After you’ve installed the theme and all the required plugins, you’ll now be able to see all the options that come with the theme from the main WordPress menu. Here you can set a large number of settings which concern the theme itself, or the elements which are integral parts of the theme; you can import the theme’s demo content as well.
Keep in mind that all the theme global options have certain predefined settings, so you are not required to set every one of these manually. There’s also a Reset option so you can revert all the global theme settings back to default at any time.
Global Settings – Theme Options
The global settings are a set of options which apply to the entire website, while the local options refer to a specific page, a portfolio item (portfolio single page) or an element.
It’s important to note that local settings always override the global ones. Say for instance you set the Header Skin to Light globally - this will apply to all the pages where the Header Skin is set to Default. However, if you select a Dark Header Skin for a specific page, this option will override the global options you set and the local setting just for this page will apply.
Theme options, as well as the certain option names, differ from theme to theme since each theme has specific set of settings.
The Theme Options Tab is Not Visible in the Backend
If you cannot see the global theme options in your WordPress admin panel, this is most likely due to the fact that you did not install the Theme Core plugin for that theme. This can be solved very easily, by navigating to Appearance > Themes > Install Plugins. There you will be able to locate the core plugin and activate it.
Local Settings
There are certain instances where different pages require different settings in order to achieve a desired look and feel, or to integrate a specific functionality.
This is where local settings come into play. These settings apply to individual pages, portfolio items, or posts.
When you create a new page or a post (with some themes a new portfolio item as well), or when you edit an existing page, you’ll notice a set of local options by scrolling down. These settings refer to that individual page only. These local options are usually grouped as General, Sidebar, Title, and Footer options, for example.
Some of these options are quite similar, and at times even identical to the ones found in the theme global settings. However keep in mind that the local options differ from theme to theme; in addition to this, not all global options have their local counterparts, so certain settings can be made globally only.
Global Settings Not Applying
If it appears that the global settings are not being applied in your frontend, this is most likely caused by that page’s local settings which override the global options you set.
For example, let’s say that you set a Transparent Header type for your homepage – the globally set Header Background color will not apply here, since this page has a background transparency value of 0 (although you do need to pick a color for the header regardless), which means that the header will always be transparent on this page.
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