Aparatus has been my most popular freebie since I’ve started this blog. It’s complimented many WordPress sites and I’m very happy to have created it. This time around I’ve decided to upgrade this old puppy and refresh its’ looks just a tad bit. Aparatus version 2 is now available for download – for a low fee of $10.
So what has Changed?
As you see from the demo, I’ve tried to preserve Aparatus’ original design. The few things that I changed is more for performance rather than visual. I went ahead and removed the Tweetmeme buttons in the archive pages – which greatly improved page loads. There was a horizontal scroll bar bug in the old version – which is now fixed.
The theme still utilizes Cufon – but only for select areas of the theme such as the Logo and the footer. The logo now has an etched and gradient look – which is a big enhancement. I also added some Google fonts – to the post and comments headings. A few CSS 3 code is also used to improve the presentation of the text a little bit more.
A new post thumbnail handling code is used. Both feature images and custom fields still work, it just handles the resizing better. The feature image also appears in the single post page – this is something many users have requested for.
The theme now supports the new WordPress menu system. You can now customize the menu according to your craziest “navi-wishes”.
Lastly, a smarter theme options is integrated. If you don’t enter a Twitter account – no button or feed will show in the theme. The same goes for the large ad button.
How to Use:
Installing the theme is just like any other WordPress theme. Simply go to the “Appearance” > “Install Themes” section in your admin panel. Click the “Upload” link – browse to the theme .zip file and “Install Now“.
Adding Post Thumbnails to your Posts:
To add images to your posts you can use the Post Thumbnail feature of WordPress. Simply go to the post in “Edit” mode. On the right side of the page – click on “Set Featured Image“:
This will trigger the image uploader. Upload your image and as soon as that’s done, click the “Use as Featured Image” link:
Note that you should keep the file sizes to a smaller size. The resizing script has a maximum size limit.
How to Use the Slideshow:
The slideshow automatically pulls your most recent posts (5 maximum). You can change this to pull from a specific category by going to “Appearance” > “Aparatus Options” and putting the category slug in the field: “Category Name for the Content Slider“. You can also take out the slideshow or choose to not automatically slide – by checking the appropriate boxes in the theme options.
Also, if you see the slider with the “Oops…Looks like” message (shown below) – that means you haven’t assigned a post thumbnail to your post. Read the section above called “Adding Post Thumbnails to your Posts“.
How to insert a Photo Gallery:
Adding a photo gallery into Aparatus is as easy as pie. Simply go to the post / page you want in “Edit” mode and click on the image uploader. Navigate to your local directory and highlight the images you want and click “Open“.
As soon as the images upload, click on “Save Changes” and additional settings will show. Select your options and click “Insert Gallery“.
Update your post / page and preview it. You should see your gallery in place.
How to Customize the Navigation Menu:
Go to “Appearance” > “Menus” and start by creating a new menu. Enter a menu name and click “Create“.
This will create a blank menu panel in the right side of the page. The idea is to select categories, pages or custom links from the left side, click the “Add to Menu” button – and it will appear on the menu panel in the right. In this panel, you can drag and drop the links so you can design the menu hierarchy. Links that are staggered underneath become the drop down links from the respective parent – you get the drift.
Once the menu is done – hit “Save Menu” and in the top most left column box called “Theme Locations“, select the menu you just created from the drop down called “Header Menu”. Click “Save” and view your website. You menu should now be in place.
Switching Stylesheets
Aparatus comes with 4 different color styles – also known as stylesheets. Go to “Appearance” > “Aparatus Options” and in the top most section is a drop down called “Style Sheet”. Select Maroon, Black, Blue or Green and “Save Changes“.
Adding the Twitter Badge and Latest Tweet:
Still in the theme options, right underneath the Style Sheet drop down, is the Twitter account field. Enter your Twitter user name in this field.
Save your changes and view your website. You should see a nice Twitter Badge in the Header – and your latest Tweet in the sidebar area.
Advertising Blocks:
You can ad advertising blocks in the sidebar area right in the theme options. You can do 1 large 300 x 250, and 4 small 125 x 125 squares. Go to the theme options page – and see the “Advertising Blocks” area. Enter the image source of the ad (where the image is coming from), and the destination (where the link goes when the image is clicked).
Save your changes and view your site. You should see the ad blocks in the sidebar nicely lined up:
Frequently Asked Questions:
I’ve gathered a several most asked questions in regards to Aparatus. Read below to see if your question is one of them.
Modify the Twitter Badge Image
Many want to modify the large Twitter Badge in the header. Please note that the font I’ve used in this badge is called – League Gothic, and you need to download that in your Fonts folder to twiddle the .psd file.
