Thank you for purchasing this theme. This documentation consists of several parts and covers the entire process of installing and setting up theme starting from scratch.

We did our best to make this documentation as clear as possible. However, if you have any difficulties with this theme or any suggestions on improving the template or the documentation, please contact our customer support via the feedback form on this page or send an email to nordthemes@gmail.com

After purchasing a theme from ThemeForest, you need download and install it on your website. This tutorial will show you how to do that very quick and easy.

Download a theme from ThemeForest

After you completed the purchasing a theme on ThemForest, a download button will appear. Click on that button to download the theme and save the package on your computer.

If you did not download the theme after purchase, you need log into your account on ThemeForest and navigate to a Downloads page. The downloads section displays a list of all the items purchased using your account.

Click the Download button next to the item and select All files & documentation which contains all files, or Licence Certificate and Purchase Code for the item licence information only.

Save the package on your computer. The downloaded file will be named something like this
themeforest-10962274-wild-book-vintage-elegant-stylish-wordpress-personal-blog-theme-multilingual-rtl-support.zip

Unpacking

Extract the downloaded .zip package using your standard zip software. When the extraction is completed you should have a folder with the following folders and files inside:

  • Theme Files — This folder contains wildbook.zip file. This is the parent WordPress Theme, install this via WordPress. If you install it via FTP then unzip it first, then use the extracted folder.
  • Child Theme — This folder contains the wildbook-child.zip file. The child theme is only for users who make code changes.
  • Documentation — Theme documentation.
  • Licensing — Theme license files.
  • Demo Content — Demo XML file to import in WordPress.

You can install the theme in two ways: through WordPress, or via FTP.

Install via Dashboard

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. After you have logged in, navigate to the Appearance > Themes.
  3. Click the Add New button on the top of the screen.

  4. On the next page, click the Upload Theme button on the top of the screen.

  5. Click the Choose File button to open up a dialog to browse your computer and navigate to Theme Files folder (it is located in the extracted package folder). Select the file wildbook.zip and click Install Now.
  6. Please wait a few seconds, WordPress will upload and extract the theme archive for you. All you need to do next is to press the Activate link under the message for successful theme installation.

  7. Done! Now you can open the homepage of your site and see the newly activated theme.

Install via FTP

  1. Navigate to the Theme Files folder (it is located in the extracted package folder) and extract the file wildbook.zip using your standard zip software.
  2. Using an FTP client to access your host web server.
  3. Go the the WordPress root folder on your server, then go to /wp-content/themes/ folder.
  4. Upload the wildbook folder that you extracted from the zip into the themes folder.
  5. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  6. Navigate to the Appearance > Themes. On this page you should see the Wild Book in the list of themes.
  7. Move the cursor on the block with the Wild Book theme and click the Activate button.

  8. Done! Now you can open the homepage of your site and see the newly activated theme.

This theme requires the installation and activation of some plug-ins to add additional features and capabilities. If you want to use portfolio, contact form, newsletter and demo import, you need to install the following plugins:

  • Portfolio Post Type — Enables a portfolio post type and taxonomies;
  • Contact Form 7 — Contact form plugin;
  • One Click Demo Import — Import theme demo content, widgets and theme settings with one click;
  • MailChimp for WordPress — MailChimp for WordPress by ibericode. Adds various highly effective sign-up methods to your site.

Installing Plugins

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Install Plugins menu.
  3. Check the boxes next the plugins name that you want to install. In the drop-down menu located next to the Apply button select Install and click the Apply button.

  4. Wait a few minutes and click the Return to Required Plugins Installer link.

  5. Check the boxes next the installed plugins name. In the drop-down menu located next to the Apply button select Activate and click the Apply button.

  6. Now the plugins are activated and you can use them.

To update the theme, login to your marketplace account and re-download the theme package like you did when you purchased it. Extract the downloaded ZIP file.

A theme update always deletes all existing theme files and replaces them with the files of the new theme version. Therefore you should never change the theme files directly, because they will be lost due to an update. Instead, use a child theme in case you want to change the theme files directly.
  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Themes menu.
  3. Since WordPress does not recognize that the theme is already installed when you upload a new zip file, you will get a ‘Theme Destination already exists’ error if you try to install the theme. Therefore you have to deactivate and delete the old theme and afterwards install and activate the new theme version.
  4. Deactivate the theme by activating another.
  5. Click on the screenshot of the Wild Book theme. This will open the Theme Details popup box.

