If you are new to Genesis and will be installing Genesis, the Isabelle Child Theme and demo content for the very first time, you will need to follow the following instructions in order. You can download these instructions here.

Tips before proceeding:

1. Go to Posts – delete the “Hello” post and Empty the Trash
2. Go to Pages – delete the “Sample” page and Empty the Trash
3. Go to Settings > Permalinks – Select “Post Name” and Save
4. Go to Appearance > Widgets – make sure there are no widgets in the widget area and make sure there are no widgets in the Inactive Widgets. If so, click Clear Widgets.

Installing the Genesis Framework and the Isabelle Child Theme

1. Go to Appearance > Themes
2. Select Add New > Upload Theme
3. Browse your desktop for the Genesis Framework and install. **Note – DO NOT Activate it.
4. Repeat steps 1 and 2
5. Browse your desktop for the Isabelle Child Theme and install it.
6. Activate Isabelle

Install required Plugins

Once you install Isabelle you will see an Alert bar at the top with a Gold border indicating you will need to install the required plugins.

1. Select “Begin activating plugins”
2. You will see a list of plugins
3. Check the box next to the column heading “Plugins” to select “All”
4. From the “Bulk Actions” drop down select “Install” and click Apply
5. Scroll down to the bottom and click “Return to Required Plugins Installer”

Activate required Plugins

1. Check the box next to the column heading “Plugins” to select “All”
2. From the “Bulk Actions” drop down select “Activate” and click Apply

STOP RIGHT HERE….

Several things need to be configured BEFORE you import the demo content.

User Profile Configuration

1. Go to Users > Your Profile
2. Scroll down and you will see several social media areas – fill in your IDs to the accounts you use.
3. Then scroll down to Biographical info – complete the information here which will be displayed on the Contributors page and in the contributors’ box at the end of each story/blog post.
4. Lastly, scroll down to the “Author Box” area – put a check mark in both boxes.
5. Scroll down and click “Update Profile.

Scriptless Social Sharing Plugin Configuration

1. “Button Styles” > Select Icon Only.
2. “Button Container Width > Auto.
3. “Heading” > Delete contents – this should be blank.
4. “Buttons” > Check the social media buttons you wish to make available for sharing.
5. Save the changes.

STOP HERE….

You will have a few more settings to configure after you import the content and widgets.

Install the Demo Content

1. Go to Tools > Import
2. Scroll down to WordPress > Select Install Now > then Run Installer
3. Browse your desktop and look for “isabelle.wordpress.2016-09-02”
4. Select “Upload file and import”
5. When prompted select “your” account from the drop down to import the demo content
6. Scroll down and check the box to Download the attachments.

Install the Widget Content

1. Go back to Tools > Widget Importer & Exporter
2. Browse your desktop and look for “isabelle.cre8tivediva.com-widgets.wie”
3. You should see that the content has been imported

STOP HERE…

Now we need to configure just a few more things.

Menu Configuration

1. Go to Appearance > Menu
2. Scroll down to the bottom and check the box for “Primary Navigation”
3. Save this menu

Widget Configuration

This area is already set up; we just need to make a few modifications for the footer widgets.

1. Go to Appearance > Widgets
2. Open Footer 1, Footer 2, Footer 3, and Footer 4 – select Footer Menu in each one and Save them.

Congratulations… your site should look like the demo!

You can now visit your home page.

More tips

1. Category Descriptions – the category descriptions do not export to the demo file. Therefore, after installing everything, you will need to go to each category and add the “Archive Intro Text.”
2. Comments – if you will be allowing comments, visit Genesis > Theme Settings. Scroll down to “Comments and Trackbacks”. At Enable Comments > select “on Posts?” Scroll down and Save.

If you have followed these instructions and your site does NOT look like the demo – please submit a ticket at support@cre8tivediva.com. To receive support, you must indicate the name and email address associated with your purchase.

If you have an existing website, follow these instructions.

Clear Widget Area

The widget areas in your current website were created for your theme. Before you proceed, go to Appearance > Widgets. Drag all of your widgets to the Inactive Widgets area. This will preserve your widgets so you can use them again in Isabelle.

Installing Genesis, Isabelle and the Plugins

Follow the same steps as importing the demo content above, except… you will not install the Demo Content or the Widget (.wie file).

Regenerate Thumbnails

Once you have Genesis, Isabelle and the plugins installed and activated you will need to Regenerate Thumbnails to resize your images to fit the sizes used in Isabelle. Go to Plugins > Add New. Search for “Regenerate Thumbnails”, install and activate. Then go to Tools > select Regenerate Thumbnails and run it.

Continue below by clicking “Adding Your Widgets” toggle in the next window.

There are two images you should open in a new window (or print) to use as information below to help you add your own content to the widget areas. The Widget Page and the Home Page both with corresponding numbered circles. Here is also a downloadable version in PDF which includes the text and both images in case you’d like to print these out.

1. Header Right

This is where you can add an advertisement. The demo is using the Image Widget to place a 728 x 90 image, however you can drag over a text widget and place your ad code in there.

2. Primary Sidebar

The primary side bar which is located on internal pages and posts contains an image widget and two Genesis Featured Posts widgets.

3. Before Header

This area contains one Genesis Featured Posts widget set to display 5 posts from one category.

4. After Primary Nav

The After Primary Nav widget is a random widget area that streams on all pages in case you would like to put another ad, image, message, or what have you. (Not shown in the demo)

5. Ad Banner 1

The Add Banner 1 widget area is located below the primary navigation and can be seen site wide. (Not shown in the demo)

6. Ad Banner 2

The Add Banner 3 widget area is located above the footer (before the Tags) and can be seen site wide. (Not shown in the demo)

7. Home Box Slider

This is the main slider-in boxed format (not full width).

8. Home – Top Left

This area contains one Genesis Featured Posts Widget set to display 1 post from one category.

9. Home – Top Right

This area contains an Image Widget to place an image. You can also use this area for another type of ad code using a Text Widget.

10. Home – Middle

This area contains one Genesis Featured Posts widget set to display 2 posts from one category.

11. Home – Bottom

This area contains one Genesis Featured Posts widget set to display 2 posts from one category.

12. Call to Action One

This area contains the Genesis eNews Extended plugin. You should configure the eNews widget per the plugin instructions.

13. Call to Action Two

This area contains one Genesis Featured Posts widget set to display 5 posts from one category.

14. Before Footer

This area contains the Tag Cloud widget with the taxonomy set to “Tags”.

15. After Footer

This area is located below the footer area and can be used with a Text Widget for ad placement or some other type of message. (Not shown in the demo)

16. Slide Out Box

This is the slide out widget that contains the Genesis eNews Extended Widget.

17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 Footer Widgets

Footers 1, 2, 3, and 4 contain Custom Menus. Footer 5 contains a Text widget for the name and the Simple Social Icons widget to link to your social media accounts.

22. After Entry

This area can be used to add other miscellaneous content such as an ad banner, an additional sign up box, or some other special message using.

Other items

Related Posts – the related posts shown on the demo is from the Jetpack plugin. You can use any “Related Posts” or “You May Also Like” plugin that you wish.