All in all, I think this theme is quite remarkable. Yup, a pat in the back – a job well done. Agency is what I call it. It is a magazine style theme that puts your content in a beautiful wrapper, complete with subtle page elements that is sure to add elegance to your pages. This theme is compatible with the latest WordPress release, taking advantage of some its newer features. Let me explain:
Features:
- A Custom Slideshow – sits in the home page, automatically switches through four images. These images are post thumbnails from posts assigned to a specific category. In other words, the slideshow pulls 4 posts from a category named “featured”. You can change the category by editing “feature.php” – look for the variable $myCat .
- Two Widgetized Sidebars – Each sidebar has a width of 140 pixels – just enough to house small ad spots, text and general widgets .The sidebars also sit on the center of the page as you scroll down.
- Custom Gallery Styles with Lightbox – The default WordPress gallery style is overridden to match the rest of the theme. Lightbox effect is also applied to all links leading to an image.
- Built in Contact Form – no need to install a plugin for a simple contact form, its already in the theme. Simply apply the page template “Contact Form” into your page
The theme also supports the WP 3.0 menu system, gravatars and threaded comments. The thumbnails for each posts, including the images in the slideshow are pulled from the post thumbnails.
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 Activate the Slideshow:
The slideshow in the homepage pulls 4 posts from a category called “featured” (If you want to pull from a different category – see below). Simply go to “Categories” and one called “featured” – add 4 posts under it.
Visit your homepage and you should now see the slideshow area populated with the posts you just assigned to “Featured”. Now if you don’t see an image – that means you haven’t assigned a Post Thumbnail – so read the section above called “Adding Post Thumbnails to your Posts“.
*If you want to change the slideshow to pull from another category instead of “featured”, go to “Appearance” > “Editor” and click “feature.php” from the right side. In the editor – change the word “featured” into your category slug that you want (see below). Save your changes.
How to insert a Photo Gallery:
Adding a photo gallery into agency 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. The lightbox effect should also automatically pick up. All images that are linked to another image will trigger the lightbox effect in the Agency theme.
How to Customize the Navigation Menu:
Agency supports the WP Menu System which let’s you customize the links any way you want. 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.
Credits:
The contact form code came from Trevor Davis – which works like a charm. The lightbox effect for the images are from No Margin for Errors. The Javascript for the floating sidebar is from a plugin called “stickyfloat“. Finally, the awesome model photos from the demo site are from my friend Jigs Tambong.
Conclusion:
Agency is ideal for high content blogs with multiple post categories. Some HTML and CSS knowledge is required to customize, as well as Photoshop for the graphic elements. On the same note, my recent theme “Lucky Guess” is now FREE!. Please follow me in Twitter, Facebook or leave your comments below:
You can purchase Agency from this link.
BTW, you have to check out BlogEx for a large collection of WordPress Themes!
hi michael, I want to make the word bigger and with color in the front page. But that only effects inside post, could you give me instruction ?
on index page under posts on main….read more button is not showing…..kindly help me in this…..there should be a button after every post on index page for continue reading or read more……
looking forward your urgent reply
No I didn’t add a read more link because the post title is already a hyperlink to the post.
Nice Themes. very nice
How do I add a read more button? I really need that on the front page please.
If possible, can I just change the excerpt length on the front page? If it is not possible to edit the “read more”?
Hi :) where is it possible to tweak the fade time on your featured image viewer in the agency WP theme?
all the best
Michael,
Love the theme and I did purchase it. Do you have a link to the Copyrights that I must follow? I ask because I’d prefer to remove the branding from the footer after purchasing.
Thank you!
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
hi Michael,
hope you have a great time for Christmas and New year. Can i ask you 2 questions ?
#1. how can i add the captcha menu to your contact form, seriously, your contact form is great with font style and design, but i want to stop spam, so i need the captcha.
#2. how can i stop the bar from moving upside/down, i remembered someone asked it before me, but i couldn’t find it here anymore so I need to ask for your instructions again.
Thanks you so much.
for captcha, there are a bunch of free scripts such as secureimage – but you have to manually add it to the template for now. You have to be pretty comfortable with writing PHP scripts. The template name is contact-form-template.php (i think) its inside the theme folder. I will definitely include this in future versions.
for the sidebars to stop moving, go to header.php and take out the code below:
//sidebars
$('.sidebar.left').stickyfloat({duration: 400});
$('.sidebar.right').stickyfloat({duration: 600});
I’m having some difficulties with the actually theme. When I added the 4 posts with images into a category called “featured”, the images DO appear in the sideshow. But you can only see half of the image, the other half is being covered by a black box with the post titles in it. If anything, this black box should be transparent, allowing me to see the reset of the image with the post titles included. Is there anyway to correct this issue (I really want to use this theme) or can I send someone my URL so they can see it themselves nor a screenshot so they can assit? …. I will appreciate anyones help … Thanks RC
send me your screenshot. also – try to use images that are landscape in orientation (vs portrait). Portrait images will get cut off in the sides to compensate the height.
http://screenr.com/3jos
Hey Michael – I’m having some difficulties with the Agency theme (click the link above for a view of the issue). Also the arrows pointing to the images in the slideshow are having issues when I hover over them with my mouse pointer… Thank so much for the help!
the hover effect is actually supposed to be there. now that you pointed it out – it does look confusing.
:: http://screenr.com/3jos ::
The hover effect does look a bit confusing/different on my site, compare to the demo (http://agency.fearlessflyer.com/) site.
But I’m more concern with the 4 images in the slideshow. What is the proper way to correct this issue, because I’ve already reconverted the images to landscape and had no succes with resolving?
Hi,
What font do you use for your logo?
Thanks!
league gothic
Hello Michael,
Is it possible to change font in a slideshow? Can’t find it.
Thank you.
the font in the slideshow is controlled via javascript inside the header.php file. you can take out this code:
Cufon.replace('#featured .info h2', {
textShadow: '-1px 1px black'
});
$('#featured .info h2').css({
'font-size' : 50,
'lineHeight' : 70
})
then change the font style in the css
Where is the “SEARCH FOR:” ( under small ads) code ?
Hi I need to know where I can change the time to change image in the slideshow. Thanks
Very “Hot” theme!
I just bought this theme but howto change the logo in the header? i thought there would be a function for this
sorry – you have to do that manually. its kind of difficult since the logo is an image.
I like tihis theme!
Nice theme.Thank you.