  6. Click on the Delete button in the bottom right corner to remove all theme files.
  7. Upload the new version wildbook.zip and install the theme.

A child theme is a theme that inherits the functionality and styling of another theme, called the parent theme. Child themes are the recommended way of modifying an existing theme.

Why use a Child Theme?

There are a few reasons why you would want to use a child theme:

  • If you modify a theme directly and it is updated, then your modifications may be lost. By using a child theme you will ensure that your modifications are preserved.
  • Using a child theme can speed up development time.
  • Using a child theme is a great way to learn about WordPress theme development.

Child Theme Install

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Themes menu.
  3. Click the Add New button on the top of the screen.
  4. On the next page, click the Upload Theme button on the top of the screen.
  5. Click the Choose File button to open up a dialog to browse your computer and navigate to Child Theme folder (it is located in the extracted package folder). Select the file wildbook-child.zip and click Install Now.
  6. Please wait a few seconds, WordPress will upload and extract the theme archive for you. All you need to do next is to press the Activate link under the message for successful theme installation.
  7. That's it! Now you can add custom CSS code and PHP functions.

How to use the child theme

  1. After install the child theme navigate to Wordpress admin panel.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Editor menu.
  3. In the section titled Templates, you will see a list of files that you can edit:
    • functions.php — This lets you add additional functions, classes and hooks to Wordpress theme without needing to alter the code within the functions file of the parent theme.
    • style.css — This lets you add or change the theme styles (colors, sizes, fonts, backgrounds etc.) without needing to change the code within the style.css file of the parent theme.
  4. Select the file you want to change and add your PHP/CSS code in the editor on the left side.
  5. Click the Update File button when you're finished editing a file.

The Wild Book theme supports the custom navigation menus. You can add a menu in two places of the page: on the sidebar and on the top of the content area. WordPress comes with a simple user interface that makes it quite easy for beginner users to create and manage menus.

Creating Menus

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to Appearance > Menus section.
  3. If you don’t have any menus, click the Create Menu button and create a new menu.
  4. From the blocks on the left side select pages that you want to add in your menu. Click the Add to Menu button.
  5. Once you've added a few items to your menu, you will see the added menu items on the right side in the Menu Sctructure section.
  6. If you want to rename a menu item, click the down arrow of a menu item to display its properties. You can then edit the navigation label that is displayed on menus.
  7. You can also change the order of menu items. Whilst holding the left mouse button, drag menu item to the top or bottom.
  8. To create a drop down menu drag a menu item slightly to the right of the menu item above it to create a sub item relationship in the menu.
  9. Scroll to the bottom of the menu editor window. In the section titled Theme locations, click the check box for the location where you want your menu to appear.
  10. Click Save Menu button.

By default, the menu on the content area is always attached to the top. To disable the sticky menu, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Go to Appearance > Customize.
  3. Open the tab Other options.
  4. Uncheck the box Enable sticky menu.
  5. Click the Save & Publish button.

The Wild Book theme is fully customizable. Using the Options panel, you can change the layout, colors, background image, etc.

Customizer

The Wild Book theme supports the Wordpress Customizer. The Customizer is a framework for live-previewing any change to WordPress. It provides a simple and consistent interface for users to customize various aspects of their theme and their site, from colors and layouts to widgets, menus, and more. Themes and plugins alike can add custom options to the Customizer. The Customizer is the canonical way to add options to your theme.

To access the Wordpress Customizer, log in to the WordPress Administration Panels and navigate to Appearance > Customize.

The Wild Book theme has a 4 unique sidebar layouts. Each layout changes the position of the sidebar elements (logo, tagline, menu etc). Also you can change the size of the sidebar (25% to 50%) and its position (left ot right).

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Customize menu.
  3. Open the Layout tab.
  4. In the drop down menu for Sidebar Layout select the layout you want to use.
  5. In the drop down menu for Sidebar Position select the position (left ot right).
  6. In the drop down menu for Sidebar Width select the width of the sidebar (25% to 50%).
  7. Click Save & Publish button.

Blog Layouts

The Wild Book theme has a three blog layouts: standard (classic blog), grid (two columns) and list. To change the layout, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Customize menu.
  3. Open the Layout tab.
  4. In the drop down menu for Blog Layout select the layout you want to use.
  5. Click Save & Publish button.