Slideshow is not showing images
If you’re using custom fields – make sure you have GD library installed. You also have to make sure that the cache folder inside scripts (themes/aparatus/scripts/cache) is fully writeable. In addition, you need to enter at least a couple of posts to kick start the slideshow.
How To make posts in the slideshow appear below the slideshow
By default posts inside the slideshow does not duplicate underneath – where the rest of the post are. Many like it this way – but some have asked how to make them show below as well. To do this look for this line of code inside gallery.php and delete it:
$saved_ids[] = get_the_ID();
How to fill the Author Box Information
The “About the Author” box right in the single posts page grabs information from your profile. Go to “Users” > “Your Profile”, under Biographical Info – enter your stuff there.
The Header Text takes too long to convert into the logo
Sometimes Cufon takes a bit of time to do its thing. Aparatus uses this to use your site name and automatically convert it into a decent looking logo. But sometimes – due to client browser constraints, it performs poorly.
For this issue it would probably best to use an image for your logo. If you really like how it looks with Cufon – just take a screenshot and convert the image into a jpeg and replace it inside the header.php.
Conclusion:
Enough of the FAQ! Download already! I hope you enjoy this theme as much I’ve seen it in many blogs. If you want to visit the original release post, click here. Otherwise, leave your comments and questions below. Happy blogging!
Thanks for the updates..
When a put a picture of a person in the “featured image” section it cuts off the head. Basically only shows their chest. Is there a way to make the default do a portrait as apposed to a landscape?
portrait images won’t look good – the slideshow is landscape by default.
I do not want the slider portrait just the thumbnails that go with each post.
the slider will crop resize the portrait images by default. the thumbnails in each post are the same image that go in the slider. so they all look best landscape.
I am not talking about the slider. I am talking about the thumbnails that appear with each post on the home page under the slider.
the thumbnails weren’t designed to be portrait images.
Hi,
Thanks, but as I noted, I *have* a custom menu set, but I don’t know how to get rid of the grey area menu links.
to get rid of links in the grey area – open header.php (appearance > editor > header.php) look for this code:
<?php wp_list_pages('title_li=&depth=1&sort_column=menu_order'); ?>and delete.
Perfect, thanks!
I would still like to know how
When I install this theme on godaddy servers for testing it lets you edit the “search” “popular” and other default widgets in the widget editor. But on the server I am using actually use the site I can not. Any reason why?
Hey Michael!
I’m very happy with this theme so far.
The only annoying thing for me with this theme is the motortools which seems very slow to display the big picture and makes the site buggy and not very nice for a few seconds when loading (especially with chrome).
Any advise, plug in which could make it better?
You’re right, there is a bit of lag. There should be plenty of options as far as plugins.
I get this message when trying to leave a comment
” Error 1: Click back and type in the password. ”
There is no code on the page to be found.
i don’t know what’s causing that.
I deactivated all plugins…. I still have the problem. Could a widget cause this problem?
Hey Michael
Love this theme. Have come into a little problem I can not fix. For some reason the slider no longer works. It now shows all the picture in a row on the home page.
Do you have any suggestions on how i might be able to fix this.
thanks
Andrew
it look like you have javascript errors (line 31) . Im not sure if a plugin did this or it was manual.
I cannot add menu items.Runnin WP 3.3.1. Message is The current theme does not natively support menus, but you can use the “Custom Menu” widget to add any menus you create here to the theme’s sidebar.
In the how to above, there is a difference. Is it possible to add menu items to the header bar as in picture at top of page.
I can add pages.On the lower bar, with the headings;
About, Page No Three, Whatever, Category 3, Page No Four, Yolk, Contact, Purchase
I have tried to add these, but have not mastred this yet. I assume tey can be added to the lastest WP release. Thank you.
it supports it. i’m not sure why that message shows up. let me look into it.
Hey Michael
Thank you for the reply, I found the problem it was when I removed the tabbed-container from the side bar, do you know of anyway to get rid of the tabbed-container from the sidebar with out affecting the slide show? i tryed removing
from sidebar.php, this effectively got ride of the tabs but also affected the slide show.
If you have any tips that would be great
thanks
Andrew
try deleting this code in header.php –
window.addEvent('domready', init);
function init() {
myTabs1 = new mootabs('myTabs', {height: '320px', width: '300px', changeTransition: Fx.Transitions.Back.easeOut, mouseOverClass: 'over'});
}
let me know it this works.
Hi Michael,
Andrew is away for a couple weeks so I just wanted to let you know that your fix worked.
Thanks!
Hi i have a problem, when a create a menu it is not drag and drop so i can’t design the menu gerarchy.
thank you