Startup Guide

So you've decided to try the Black Widow magazine theme. I think you'll love the way Black Widow handles content. It comes fully loaded with 14 useful plugins that will enhance your magazine's look, usability, and functionality.

The first thing you need to do is change some of your settings. Login to the backend and go to Settings->Miscellaneous and uncheck "Organize my uploads into month- and year-based folders". Then, on the same page, change the Thumbnail size to width=150 and height=150 and make sure that "Crop thumbnail to exact dimensions (normally thumbnails are proportional)" is turned on. Proceed to Settings->Permalinks and, under Common Settings select "Day and name". You have to do this for purposes of Search Engine Optimization. This will increase you googlability (is that a word...it is now) by a factor of like a billion. Then go to Manage->Categories->add new and add the category "lead". This is the only must-have category in this theme. Everything else is defined by you. The reason the "lead" category is important is because there are certain items that are displayed as defined by whatever the most recent "lead" story specifies. For example, in the upper, right-hand corner of the Black Widow theme, is where a picture of the most recent cover goes. You put the cover art there by defining the Custom Field "aa_imageCover" in the lead post. I'll explain later. Also, while you're at it, create a page entitled "Home". You will be modifying this page later. But, for now, let's get it created, and we'll make it display stuff in a bit. Also, while you're at it, delete the "About" page that WordPress automatically generates.

Next, go to the Black Widow theme's folder and move all of the files and folders from ".../wp-content/themes/BlackWidow/plugins/" to ".../wp-content/plugins/". Then, carefully read the following descriptions to decide which plugins you would like to activate. Consider your site's needs and consider how each of the following plugins will contribute to your needs.

The 14 plugins

1. all-in-one-seo-pack doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work. But it will help you get indexed better on Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines well. It can't hurt to activate it.
2. cg-flashytitles doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work. cg-flashytitles is the best sIFR plugin available online. Unfortunately, sIFR has released version 3 already. But, until this plugin is updated or a new one is released, this is the best we got. This plugin takes a little bit of CSS knowledge.
3. exclude-pages needs to be activated in order for the theme to work. It allows the user to create pages and prevent them from showing up on the top navigation bar.
4. exec-php doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work. If you are the developer for the site, it is helpful, however. Exec-php allows a person to put PHP and HTML code in posts.
5. get-recent-comments doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work. It retrieves the most recent comments.
6. google-sitemap-generator will probably be deprecated in the next few WordPress updates. But as it is now, this plugin is an asset. It doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work, but you'll be sorry if you don't.
7. one-click-plugin-updater doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work. But if you don't activate this plugin you'll waste tons of your time. This plugin monitors all the plugins on your site and tells you when they need to be upgraded. To upgrade, no more ftp. All you do is click on upgrade button
8. post-plugin-library doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work unless you activate similar-posts or wp-postviews plugin.
9. role-manager doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work, but it will allow you to manage a magazine theme site with a lot of people. You get to define and regulate individual's roles on your site. That means, authors can't mess stuff up.
10. similar-posts doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work. This plugin searches your database and posts similar articles similar to the one the visitor is reading. It's good if you want to increase your pageviews/unique visitor.
11. wordpress-automatic-upgrade doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work, but if you don't activate this, you're probably going to waste tons and tons of time. This allows you to upgrade your entire WordPress installation without using ftp.
12. wp-postratings doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work. This plugin is a simple plugin and widget that allows visitors to rate posts, and it allows you to display the top rated posts.
13. wp-postviews doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work. This plugin is a simple plugin and widget that counts how many visitors have viewed a particular posts, and it allows you to display the most viewed posts.
14. the-excerpt-reloaded doesn't need to be activated in order for the theme to work, however, I promise, if you activate this plugin, it will make your site's excerpts look cleaner.

After you have decided which plugins to activate, go to the plugins' page and activate them.

Setting Up Predefined Pages & Categories

There are a number of hidden goodies in the Black Widow theme that will only appear if you want them to. For example, there are a number of pages that you can create that have predefined functionality. You can create these pages anytime you want to, and when you create them, a hyperlink will be generated for them. If you'd like, just so you can see where they appear, create each page, and delete it later if you don't need it. When you create these pages, if you don't want them to appear on top navigation menu, you need to uncheck the radio button labeled "Include this page in user menus". Then, in order to make the page function correctly, scroll down to "Custom Fields" and type in "zz_region1" under Key and write "content" under Value. I'll explain why later. Likewise, there are certain categories with predefined functionalities. When you create these categories, any post you put into them will appear in a special, predefined location.

Predefined Page

• Subscribe
• Renew Your Subscription
• Give a Gift
• Subscription Questions

Predefined Categories

• Blog
• Audio
• Slideshow
• Contact Us
• Press Center
• Advertising
• Reprints/Permissions
• Careers

Setting Up Your Own Pages

So, like I said earlier, pages are where the power of the Black Widow theme is concentrated. Each page has 10 regions. What is displayed in each region is controlled 100% by custom fields. If you're not familiar with custom fields, worry not. When you write a page or a post in WordPress, you can add more functionality to each page by allowing what are called custom fields. Custom fields are custom actions that are built into the theme (which means that they don't carry over from theme to theme very easily). If you add a custom field that a theme is looking for, it will execute some desired action when people look at your site. To add a custom field scroll down while you're creating a page or post to where it says "Add a new custom field" (figure 1). After you've defined a custom field once, a scroll down menu will appear for all subsequent pages that lists all the custom fields that you have already used in alphabetical order. Since pages are usually one-off creations and posts are being created all the time, Black Widow separates custom fields used by pages and posts by putting "zz_" in front of all page's custom fields and "aa_" in front of all post's custom fields. In the Black Widow theme you define regions with the custom field zz_region[ID] (figure 1). You define what the region looks like by putting a number in the "Value" box (figure 1). You can list regions from zz_region1 to zz_region10 (remember, 10 regions are available per page). Figure 2 shows what values to give the regions to make them look a certain way.