Follow the below steps to set the background image on the left sidebar of your site:

For all pages
  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Background menu.
  3. Click Select Image at the Background section, upload the background image file from Upload Files tab screen, and click Choose Image.
  4. Set the background properties:
    • Background Repeat — This property sets how a background image will be repeated (used when the "background size" = auto).
    • Horizontal Background Position — This property sets the starting position of a background image by horizontal.
    • Vertical Background Position — This property sets the starting position of a background image by vertical.
    • Background Attachment — This property sets whether a background image is fixed or scrolls with the rest of the page.
    • Background Size — This property specifies the size of the background images.
  5. To change the transparency of blackout, use the range slider Blackout.
  6. Click the Save & Publish button.
For individual pages
  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Pages (or Posts) menu.
  3. On the next screen click on the Page you want to set the background image.
  4. On the next page scroll down the page until you see the Sidebar Background Image box on the right side of the screen.

  5. Click the Set Background Image link.
  6. Upload a new image or select an existing image, and click the Choose image button
  7. When you are ready, click the Update button.

To change the site title, tagline and description, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Customnize menu.
  3. Open the Site Identity tab.
  4. Now you will see three input fields:
    • Site Title — displayed in the sidebar and in the browser tab.
    • Site Description — displayed in the browser tab after the site title.
    • Tagline — displayed in the sidebar under the site title or logo.
  5. Type your custom the site title, description and tagline. In the tagline field you can use HTML tags.
  6. Click Save & Publish button.

Logo

The logo is displayed in the sidebar of the site. You can place logo above the site title and tagline. Follow the below steps to set logo in your site:

  1. Prepare the logo image file (PNG or JPEG).
  2. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  3. Navigate to Appearance > Customnize menu.
  4. Open the Logo tab.
  5. Click Select Image at Current Header section, upload the image file you prepared in the above step from Upload Files tab screen, and click Select and Crop.
  6. Crop the image or click the Skip Cropping button.
  7. Change the logo size using range slider in the Size section.
  8. Change the distance between the logo and title/tagline using range slider in the Bottom margin section (not necessary).
  9. Click «Save & Publish» button.

Favicon

Follow the below steps to set favicon in your site.

  1. Prepare image file. It must be square, and at least 512 pixels wide and tall.
  2. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  3. Navigate to Appearance > Customnize menu.
  4. Open the Site Indentity tab.
  5. Click Select Image at Site Icon section, upload the image file you prepared in the above step from Upload Files tab screen, and click Select.
  6. Click Save & Publish button.

Social Icons

The social profiles buttons are displayed on the sidebar. The Wild Book theme supports 18 social network buttons, which you can use to get followers to your site.

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to Appearance > Customnize menu.
  3. Open the Social Profiles tab.
  4. In an open tab, you'll see a input fields of each social profiles. Type the URLs social networks that you want to display in the sidebar.
  5. Click Save & Publish button.

The copyright text is displayed at the bottom of the sidebar. You can change the copyright text using HTML tags or disable its displaying.

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Customnize menu.
  3. Open the Copyright tab.
  4. Type your custom copyright text. You may use these HTML tags and attributes: a[href,title], strong, b, em, i, img[src,alt,title], p, span, br.
  5. If you do not want to display the copyright text, uncheck the box Display copyright.
  6. Click the Save & Publish button.

Colors

You can quickly and easily change the color of any element on the site. To create your color scheme, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Go to Appearance > Customnize.
  3. Open the Colors tab.
  4. Select the area where you want to change colors.
  5. Select the color you want to change and click button Select Color.
  6. By moving the circle on the colors area, select a color you want to use.
  7. Click Save & Publish button.

Labels

You can change some the titles and labels such as "Continue reading" button etc.

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Customnize menu.
  3. Open the Titles tab.
  4. Enter your text in the input fields.
  5. Click Save & Publish button.

Post Display Options

To disable the display of some of metadata or blocks on post page, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Customnize menu.
  3. Open the Post Options tab.
  4. Check the checkbox next the meta info you want to display on the post page.
  5. Click Save & Publish button.

Share Buttons

The social media share buttons lets you share a page with your friends and contacts using your social media channels. The share buttons are displayed after the page content. You can enable or disable the display of some of the buttons.

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to Appearance > Customnize menu.
  3. Open the Share Buttons tab.
  4. Check the boxes of the social networks what you want to display after the page content.
  5. Click Save & Publish button.

Custom CSS

You can quickly and easily add your custom CSS code. Your CSS code will have the highest priority and will override the primary styles.

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to Appearance > Customnize menu.
  3. Open the Custom CSS tab.
  4. Add your custom CSS code.
  5. Click Save & Publish button.

Effects

During the winter or Christmas holidays you can enable on your site the falling snow.

