Privateer Theme

The Privateer has a built in system for creating, importing, and exporting distinct looks, called skins.

Choosing Skins:
If you are just getting started with the Privateer theme, you can choose one of the included skins, log in and download extra skins that have been made available for free to theme owners, buy one of the premium skins, or hire myself ( or someone else ) to create a skin for you.

Once you have chosen a skin, you can further customize it via the wealth of built in options.

Creating Skins:
You can also create your own skins by using the export feature. This is handy when you want to save the current look for later, use a look you have developed locally on a different system, share a look with someone else, or provide a finished look to a client.

Web Developers:
If you are a web developer that uses WordPress for clients, this functionality can be used to provide clients with a number of looks to choose from or simply to let you build a look on a test system to get their feedback and provide it to them once you have finalized it.

Altering Skins:
Additionally, by following the skin editing tutorial you can quickly change the existing colors used in a skin and alter the file paths for them so that any images used will show up properly on other peoples systems.

More about skins

Within the Privateer, you can choose to have your site display in both fixed and fluid layouts.

Fixed Width Layouts:
A fixed width look can be very handy for applying custom made mini site graphics, ensuring that they display as intended.

Fluid Width Layouts:
If you want your content to expand to fill a users browser, you can choose to use fluid width layouts and, optionally, set up a minimum display width ( so that things do not get too crunched together ), a maximum display width ( so things do not get too stretched out ), or both.

Unlike most themes, the Privateer has menus built in for configuring each primary type of WordPress template.

This means that you can configure your home page, single pages, single posts, search page, category archives, tag archives, date archives, author archives, and 404 page without editing template files or creating new ones.

The current template configuration sub menus are:

• Page Display: For adding extra content areas to the template and noting how posts will be displayed
• Page Styling: For setting up any special styling wanted for the page
• SEO: For configuring the search engine optimization settings for template in question
• Nav Display: For placing relevant navigation menus and setting any options for them.
• Nav Styling: For setting up any special styling wanted for the nav menus on the template in question.
• Post Display: For adding extra content areas to posts displayed on the template as well as choosing the number of columns to display posts in, choosing the layout of the different post sections, and mixing any wanted ads in amongst the displayed posts.
• Post Styling: For setting up any special styling wanted for posts displayed on the current template.
• Custom Displays: For setting up and using template overrides, which are like custom templates with configuration menus so that you don’t have to edit code.

For example, you could set up your home page to have a content area above the post list, display the posts in two columns, and have another content area below the post list. You could also insert some custom content or an add after posts 3, 5, and 8 if you wanted.

Template Overrides within the Privateer Theme are very much like wordpress custom templates, but have their own menus for setting up options, adding custom content, and styling…so that you can get some interesting layouts without having to know how to do any php programming.

More about Template Overrides

Unlike most WordPress themes, the Privateer does not have a particular header or footer layout.

Instead, the header and footer are created by choosing pre-existing or custom built horizontal bars to display. The pre-existing bars can be configured within the Privateers admin menu and custom bars can be created using html and javascript and placed within the three available custom bars.

The Privateer Theme has two sidebars which can be completely configured within the admin panels.

For each sidebar, you can choose the width, apply styling, choose which side of the site the sidebar will be shown on, and which templates will display the sidebar.

You can also specify posts, pages, and category archive pages that the sidebar should not be displayed on if you have the sidebar set to display on that kind of page normally.

Widgets placed within the sidebars can be styled as well, though the styling for the widgets is currently shared between the two sidebars.

Last, but not least, you can place content outside of the sidebars ( above or below them ) and, if you have both sidebars turned on and next to each other, have the content areas above or below them spanned so that whatever you place into them will flow across the top or bottom of both sidebars.

Search Engine Optimization ( or SEO ) is configured on a template by template basis within the Privateer theme by using the template specific SEO sub panels.

For each template, you can:

• Set up the Meta Title
• Set up the Meta Description
• Set up the Meta Keywords
• Choose how many, if any, tags to add to the meta keywords
• Choose how many, if any, categories to add to the meta keywords
• Choose to automatically use the page title in the meta keywords
• Choose to automatically use any page subtitle in the meta keywords
• Choose to use your meta description rather than open directory and/or yahoo directory
• Choose to set the meta robots no-index, no-follow, and/or canonical flags
• Choose how often the sitemap for the template type should be updated
• Choose the default sitemap priority for pages rendered by the template

The meta title and meta description can use variables to place dynamic content such as the blog name, blog description, page title or subtitle, post title, subtitle, or summary, author names, etc.

For single posts and single pages, you can override many of these settings within the post and page editor.

Finally, if you have an seo plugin that you prefer to use, you can disable the built in seo easily.

The Privateer Theme has built in options for configuring the following third party applications:

• Google AdSense for Search
• Google Analytics
• The e-Junkie shopping cart
• Feedburner subscribe by email funcitonality

The following plugins are already integrated with the theme, and can be used without any template editing if they are installed:

• Sociable
• WP Email
• WP Post Ratings
• WP Print
• WP Post Views
• PWS WP Ad Manager
• PWS PHParse
• PWS WP3 Menus
• Featured Content Gallery
• PWS FCG

For Sociable, WP Email, WP Post Ratings, WP Print, and WP Post Views, you can place their output into post kickers, post bylines, and/or post footers by entering in the appropriate tags.

