TimeTurner 1.0 Documentation by Tomas Toman

TimeTurner

Created: 26/10/2013
By: Tomas Toman
Web: www.tomastoman.cz

First of all, I would like to thank you for choosing TimeTurner! I firmly believe that you will be satisfied with the product. In case of any problems or doubts you can use the TimeTurner Official Support (in English, German or Czech).
Thanks so much!

Navigation

  1. About TimeTurner
  2. Theme installation
    1. Update to Premium Version
  3. Theme options
    1. General settings
    2. Homepage settings
    3. Colors (only in Premium Version available)
    4. Fonts
    5. Social networking (only in Premium Version available)
    6. Other settings
  4. Background and Header settings
  5. Widget areas
    1. Main Sidebar widget area
    2. Index-blog Sidebar widget area
    3. Footer widget area
    4. Footer copyright notices
    5. Homepage slideshow
    6. About Section boxes on homepage
  6. Custom widgets (only in Premium Version available)
    1. TimeTurner Social Widget
    2. TimeTurner Twitter Widget
    3. TimeTurner Facebook Like Box Widget
  7. Menu areas
  8. Page templates
    1. Sitemap page (only in Premium Version available)
    2. Full-width page
    3. Portfolio page
    4. Page with About Section
    5. Page without Comments
    6. Page without Title
    7. Logged In page
  9. Plugins
    1. Slideshow plugin
    2. Sitemap plugin (only in Premium Version available)
  10. Shortcodes
  11. Translations
  12. FAQs about WordPress

A) About TimeTurner - top

TimeTurner is an easy customizable WordPress blog and portfolio theme. It is a fully responsive theme that allows for easy viewing on any device. If you like retro style, TimeTurner is your kind of environment! Using Theme Options panel, you can customize this theme directly to your needs.

TimeTurner Features

Compatible Browsers: Internet Explorer 8+, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari
Compatible WordPress Versions: 3.5+

B) Theme installation - top

For TimeTurner installation, you must follow these basic steps:

  1. Extract the folder "timeturner.zip".
  2. Using FTP client (for example Total Commander) upload the extracted folder "timeturner" to "wp-content/themes" directory on your host web server.
  3. Log in to your WordPress administration.
  4. Select the "Appearance => Themes" panel.
  5. Click on the link "Activate" at the TimeTurner theme.

Alternatively, you can install this theme via your WordPress administration. Go to “Appearance > Themes” panel and using “Install Themes” tool upload the original ZIP file. After uploading, activate the theme.

1. Update to Premium Version

Once you have purchased TimeTurner Premium Version, simply delete the "timeturner" folder in "wp-content/themes" directory on your host web server and replace it by folder that you have got by purchasing TimeTurner Premium Version.

Or, if the previous described procedure will not be comfortable for you, go to “Appearance > Themes” panel in your WordPress administration and using “Install Themes” tool upload the ZIP file which you got by purchasing TimeTurner Premium Version. Before this, you should delete the original Free Version of this theme, if you have installed it.

C) Theme options - top

The options framework is available through the link "Theme Options" located on the upper horizontal admin bar (or via panel "Appearance => Theme Options").

1. General settings

This tab is used for choosing one of the basic color schemes, background pattern and setting to display or not the main parts of layout (right sidebar, favicon, header logo and post navigation). You can set here the offset of some Header menu item to avoid overlapping with the logo. You can find here the single posts/pages displaying options, too. You can set if you want to display the featured images, dates, categories and authors on individual posts.

2. Homepage settings

This tab is used for setting Header, About, Portfolio and Blog sections on your homepage. You can set here the headlines of these sections and choose a category of posts which you want to display in Portfolio. You can also hide the individual homepage sections.

3. Colors

This tab is used for setting your own color scheme. You can choose here the colors of individual parts of layout, headlines and texts. Using color pickers, you can easily choose exactly that color you want. You can also directly enter the hexadecimal code of your favorite color.

Tip: If you want to use the same color for more items, simply copy and paste its hexadecimal code instead of setting it using color pickers on each item.

Color Options

Color settings panel

4. Fonts

This tab is used for selecting Google fonts for individual headlines and text areas. TimeTurner offers more than 200 fonts for choosing. The default fonts are specified in the main stylesheet file (style.css in the main theme folder).

5. Social networking

On this tab, you can choose wheter to display or not the Facebook, Twitter and Google +1 sharing buttons which may appear below your single posts/pages content.

