We want to help you start with the right foot in order to fully enjoy our WordPress theme. This is why you need to make sure you have a solid foundation for what’s next by installing the theme. We covered the basics to help you get ready and make the most out of this WordPress gem. The order of the following section is important, so please refer to it accordingly.

Install and Activate the Theme

One of the perks of WordPress in general and Felt in particular is that you can start playing around with it in no time.

  1. Log into you WordPress Dashboard and navigate to Appearance → Themes.
  2. Click Add New button at the top of the page.
  3. Search for “Felt” from the top right search field.
  4. Find the theme and click Install Now.
  5. Once the theme has been installed, click the Activate link.

Install and Connect Jetpack

Jetpack is a famous plugin developed by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. A huge numbers of hosting providers and WordPress authors recommend installing it from day one.

Here’s how you can do that on Felt:

  1. Log into your WordPress Dashboard
  2. Go to Appearance → About Felt → click on the Recommended Actions tab then click on Install and Activate
  3. In order to use its features, you just need to click the “Connect to WordPress.com” button, login with your WordPress.com account (or create one) and click “Authorize Jetpack”.

Using the Front Page template

With Felt, we provide a layout that will help you organize your content in such way that they fit your needs and audience. To do so, you can use the Front Page template.

How templates work

A template is a starter layout with numerous areas where you can add your content.  In the Front Page template, each area, known as a Widget areas, can hold widgets such as Featured Posts, Calendar, Categories etc. For example, the front page of our demo is built with the Front Page template. Here are the Widget areas that you can find:
 
*Since you are using the Free version of Felt, the Front Page – Full Width Center, Front Page – Content 2, Front Page – Sidebar 2 and Footer – Featured Area will not accept widgets created by Pixelgrade. Also, the Footer area is disabled.
 

Setting up the Front Page template

Now that we described what a template is and how can be used, let’s start setting it up. Please follow these steps:
 

Step 1 — Create the page

From your site WordPress Dashboard, click on Add a new page and name it “Home” or alike in order to easily remember it.

Step 2 — Set the “Front Page” template

Set the Front Page template by reaching the Page Attributes section (screenshot).

Step 3 — Set a Static Front Page

To finish this up, let’s put the above-created page on front page. By default, WordPress displays the latest posts there — to change that and show your new “Home” page, follow the standard method:

  1. Launch the site Customizer and click on the Static Front Page tab on the left.
  2. Select the Static Page option, then choose your new page from the Front Page drop-down.
  3. Click on the Save & Publish button to save your static page settings.

Step 4 — Add the widgets

Good thing we have our page set up now! It’s time to add some widgets to the page:
  1. While viewing the page that you set as having a Front Page template, click on Customize in the upper left menu bar.
  2. In the menu that appeared on the left, go to the Widgets section.
  3. Choose any area you would like to add widgets to.
  4. While editing an area, click on the Add a Widget button. From the menu that will appear on the right, select any widget that you would like to add.

Displaying Featured Posts

Highlighting some stories of your website is always a good idea: you keep the momentum and continue to grab attention for the long game. We came up with a set of widgets that will help you customise your online stories.

In this article, we walk you through how to create an unique layout for your front page by using the available custom widgets from Felt, such as:

  • Pixelgrade: Grid Posts
  • Pixelgrade: Featured Posts
  • Pixelgrade: Slideshow Posts

Other custom widgets such as Carousel Posts, List Posts, Featured Posts Alt, Promo Box, and Categories Images are available in Felt PRO.

Make use of the Grid Posts

  1. Title: choose a title for the section of posts that describes them best. Leaving this field blank will not display any title.
  2. Posts Source: there is one source from which you can select your posts to be displayed from Recent Posts — The widget selects from the most recent posts on your blog.
    • Since you’re using the Free version of Felt, this is the only option available. Upgrading to PRO unlocks filtering by Category, Tags & Post ID.
  3. Number of posts to show: choose how many posts you want to be displayed in your widget.
  4. Number of columns. With the new option, you can set how many columns your posts should be displayed. There are three options from which you can choose:
    • 1 Column
    • 2 Columns
    • 3 Columns
    • 4 Columns
  5. Image Ratio: you can change how your post’s Featured Image should be displayed. There are three options from which you can choose:
    • Portrait — 3:4
    • Square — 1:1
    • Landscape — 4:3
  6. Primary Meta / Secondary Meta: you can set which information you want to display alongside your post. There are two areas above the title where the info can be displayed. You can choose from the following:
    • None
    • Category
    • Date (other options are available in Felt PRO such as Tags, Author and Comments).

Make use of the Featured Posts

The Pixelgrade: Featured Posts widget is similar to the Pixelgrade: Grid Posts widget, except that it is set to always display 5 posts, so it will not have the “Number of Posts to Show” field. Also, it doesn’t have an option for Number of columns.

The rest of the options, they are the same as in the first described widget.

Make use of the Slideshow Posts

The Pixelgrade: Slideshow Posts widget is similar to Pixelgrade: Grid Posts except the Layout options where “Number of columns” and “Image Aspect Ratio” are replaced by the “Blend with the header” option. Also, the options “Show Read More Link” & “Show View More Button” under the Display area are not available.

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Now you are ready to build a stunning blog with Felt. Make the most out of our WordPress theme, and don’t hesitate to aim for more. There’s always a way to improve everything.

Need More? Upgrade to Felt PRO

If you are looking for more flexibility and customizations options and to benefit from premium support, check out the comparison table.

View Felt PRO