followed the steps above, now you should have the same look with the demo site.
Something went wrong? Please let us know.

Copyright Notice: All the images/photographs used in our demo site and all the rights of them belong to their creators/owners.
4. FAQ
If you can't find your question below or in entire documentation, please don't hesitate to ask for help. We'd be glad to help you.

How can I upload my own logo?
Go to "Appearance > Customize > 4. Header > 4.5. Logo Image" and select your logo from the media library.

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How can I change my header view?
Go to "Appearance > Customize > 4. Header" and use the options from "4.7. Logo Position" and "4.13. Menu Position" sections.

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How can I change the color scheme?
Go to "Appearance > Customize > 3. Background & Colors" and set your colors.

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How can I change the font?
Go to "Appearance > Customize > 2. Font Settings" and pick your fonts.

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Where can I find the layout options?
Go to "Appearance > Customize > 6. Layout Options > 6.4. Blog Homepage Display Options".
5. Menus
Blake von Hauer has 3 locations for a menu: Primary Menu, Header Menu and Footer Menu.

For menu setup, go to "Appearance > Menus" page. Choose your items you want to show in menu from the left side. Don't forget to check "Primary Menu", "Header Menu" or "Footer Menu" box to see your menu in correct place. And finally click "Save Menu" button to get it done.

You don't have to use all of the locations. You can show/hide your "Header Menu" and "Footer Menu" locations from your customizer at any time.

To read more about WordPress Menus: WordPress Menu User Guide
6. Blog Homepage
Blake von Hauer comes with "1 Column + Sidebar" layout option. If you don't see the sidebar, ensure that you have active widgets on "Appearance > Widgets" page. If not, you can add widgets by drag & drop function to your sidebar.

You can choose your layout on your customizer. Please navigate to "Appearance > Customize > 6. Layout Options" and see what's available over there.

Keep in mind that we used (1 + 2) Columns + Sidebar option for blog homepage layout on our demo site.
7. Theme Customizer
Blake von Hauer has a very well organized customizer which almost is a user guide itself. It uses the native customizer of WordPress. So navigate to "Appearance > Customize" and start to personalize your theme!

Here is a full list of setting sections:
  1. Featured Image Settings
    1. Featured Image Width
    2. Featured Image Height
    3. Thumbnail Image Width
    4. Thumbnail Image Height
    5. Thumbnail Width for Horizontal Images
    6. Thumbnail Height for Horizontal Images
  2. Font Settings
    1. Primary Font
    2. Secondary Font
    3. Tertiary Font
    4. Font Switching
  3. Background & Colors
    1. Background Color
    2. Background Image
    3. Background Repeat Options
    4. Colors
  4. Header
    1. Logo Text
    2. Logo Font
    3. Logo Font Size
    4. Logo Text Color
    5. Logo Image
    6. Sticky Logo Image
    7. Logo Position
    8. Logo Background Color
    9. Logo Height
    10. Logo Top Padding
    11. Logo Right Padding
    12. Logo Bottom Padding
    13. Menu Position
    14. Menu Container Width
    15. Menu Container Height
    16. Menu Container Left Padding
    17. Menu Container Right Padding
    18. Trigger Mobile Menu
    19. Sticky Header
    20. Header Menu Position
    21. Header Menu Container Width
    22. Show/Hide
  5. Upper & Blog Homepage Widgets
    1. Upper Widget Columns
    2. Blog Homepage Widget Columns
  6. Layout Options
    1. Container Width
    2. Show/Hide Specific Categories on Blog Homepage
    3. Hide Specific Posts on Blog Homepage
    4. Blog Homepage Display Options
    5. Blog Homepage Listing Style Options
    6. Archive Display Options
    7. Archive Listing Style Options
    8. Sidebar Options
  7. Post Formats
    1. Standard Posts
    2. Video Posts
    3. Gallery Posts
  8. Related Posts & Call-to-Action Lines
    1. Related Posts
    2. Call-to-Action Lines
  9. Footer
    1. Widget Container Width
    2. Widget Columns
    3. Bottom Bar Container Width
    4. Copyright Text
    5. Instagram Slider Widget
  10. Show/Hide Elements
  11. Social Accounts
  12. Google Maps
  13. Translation
    1. Site Language
    2. General
    3. Archive Titles
    4. Post Comments
  14. Banner Management
    1. Responsive Options
    2. Banner 1
    3. Banner 2
    4. Banner 3
    5. Banner 4
    6. Banner 5
    7. Header Banner
  15. Slider Settings
  16. Custom CSS
8. Layout Options
Blake von Hauer has 9 layout options:
  • 1 Column
  • 1 Column + Sidebar
  • 2 Columns
  • 2 Columns + Sidebar
  • (1 + 2) Columns
  • (1 + 2) Columns + Sidebar
  • 3 Colums
  • (1 + 3) Colums
  • (2 + 3) Colums
And the fullwidth versions of them. They're really fullwidth. We mean it!

You can set archive pages layout separately. By the way, you can also decide if the post pages or single pages will have a sidebar or not.

Ah, you want to hide sidebar for gallery posts only? It's just as far as one little tiny click too.
9. Listing Styles
You can combine different listing styles with Blake von Hauer. It's possible to do it in indexed views (Blog Homepage, Archives etc.) and widgets both. You'll find an example below regarding the usage of listing styles.