Social Networking

Social networking panel

6. Other settings

On this tab, you can fill your own cascading style sheet information (CSS) for modifying the layout. So you do not have to write your custom CSS straight into the file style.css in the main theme folder. The CSS information defined on this tab appear in the "head" section of source code.

Above the Custom CSS field, there are also links for editing widgets, menus and slideshows.

D) Background and Header settings - top

1. Main Background settings

For setting your own background image or color, go to "Appearance > Background" panel. Upload your own image which will be displayed at the background of the main content areas. For setting one-color background, use the color picker at the bottom of this page. To make the selected color visible, there MUST NOT be set any background image.

2. Homepage Header Image settings

For setting your custom header image, go to "Appearance > Header" panel and upload or select your own image. After uploading, you have to crop your image to the required dimensions (950 x 420 pixels).

If you want to display a slideshow instead of a static image in your homepage header, please read this paragraph.

E) Widget areas - top

There are several areas for displaying widgets in TimeTurner Theme:

  1. Main Sidebar widget area
  2. Index-blog Sidebar widget area
  3. Footer widget area
  4. Footer copyright notices
  5. Homepage slideshow
  6. About Section boxes on homepage

The Widget panel is located in "Appearance => Widgets" section. If you want to place a widget in some of that areas, simply drag its panel and drop it to the area where you want to display the widget.

Main Sidebar widget area displays in the right sidebar, below the Sidebar navigation, on all your sub-pages and posts. Its name in "Appearance => Widgets" panel is "Main Sidebar". You can put here as many widgets as you want.

2. Index-blog Sidebar widget area

Index-blog Sidebar widget area displays in the right sidebar in Homepage Blog section. It looks same as the Main Sidebar. Its name in "Appearance => Widgets" panel is "Index-blog Sidebar". You can put here as many widgets as you want.

Footer widget area displays in the footer as the 3 columns of widgets. In "Appearance => Widgets" panel, you can see 3 areas for individual columns: "Footer left widget area", "Footer middle widget area" and "Footer right widget area". This boxes represent those 3 widgets. You can put as many widgets as you want on each column.

The widget area for copyright and other notices displays in the footer, below the main Footer widget area (described above). Its name in "Appearance => Widgets" panel is "Footer notices". Put here one "Text" widget. Into the content field of this widget fill the text (or HTML code) you want to display here. The "Title" field of this Text widget should stay empty.

5. Homepage slideshow

The widget area for displaying Home page slideshow is reserved for one "Cyclone Slider Widget". Its name in "Appearance => Widgets" panel is "Homepage slideshow". Put here one "Cyclone Slider Widget" and choose the slideshow you want to display on your home page. The "Title" field of this Cyclone Slider Widget should stay empty.

6. About Section boxes on homepage

The widget area for individual boxes which display in Homepage About section. Insert here as many Text widgets as you want. To insert a picture or "Read more" button, you can simply use custom theme shortcodes.

F) Custom widgets - top (only in Premium Version available)

TimeTurner Theme offers 3 custom widgets:

  1. TimeTurner Social Widget
  2. TimeTurner Twitter Widget
  3. TimeTurner Facebook Like Box Widget

1. TimeTurner Social Widget

This widget is ready to use for displaying icons with links to your profiles on social networks and RSS feed. Put TimeTurner Social Widget into Sidebar or Footer widget areas in "Appearance => Widgets" panel and fill requested URL addresses. These social networks and services are supported:

2. TimeTurner Twitter Bar Widget

This widget is ready to use for displaying Twitter Follow button. Put TimeTurner Twitter Widget into Sidebar or Footer widget areas in "Appearance => Widgets" panel and fill the Twitter username you want to display via Twitter Follow button.

3. TimeTurner Facebook Like Box Widget

This widget is ready to use for displaying Facebook Like Box. The Like Box is a special version of the Like Button designed only for Facebook Pages. Using this widget, you can easily promote your Facebook page on your website.
Put TimeTurner Facebook Like Box Widget into Sidebar or Footer widget area in "Appearance => Widgets" panel and fill the full URL of your Facebook Page that will be liked. Then set a height of Like Box and specify whether to display the profile photos of people who like the Page and a stream of the latest posts by the Page.

In TimeTurner theme, there are 2 areas for displaying menus:

  1. Horizontal header menu with unlimited levels of drop-down submenus
  2. Vertical sidebar menu

Menu settings panel is located in "Appearance => Menus". At first create a new menu and assign it to one of two pre-defined Menu areas. Then in left panels choose required pages/categories or custom links and add them to your new Menu. Then save all changes.

