Welcome to Press75’s Series theme documentation page. Please review all set-up instructions and theme usage documentation below to find what you are looking for.

These setup and usage instructions assume that you have working knowledge of the WordPress publishing platform. For more detailed information on how to use WordPress, please refer to the official WordPress documentation codex.

Sample Data and Child Theme Download

Use the links below to download the sample data file and child theme for this theme.

NOTE: WordPress does not provide import functionality for theme options, custom fields, required plugins or other settings. This means that even with the theme sample data file, you will still need to adjust your theme options and most likely add content according to the setup and usage instructions below. Download theme sample data file Download Child theme
Installing Your Theme

There are a number of ways to install a WordPress theme:

- WordPress admin
- S/FTP
- Hosting control panel (cPanel used as a specific example)

The recommended installation method for most people is through the WordPress admin, though some theme updates may require the use of S/FTP or your hosting control panel. Instructions for all three options can be found in the Using Themes Codex article.


Managing Custom Menus

Modern WordPress themes include native custom menu support which allows you to configure your theme menus however you like in a convenient drag-and-drop interface. With a custom menu you can easily add custom links, pages, and categories to your navigation menu. Follow the instructions below for more information on how to create and mange custom menus.

  1. Log into your WordPress Admin (e.g. yoursite.com/wp-admin), and navigate to Appearance > Menus.
  2. By default your pages will be listed, so click 'create new menu' to begin setting up your menu
  3. On the left you will see options to add 'Pages', 'Custom Links', and 'Categories' to your menu.
  4. Once done, click 'Save Menu' to save your custom menu, then under 'Menu Settings' check the box beside your desired menu location.

For more information on custom menus please see the Appearance Menus Screen Codex article.

Advanced Custom Fields Requirement

With the new Advanced Custom Fields plugin, you need to install the “Repeater Field” plugin (http://d.pr/f/vP3p) to enable the Episodes functionality. Really sorry about the extra step, but they just updated their plugin to work that way.

Explanation of Channels, Episodes & Parts

The Series Theme is likely to be one of the most unique Video themes available and is set up quite different compared to most Video themes for the WordPress publishing platform. You’ll need to forget about posts, categories and pagination when using the Series Theme (this is a good thing). This is not a video blogging solution, rather a complete video series solution. With that in mind, the Series Theme has been set up byChannels, Episodes and Parts. Keep reading below for more.

Channels

Within the Series Theme, Channels are exactly what you would expect them to be. Think of channels as a way to “categorize” your video episodes. For instance, in the live demo, we have used channels to group episodes by genre such as “Travel Channel” or “Art Channel”. These can obviously be named anything you like, but should be used sparingly. There is no sense in creating hundreds of channels that only contain one episode a piece. Each channel can contain as many episodes (described below) as you like.

Episodes

Within the Series Theme, Episodes are obviously the actual “posts” containing your video descriptions, video embed code and other meta information. Each episode can contain multiple episode parts (described below). An example of an episode could be something as simple as the “Surfing Compilation” as shown in the live demo.

Parts

As described above, each episode can contain multiple Parts (up to 6 parts). You can use parts to split your episode as you see fit. In the “Surfing Compilation” example, we have use parts to display multiple examples of “Surfing” videos. Continue reading below for a detailed explanation on how to add channels, episodes and episode parts.

Creating Your First Channel & Episode With Multiple Parts

Now that you know what channels, episodes and parts are, you should be ready to create your first episode. It is recommended that you refer to the live demo of the Series Theme as a model for setting up your own installation. Follow the step-by-step instructions below to create your first channel and episode containing multiple parts.

Creating Your First Channel

Prior to creating your first episode, you will need to create your first channel. To do so, simply follow the three steps below:

NOTE: You do NOT need to create a unique channel for each episode, but you do need at least one channel in order to publish new episodes.

  1. Login to your WordPress admin, expand the “Episodes” tab, then select “Channels“.
  2. Under “Add New Channel” give your channel a name (e.g. “Action Channel“)
  3. Click “Add New Channel” to create and save your first channel.
Creating Your First Episode

Now that you have created your first channel, you can now create your first episode. To do so, simply follow the six steps below:

  1. Login to your WordPress admin, expand the “Episodes” tab, then select “Episodes” followed by “Add New“.
  2. Give your episode a title (e.g. “Surf Compilation”) followed by your episode description/text within the episode editor.
  3. Add an “Episode Excerpt” which will be displayed under your video as shown in the live demo.
  4. Under “Episode Video” click “Add Episode Part” then paste your video embed code within the field provided. Click “Add Episode Part” again to add another part (up to 6 parts). You can drag and drop parts to organize them however you like after they have been added. To do so, click the episode part number (left) and drag the part either up or down. To delete a part, select “-” within the right hand side of the episode part.
  5. Under “Episode Number“, select the number for this particular episode. Episode numbers are used to organize episodes within each category. For example, if you select “1” for this episode, it will always be the first episode displayed within the selected channel.
  6. Under “Episode Channel“, select the channel you wish to place this episode under (e.g. “Action Channel”). Please note that episodes can only be place under one channel (not multiple channels).
Creating Blog Posts (Non-Video)

The Series Theme allows you to maintain a blog as well as video posts. To add a blog post (non-video), just follow the few steps below:

  1. Within your WordPress admin, expand the “Posts” tab, then select “Add New“.
  2. Create a title for your post and add your post content within the post editor.
  3. Select a category for your post and then click “Publish“.