Big Shot Setup

Getting Started

So you bought Big Shot, and you’re ready to get your website up. Here’s a step by step guide to make sure you get up and running as quickly as possible.

Domain & Hosting

Before you can install Big Shot, you must have a hosted website domain.

We offer an all inclusive hosting package that includes hosting, a domain, setup & maintenance of your site. Check out the details here.

You can also use your own hosting, as long as your host supports WordPress (which is almost all hosts these days).

WordPress

The next step is to install WordPress. Most hosts allow you to do this in one click.

Every host is different, so if you have problems please contact your website host.

If your host does not offer a one-click install, please see this page at wordpress.org for manual installation instructions.

*Note – Do not install WordPress in your root directory on top of your old website! Instead, install in a sub directory (folder) like http://www.yoursite.com/wordpress. Build the site there, then you can move it into the root directory later.

Installing Big Shot

Ok, now for the good part. Let’s get Big Shot installed!

Installing Your Theme through WordPress (Recommended)

  1. Download the theme’s .zip file from your member’s dashboard
  2. Log in to WordPress (http://www.yourwordpressinstall.com/wp-login.php), go to Appearance > Themes
  3. Click on the “Install Themes” tab, and click the blue “upload” link (at the top left of the page)
  4. Upload your theme’s .zip file, then activate the theme

Or…Install your theme through FTP

If you would like to upload your theme via FTP, follow these instructions.

  1. Download the theme’s .zip file
  2. Unzip the theme folder
  3. Upload the unzipped folder to the wp-content/themes folder on your server
  4. Log in to your WordPress admin area, go to Themes, and activate the theme

After that, your theme should be ready to go. Now you will want to configure the theme through the theme options page.

Big Shot Options

Big Shot has an advanced theme options page that makes customizing and setting up your website incredibly easy. To access the theme options, log in to your WordPress admin area, and go to Appearance > Big Shot Options.

Video Tutorial

To upload your company logo, check the “use custom image” box. Browse for your logo file, and click “Insert into post.” If you don’t see “Insert into post,” copy the image url, close the upload box, and paste the url into the gray box.

Make sure to click “update logo” or the blue save button at the bottom, or else your changes will not be saved.

If you do not wish to display a custom logo, simply uncheck the box, and your site title will be displayed instead. You can edit what this text says in your WordPress admin area under Settings > General in the left side navigation.

To show or hide the site description text, simply check or uncheck the “Hide site description” checkbox. You can edit what this text says in your WordPress admin area under Settings > General in the left side navigation.

The theme appearance options allow you to change the colors and layout of your site.

To change the color scheme, layout, or sidebar location, use the drop down boxes. Make sure to save your changes, then view your site to see the different looks you can achieve.

If you wish to further customize your colors, use the color pickers. Click inside the blank box to see the color picker, then choose your color.

Front Page Setup

Big Shot’s front page is 100% widgetized, which makes it incredibly flexible. To build your front page, login to your admin area, and go to Appearance => Widgets.

Drag any widget you want to use into the Front Page widget areas. Watch the video below for more.

Video Tutorial

Checking the “Display post thumbnails” checkbox will display the small pictures next to each blog post. These images can be changed on the post edit page on the right under “set featured image.” If no featured image is set, a default image will be displayed.

The admin email is where the contact form email will be sent.

The header and footer insert boxes allow you to add code into the <head> and <footer> areas of each page and post. You can paste your Google Analytics script into one of these boxes.

Custom Widgets

Big Shot comes packaged with several awesome custom widgets. To activate these widgets, login to your WordPress admin area, then go to Appearance > Widgets. Drag and drop the widgets into the different widget areas on the right, these will show up in different places on your site.

Advanced Nivo Slider Widget

Nivo Slider Widget

This widget will display a sliding image/post content gallery. Drag it into a widget area and choose your settings. This widget will automatically detect whether it is in a full width, 2 column, or 3 column layout and display the correct image size.

Twitter Feed Widget

The Twitter Feed Widget displays the latest tweets from your timeline. To activate this widget, just drag and drop it into any widget area, and enter your twitter id.

Testimonial Widget & Shortcode

Testimonials Widget

This widget automatically formats your testimonials in your sidebar to display them proudly to your customers. Just put your testimonials inside the [testimonial] shortcode. For example: [testimonial] Put your testimonial text here [/testimonial] (don’t forget the closing shortcode!)


Footer Widgets

Footer Widgets

Big Shot has a widgetized footer area, which allows you to put up to 4 widgets in your website’s footer. Simply drag and drop whatever widget you want into the footer widget area.


8 Custom Widgets

Recent Posts Widgets

There are 2 recent posts widgets, one displays blog style posts (great for main content widget areas) and the other displays excerpts (great for the footer or sidebar.)


News Ticker Widget

This widget displays a flashing news feed of recent posts. It looks especially good in the Front Page Before Content widget area.


Header Info Box

Header Info Box

This widget helps you make sure your customers can find your contact info on every page, and connect with you on social media. Just fill in your phone number, and facebook and twitter id’s.

Shortcodes

Shortcodes allow you to easily add pre-designed elements to your website.

[testimonial]

Usage: [testimonial name=”David Gwyer” company=”Press Coders” image=”http://www.mysite.com/imageurl.jpg”]Put testimonial text here. Don’t forget the closing shortcode![/testimonial]

The image url field accepts either an image url or a valid gravatar.com email address.

[button]

Usage: [button color=”green” link=”https://www.presscoders.com” ]Button Text Here[/button]
Acceptable colors: Gold, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red, (no color specified reverts to default)

[box]

Usage: [box color=”blue” ]Box text and media goes here. Shortcodes inside box ok.[/box]
Acceptable colors: Gold, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red, (no color specified reverts to default)

Page Templates & Layouts

24 Page Layout Combinations

To use a page template, go Pages > Edit, and on the right side of the screen you will see “Page Attributes.” Choose a template from the drop down box called “Templates,” and save your changes.

To change the column layout, use the drop down box on the right side of the page/post edit screen.

Default

Displays the main content and sidebar according to your chosen layout.

Full Width

Removes the sidebar and displays the main content full width.

Blog Page

Displays your blog posts in reverse chronological order.

Contact Form

Displays a contact form. Email will be sent to the admin, this can be changed on the Big Shot options page under General.

Sitemap

Displays a list of links to all of your pages, otherwise known as a sitemap.

Sidebar Commander

The Sidebar Commander

This is the most advanced way to control your widgets and widget areas ever created.

Create new widget areas, fill them with widgets, and place them on any post/page you want. To make things easier here’s a project based example of what you can do with the Sidebar Commander.

Video Tutorial

Add the Nivo Slider to a different page

You know how to add the slider to your homepage, but how do you get it on a different page?
Add Custom Widget Areas
1. Go to Appearance => Widgets, and create a new widget area

Give it a name, and click the blue +options text. Select “Main Content” widget area type, then click add new.



Advanced Nivo Slider Widget
2. Drag the Nivo Slider widget into your new widget area, then set your options


3. Go to Pages => Add New, and create the page you want the slider on

4. On the page edit screen, select Template: Widgetized Page (on the right sidebar). Publish or save your page.

Page Sidebar Commander
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page to the Sidebar Commander box, click the “Main Content Area” tab, and click your new widget area. Save or update your page.

If you view this page live, you will see that your Nivo Slider is now there! If you want to make this a full width slider, go back to your page edit screen and choose “Full Width” under Column Layout on the right sidebar.

You can add text and other things to your page by going back to Appearance => Widgets, and dragging another widget underneath your new slider.