Custom Values in Pages

• zz_region[ID] Defines how the region will look (figure 2). Most of the region's elements are specified by numbers with the exception of the value "content" which will make a page operate like you'd expect it to. If you select "zz_region1" and give it a value of "content", the page will display the title of the page and whatever text you've put into the post section on the page.
• zz_region[ID]CategoryName displays only articles of a specific category within the region you specify.
• zz_imageLogo This will get rid of the Black Widow theme's logo banner and replace it with the banner of your choice. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.
• zz_region[ID]Offset must be a number. It allows you to ignore some posts. So, if your offset is 1, the most recent post from whatever category is specified to show in the region will be ignored. If your offset is 2, the 2 most recent posts in the specified category will be ignored.
• zz_region[ID]ShowPosts must be a number. It specifies how many posts of the type zz_region[ID]CategoryName are to be displayed.

Writing a Post

In posts, custom fields are delineated by the prefix "aa_". The following is a list of custom fields that you can use in posts, with descriptions about how they operate.

Custom Values in Posts

• aa_imageCover is a custom field that only works in the most recent lead article. It will display a picture of the most recent magazine's cover in the upper, right-hand corner of the site. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.
• aa_imageInArticleBottom puts an image at the bottom of an article when the Single Post file is called. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.
• aa_imageInArticleLeft puts an image on the left of an article when the Single Post file is called. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.
• aa_imageInArticleRight puts an image on the right of an article when the Single Post file is called. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.
• aa_imageInArticleTop puts an image on the top of an article when the Single Post file is called. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.
• aa_imageThumbnailBottom displays an image at the bottom of the post on the frontpage. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.
• aa_imageThumbnailLeft displays an image to the left of the post on the frontpage. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.
• aa_imageThumbnailRight displays an image to the right of the post on the frontpage. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.
• aa_imageThumbnailTop displays an image at the top of post on the frontpage. When you upload an image, all you have to do is put in the name of the image (not the full address), and select this custom field. For example, you upload an image to the address http://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/image.jpeg. In order to get it to show up you select this custom field and type in "image.jpeg" into the value. The theme will do the rest of the work for you.

Making your homepage and putting your first post onine

The homepage

So this is the last thing I'm going to teach you to do. Once you learn how to make your homepage, you should be all set to modify the rest of your theme. So, you already created a page you've entitled "Home", and it should have appeared in your navigation menu on the top. If it's not there, then you didn't do it right. If it is there, kudos! In this page, you'll want to add some custom fields so that your site operates correctly. First thing first. Upload the banner image that you want to display in place of the Black Widow theme's logo. And then, as described above, create a custom field entitled "zz_imageLogo", and put the name of the image in the "value" box. Now, let's create our first region (you can change these around later, but for the purposes of figuring out what you're doing, just follow along). Create a custom value entitled zz_region1. Put the number "1" in as a value. Now, create another custom value entitled zz_region1CategoryName, and, as a value, put in the category name "lead". Create another custom value entitled zz_region1ShowPosts, and, as a value, put in 1. You have just created the top region. Now, whenever you create a post in the category lead, this will publish it at the very top of your homepage. Just to show you how versatile this theme is, we're going to make one more region. Create another custom field: zz_region2 and put the number "2" in as a value. In zz_region2CategoryName type in "lead" just like you did in the first region. You can define a showposts category for this region, but it won't do anything. A region with a value of "2" (figure 2) will always display 4 posts. Anyhow, now, create one more custom field entitled "zz_region2Offset with a value of 1. When you hit publish, what you have created is a homepage where the most recent story in the category "lead" will be published at the top of the page as a single unit. Then, right below that, the 4 previous stories in the "lead" category are published from left to right.

The first post

So that was special. You've created a page. Now, we're going to generate some content to display. Create a post (not a page) now. Type in some nonsense title and throw some gobbly-gook in as text for the page. Load any ol' image (just so you can see how it displays), and scroll on down to custom fields. To get the image to display, pick one of the custom fields I specified above. For the purposes of this tutorial, let's display our image to the left of our excerpt. Create a custom field entitled "aa_imageThumbnailLeft" with the value equal to the image's name (including it's file extension). Also, while your at it, you should upload some picture that will substitute as your magazine's most recent cover. Upload it, and create another custom field called "aa_imageCover", once again, using the name of the image (plus the file extention) as the value.

Ok, for the next step, I have to peace out. This tutorial will disappear when you do the next thing. You'll always be able to find it at http://www.spidermarket.com, but it'll disappear from your site. Before I go, though, I want to recommend you experiment a bit with your lead article. Create a few copies of the same post and put the images in different spots so you can see how they look. Anyhow, happy experimenting. What you need to do now is really simple, go to Settings->Reading and find the radio button labeled "A Static Page". Below that is a bullet point labeled "Frong page:". Select "Home" from the dropdown menu. Then, scroll down to the bottom and click "Save Changes". And with that, I must say au revoir.