If you want to create a submenu, just drag required menu item and move it more to the right against its parent item. When you drop your sub-item, it should stay with indentation against the parent item. This way you can create unlimited levels of submenus.

Menu

Example of three-levels menu

H) Page templates - top

Beside Default Template, TimeTurner Free Version offers 6 other custom Page templates. If you create a new page or edit some existing page, you can choose the Page template in "Page Attributes => Template" right panel.

1. Sitemap page (only in Premium Version available)

"Sitemap" Page template is ready for displaying your sitemap page. If you want to use it, the Dagon Design Sitemap Generator plugin must be activated. The sitemap options can be edited on "Settings => DDSitemapGen" panel.

2. Full-width page (without right sidebar)

If you want to display only some pages without the main right sidebar, simply use this template for these pages.

3. Portfolio page

This template is ready for displaying all of your Portfolio items (posts from category selected in Theme Options panel) together with another additional content. This Page template is also displayed without the main right sidebar.

4. Page with About Section

This template is ready for displaying About Boxes together with another additional content. For more information about these boxes, please read the appropriate paragraph.

5. Page without Comments

This template hides the whole Comments area (even if the comments are allowed for this page).

6. Page without Title

This template displays only the page Content without the page Title.

7. Logged In

This template displays the page content only for logged-in users (otherwise it displays only the Log-in form).

I) Plugins - top

Some functions of TimeTurner are conditioned by installing some plugins. The recommended plugins are included in the installation folder of TimeTurner (folder "plugins"). If some of the recommended plugins are inactive, you can see them in "Appearance => Install Plugins" panel.

List of recommended plugins:

  1. Slideshow plugin - Cyclone Slider 2 by Nico Amarilla
  2. Sitemap plugin - Dagon Design Sitemap Generator by Dagon Design

The plugins are modified to ensure the best compatibility with TimeTurner. If you will find their newer versions on web, I don't recommend to update them, because all custom modifications will be lost. Plugins updates will come automatic with newer versions of TimeTurner.

1. Slideshow plugin

Slideshows are based on Cyclone Slider 2 plugin. You can edit them under "Cyclone Slider" tab in the main WordPress navigation. The plugin provides displaying images, Youtube or Vimeo videos and Custom HTML content in Slideshow. By default, there are 3 different slideshow templates customized for TimeTurner: Standard, Default and Dark. The control is very easy and intuitive. On the right panels of Slideshow editing form, you can set dimensions, transitions effects and other options. Above these panels are generated Shortcodes for simply adding your slideshows into the posts or pages.

If you want to add some Slideshow into Homepage header using "Cyclone Slider Widget", please read this paragraph. Recommended size of Homepage slideshow is 950 x 420 px.

For adding some slideshow in the content of your static pages or posts, you can use Cyclone Slider 2 shortcodes: [cycloneslider id="slideshow-id"].

2. Sitemap plugin (only in Premium Version available)

If you want to use the "sitemap" Page template, the Dagon Design Sitemap Generator plugin has to be installed and activated. This plugin provides many advanced options for displaying pages and posts in sitemap. You can set them on "Settings => DDSitemapGen" panel.

J) Shortcodes - top

TimeTurner offers several custom shortcodes for easy displaying of some HTML objects on pages/posts or widgets:

1.) [image src="Image URL"] (only in Premium Version available)
Shortcode for displaying images. It is especially useful for inserting images into Text widgets.

2.) [table cols="headline1,headline2" data="row 1 value 1,row 1 value 2,row 2 value 1,row 2 value 2"] (only in Premium Version available)
Shortcode for displaying tables. The parameter "cols" is used for inserting headlines of individual columns. The parameter "data" is used for inserting own data in rows of your table.

3.) [more-button link="URL address"]READ MORE[/more-button]
Shortcode for displaying center-aligned buttons. It is especially useful for inserting "Read more" buttons in homepage About section widgets.

4.) [button link="URL address"]TEXT OF YOUR BUTTON[/button]
Shortcode for displaying left-aligned buttons.

5.) [cycloneslider id="slideshow-id"]
Shortcode for displaying Cyclone Slider 2 slideshows in post/page content.

6.) [display-posts category="category-slug" include_excerpt="true"] (only in Premium Version available)
Shortcode for displaying a listing of posts in post/page content or sidebar/footer widget.