Let's say you have 11 blog posts per page on your site. On customizer, under "6. Layout Options > 6.5. Blog Homepage Listing Style Options", the default view is this:



This means all your posts will be shown in default listing style (Style A). Now, when we set the numbers like below:



This means 3 of our posts will be shown in Style A, 4 of them in Style B and 4 of them in Style Z.
And the ordering will be like that:

3 Style A + 4 Style B + 4 Style Z = 11 posts total.

Of course, you can set the numbers only for Style A or only for Style B, or Z. It's up to you!

Final Notes
1. If the sum of Style A, B and Z is bigger than the number of posts per page, your settings will be ignored and all the posts will be shown in Style A.

2. If the sum of Style A, B and Z is smaller than the number of posts per page, Style A will take effect to complete the count.
10. Post Formats
Blake von Hauer supports 3 post formats: Standard, Gallery and Video.

On "Posts > Add New" page, choose your post format from the right side of the panel and then place your content naturally.

By the way, no worries about formatting the content. Blake von Hauer is compatible with WordPress native content window and will do everything automatically. For example, if you want to add a gallery, just do it by "Add Media > Create Gallery" in classic way. Then when you have a look at your site, you'll see that the gallery you just added is shaped very well in a slider!*

*Ensure "Instead of Featured Image" or "Both" option is selected under "7.3. Gallery Posts > Gallery Position" on your customizer.
11. Widgets
Blake von Hauer has 13 custom widgets and 8 widget areas: Sidebar, Sidebar - Static Front Page, Sidebar - Page, Sidebar - Post, Sidebar - Archive, Upper Widgets, Blog Homepage Widgets and Footer Widgets. You can place any of your widgets in anywhere you want.

Popular Posts Widget: Some posts are crowded ha? This widget will find and display them.
Recent Posts Widget: Display a couple or two of your latest posts.
Selected Posts Widget: Display the posts you've selected. Very useful for the posts you want to put forward.
Category/Tag Posts Widget: Display the posts belong to a specific category or tag.
Post Widget: Maybe you want some special attention for one of your posts. Use this!
Recent Comments Widget: Display the latest comments your visitors have dropped.
Image Widget: Go ahead and place a nice image with a title. You can link it to anywhere too.
Tags/Categories Widget: A well styled list of your tags or categories.
Search Widget: You can search for anything on your site. Can you believe it? :)
Social Widget: Place your social account icons in a sleek list.
Find us on Facebook Widget: Show your Facebook page's lovers.
Ads Widget: A widget for your Ads. Just place your code and you're done.
Empty Space Widget: Just place an empty space between your widgets if you wish. It's very handy!
12. Slider
Blake von Hauer has its own slider plugin. Follow the steps below to start using it!

Firstly, you need to install the "New BvH Slider" plugin. You'll already realize the "This theme recommends the following plugin: New BvH Slider." notice when you activate Blake von Hauer theme.
  1. Click "Begin installing plugin".
  2. Click "Install" under the "New BvH Slider" title.
    The "Install" button will appear when you rollover the title.
  3. When you see the "Return to Required Plugins Installer" link appeared, it means you're done! But don't forget to activate the plugin.

    You'll realize that a button named "New BvH Slider" is placed on your admin panel menu now. If you can't see it, just click to "Dashboard" or somewhere else to refresh the view.
After installing & activating the slider plugin, just navigate to "Appearance > Customize > 15. Slider Settings > 15.5. Blog Posts in Slider" and check "Show Blog Posts in Slider" to see it. OR, you can create your own slides.

Now, let's create our first slide:
  1. Click "New BvH Slider > Add New Slide".
  2. If you wish, you can directly insert a post into your slider by selecting it from the "Post Direction" drop down. After selecting it, you can override its properties (Title, Slide Image etc.) too.
  3. To create a brand new slide, just do not select a post and fill in the other fields (Title, URL etc.).
  4. Don't forget that you should use the same group name for the slides/posts you want to see in the same slider. (It's the same procedure with tagging a blog post.)
  5. Click "Publish" and your slide is ready!
You can repeat the steps above to create all the slides you want. Now it's time to place our slider to the site:
  1. Navigate to "Appearance > Customize > 15. Slider Settings".
  2. Place this code to the "15.4. Slider Shortcode" box: [new_bvhslider group="your_group"]
    Don't forget to replace the your_group part with your own group name.
That's all!

Using "Fullwidth" Option for Slider
When you choose "Fullwidth" for slider, it makes the container fullwidth, not the image. So, you should try to upload a bigger image or use a plugin like Regenerate Thumbnails to resize the uploaded images if they're already big enough.

By the way, don't forget to set a high image width for slider. Navigate to "Appearance > Customize > 15.1. Slide Image Width" and you'll find the necessary information there. You should upload your images into the media library (or use Regenerate Thumbnails) AFTER you set the slide width value. So the process ordering is like that:
  1. Set the slide image width. (15.1. Slide Image Width)
  2. Choose "Fullwidth" option for slider. (15.3. Slider Position & View)
  3. Upload your images into the media library.
  4. Create your slides.
And you're done.
13. Fonts
All of the Google Fonts are included in Blake von Hauer.

Navigate to "Appearance > Customize > 2. Font Settings" and choose the ones you wish.

14. Translation
Translation is extremely easy with Blake von Hauer. Just go to "Appearance > Customize" on WordPress admin panel, find "13. Translation" section and start to translate!

If you wish, you can still use the .pot file for your translations.
15. Sources & Copyrights
All the images/photographs used in our demo site and all the rights of them belong to their creators/owners.
We hope you'll love Blake von Hauer and its features. Again, don't hesitate to share any thoughts, ideas, comments or requests with us. We're here to help you and to make your Blake von Hauer experience better.

Talk to you soon!

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