For the other plugins listed, you can place their tags just about anywhere to have their output displayed.

The Privateer Theme adds a number of new sub panels to the post and page editors so that you can have greater control on how individual posts or pages are displayed.

Currently, the following extra sub panels are included:

• Privateer – Core Post Options
  An area to stick in an image thumbnail, set a subtitle, set a summary, and choose to use one of the available custom template overrides ( and, if chosen, configuration options for the special template ).
• Privateer – Settings Copier Utility
  Used to copy settings from another post or page. See the Sales and Squeeze Page section for more information on this.
• Privateer – Search Engine Optimization
  Override the default index, follow, YDIR, ODP, and sitemap priority settings for the current post or page…and add any extra meta keywords wanted.
• Privateer – Hide Post Sections
  This panel lets you choose to hide sections of the current post or page which would otherwise be displayed. Page level items, post level items, and other items such as nav bars, side bars, and comments can be turned off here.
• Privateer – Site Header Override
  You can use this to turn off the site header, use the normal site header,or use a completely custom site header for the current post or page.
• Privateer – Site Footer Override
  Choose whether to display the normal site footer, no site footer, or a custom site footer.
• Privateer – Site General Overrides
  These options let you change the favicon, use different styles for the site body, page container, etc.
• Privateer – Sales Box Overrides
  These options let you use different styling for the sales related box types than those you have set up in the admin panel.

Of course, if there are sub menus that you do not use, you can minimize them and move them to the bottom of the list of sub-menus so that they are out of the way.

Using the Post and Page Editor Sub Menus noted above, especially the header, footer, and general overrides, you can create pages and posts that look completely different from your site.

This is a good way to build sales pages and squeeze pages.

Once you have a sales page or squeeze page you like, you can use the settings copier utility to copy it when creating additional sales or squeeze pages…so that you can then tweak as necessary without having to set everything up again.

In the Privateer, just about every type of html element can be styled via the admin panels.

Of course, you do need to know some CSS to do so, but you don’t need to actually edit any css files, create child themes, etc. to do so.

WordPress 3.0 login forms can be placed just about anywhere within the theme by using the % pws-pvt-login % shortcode.

They can be styled and have the available options set up via the Privateer HTML Entities – WP3 Login menu.

The Privateer can place wordpress menus that you have created just about anywhere within the theme.

In addition to the two available header ( or footer ) bars that display them as drop down or drop up menus, the theme also includes a widget for displaying them as right or left flyout menus and the ability to display them not only within posts and pages, but within extra template sections, by using the [[[ wp3menu ]]] shortcode where you want a menu displayed.

Styling for such menus can be done within the themes admin panels…and those placed via shortcodes can use the styling that you have set up for the header menu bars or a style that you have created on your own.

The menu at the top left of this page uses the shortcode functionality to display one of the wordpress 3.0 menus that I have created.

The Privateer includes a built in XML Site map that can be submitted to Google, Live, Yahoo, and Ask.

This is a good way to quickly get your site listed in the major search engines.

Unlike most other paid themes, the Privateer Theme has a very non-restrictive license. If you buy a copy of the Privateer Theme from me, you can:

• Use it on as many of your own sites as you wish
• Use it on your clients web sites ( though you responsible for support and updates unless you have them buy a copy from me )
• Sell sites that you create with it ( though they will need their own copy if they want support / updates from me )

All I ask is that you do not give copies away to others, sell copies ( I do have an affiliate program ), or pretend to be the one who created the theme.

Whether you are having troubles with the theme or just wanting to know how to set up particular styling, you can ask and I will do my best to answer in a timely manner.

For things that are outside of the scope of technical support, I’ll either provide an answer, work with you to resolve what is going on, or note as much and offer to do what you are seeking for a small fee.

Normally, if I have free time I’m more than willing to answer a variety of questions.

When you buy a copy of the Privateer from me, you gain access to all future versions of the theme at no extra charge.

You can choose to subscribe to my privateer theme newsletter to know when updates are available and you can log into your account and download them at any time.

As I create (non-paid) extra skins for the Privateer, I make them available to those who have purchased the theme at no extra charge and typically add them to the included skins list during each version update.

Additionally, skins that people have paid me to create for them might also become available for a reasonable fee from time to time.

From time to time I create new plugins that work only with the Privateer Theme. Such plugins are always available free of charge to those who buy the Privateer.

If or when I make them work with any theme, you can still choose to use the privateer specific versions at no cost.

Currently included privateer theme only plugins:

• PWS Drop Down Flyouts

As I develop new plugins and enter the final testing phases, I will sometimes make the final beta versions available to those who have purchased the Privateer Theme…with the understanding that such plugins are beta plugins and may not be perfect.

Those that actually use them and let me know of problems or potential ways to improve such beta plugins generally receive the final version for free.

Currently available beta plugins:

• PWS PHParse
• PWS Featured Content Gallery
• PWS Head Loader

If you buy a copy of the Privateer Theme and need some custom development work done, I tend to do such as much reduced rates, especially if you do not mind my offering the final result ( or a modified version in the case of skins ) for sale.