Arguments for [display-posts] shortcode:
author
Specify the post author
Default: empty
Example: [display-posts author="bill"]

category
Specify the category slug (or comma separated list of category slugs)
Default: empty
Example: [display-posts category="fishing,hiking"]

date_format
Specify the date format used when include_date is true. See Formatting Date and Time on the Codex for more information.
Default: '(n/j/Y)'
Example: [display-posts include_date="true" date_format="F j, Y"]

id
Specify a specific post ID (or multiple post IDs) to display.
Default: empty
Example: [display-posts id="9, 10"]

image_size
Specify an image size for displaying the featured image, if the post has one. The image_size can be set to thumbnail, medium, large (all controlled from Settings > Reading), or a custom image size.
Default: empty
Example: [display-posts image_size="thumbnail"]

include_date
Include the post's date after the post title. The default format is (7/30/12), but this can be customized using the 'date_format' parameter.
Default: empty
Example [display-posts include_date="true"]

include_excerpt
Include the post's excerpt after the title (and date if provided).
Default: empty
Example: [display-posts include_excerpt="true"]

offset
The number of posts to pass over
Default: 0
Example: [display-posts offset="3"]

order
Specify whether posts are ordered in descending order (DESC) or ascending order (ASC).
Default: DESC
Example: [display-posts order="ASC"]

orderby
Specify what the posts are ordered by. See the available parameters here.
Default: date
Example: [display-posts orderby="title"]

post_parent
Display the pages that are a child of a certain page. You can either specify an ID or 'current', which displays the children of the current page.
Default: empty
Example: [display-posts post_type="page" post_parent="8"]

post_status
Show posts associated with a certain post status
Default: publish
Example: [display-posts post_status="publish, future"]

post_type
Specify which post type to use. You can use a default one (post or page), or a custom post type you've created.
Default: post
Example: [display-posts post_type="event"]

posts_per_page
How many posts to display.
Default: 10
Example: [display-posts posts_per_page="5"]

tag
Display posts from a specific tag, or tags
Default: empty
Example: [display-posts tag="tag1, tag2"]

taxonomy, tax_term, and tax_operator
Use these parameters to do advanced taxonomy queries. Use 'taxonomy' for the taxonomy you'd like to query, 'tax_term' for the term slug (or terms) you'd like to include, and 'operator' to change how the query uses those terms (most likely this field will not be needed).
Default: 'taxonomy' = empty , 'tax_term' = empty , 'tax_operator' = 'IN'
Example: [display-posts taxonomy="color" tax_term="blue, green"]

wrapper
What type of HTML should be used to display the listings. It can be an unordered list (ul), ordered list (ol), or divs (div) which you can then style yourself.
Default: ul
Example: [display-posts wrapper="ol"]

7.) [google-map address="Address of any place in the world" width="100%" height="200px"] (only in Premium Version available)
Shortcode for displaying Google maps. The "width" and "height" parameters are optional. You can set the dimensions in percentages or pixels, but for responzive displaying is recommended to input percentage dimensions.

K) Translations - top

TimeTurner theme is ready for translation into any language. The .pot file (timeturner.pot) is located in "timeturner/languages" theme folder. TimeTurner contains integrated Czech (cs_CZ), French (fr_FR), German (de_DE), Hungarian (hu_HU), Russian (ru_RU), Slovak (sk_SK) and Spanish (es_ES) language localizations. The best way how to make the language localization is creating your own .po and .mo files and adding them in "timeturner/languages" theme folder. If you will create them, please let me know, I will add your language localization into the official theme distribution.

If you don't know how to create the .po and .mo files, never mind! Simply install CodeStyling Localization plugin and create your language localization on "Tools => Localization" panel.

L) FAQs about WordPress - top

Go to the "Settings => General" panel and rewrite here the fields "Site Title" and "Tagline".

Go to the "Settings => Discussion" panel and set the options according to your needs.

Tags are similar to Categories. They are used for better description of posts. We can say that Tags are the keywords which specify the posts in great detail.

The easiest way is to install some SEO plugin, for example All In One SEO Pack.

Go to the "Settings => Reading" panel and set the options according to your needs.

Yes, go to the "Settings => Reading" panel and choose the option "A static page" instead of "Your latest posts".

Go to the "Settings => Permalinks" panel and choose the option "Post name" in section "Common Settings".

Go to the "Settings => General" panel and set the options according to your needs.

Once again, thank you so much for choosing this theme. As I said at the beginning, I'd be glad to help you if you have any questions relating to this theme. No guarantees, but I'll do my best to assist. Best regards and have fun with TimeTurner!

Tomas Toman

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