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Go to the Appearance > Customize menu.
  3. Open the Other Options tab.
  4. Check the Enable falling snow box.
  5. Click the Save & Publish button.

Creating a post

Posts are entries that display in reverse order on your home page. Posts usually have comments fields beneath them and are included in your site's RSS feed.

  1. Log in to your WordPress Administration Panel (Dashboard).
  2. Click the «Posts» tab.
  3. Click the «Add New» sub-tab.
  4. Start filling in the blanks: enter your post title in the upper field, and enter your post body content in the main post editing box below it.
  5. As needed, select a category, add tags, and make other selections from the sections below the post. (Each of these sections is explained below.)
  6. When you are ready, click «Publish».

«Continue reading» button

Do you want to a show a summary of your article on your homepage with a read more link? Adding the More Tag in your posts is quite simple.

  1. Start a creating new post. Add content to your post.
  2. Place the cursor at the point where you want to break the post.
  3. Go to your visual editor toolbar and select the Insert Read More tag button where you’d like the excerpt for your post to end.

  4. When you are ready, click «Publish (or Update)».

Sticky Post

You can attach post on home page, it will always appear above other posts. Making Sticky Posts in WordPress is really easy.

  1. Go to Wordpress admin panel.
  2. Visit edit page of post you want make sticky.
  3. Look towards the right hand sidebar where you will see a Publish box. Look at the (Visibility: Public) field and click edit.
  4. Check the box Stick this post to the front page.
  5. When you are ready, click «Publish (or Update)».

Featured Image

Featured image will be displayed at the beginning of your blog post, in the block of related posts and search results.

  1. Open the editor of the post or page where you want to display a unique custom header image, and locate the «Featured Image» module in the bottom right corner. Click Set a «Featured Image».

    If you don’t see the Featured Image module on your Add New or Edit Post page, please make sure you’ve selected «Featured Image» in your Screen Options.

  2. After clicking the «Set featured image» link follow the same steps as inserting images in Posts and Pages. Once you have selected the featured image and determined the image settings, click on the blue "Set featured image" button, to set it as the featured image for your page or post.
  3. You can disable the display of featured image on post body. In this case featured image be showed only in related posts section and search results.

Background Image

You can personalize the background image on the left side of each page and post.

  1. Open the editor of the post or page where you want to display a unique custom background image, and locate the «Side Background Image» module in the bottom right corner. Click «Set a background image».

    If you don’t see the Side Background module on your Add New or Edit Post page, please make sure you’ve selected «Side Background Image» in your Screen Options.

  2. After clicking the «Set a background image» link follow the same steps as inserting images in Posts and Pages. Once you have selected the background image and determined the image settings, click on the blue "Select image" button, to set it as the background image for your page or post.
  3. When you are ready, click «Publish».

Post Galleries

Image galleries are a great way to share groups of pictures on your WordPress site. The Create Gallery feature of the WordPress media uploader allows you to add a simple image gallery to pages or posts on your site. Wild Book support three types of gallery: Standard Thumbnails Grid, Slideshow and Masonry (Mosaic). Add a gallery to your post very easily and quickly:

  1. A gallery can go anywhere on a page or post - by itself on a blank page, or above, below, or in the midst of text. Start by placing your cursor where you want the gallery to appear - if it's in between blocks of text, like in the photo example below, consider adding a return and placing your cursor on a new line so there's space above and below.

  2. Once you've placed your cursor where you want your image gallery to appear, click on the Add Media button (located left above the editing window) to launch the media uploader interface. In the resulting popup window, select the 'Create a Gallery' option from the list of actions on the left.

  3. You can add or select the images you want to include in your image gallery by choosing from either of the following options in the center of the media uploader window:

    • Upload Files: Upload the images you want to use from your computer by dragging them into the upload area. You can add more than one image, and they will be automatically grouped together as an image gallery.
    • Media Library: Select from previously uploaded images in the media library by clicking on the ones you wish to add to the gallery. You will see a checkbox next to your selections.

    As you upload and/or select images, you will see your selection confirmed on the Insert Media screen by check boxes at the top corner of each thumbnail. Also, a row of thumbnails appears at the bottom of the window to help you keep track of all the images you’ve selected. When you are happy with your selection, click the Create a new gallery button.

  4. On the Edit Gallery page, you can do the following things before inserting the gallery you have created into your page or post:

    • Rearrange your images: Drag and Drop image thumbnails to rearrange the order of images in your gallery.
    • Reverse Order: Reverses the order of the images in your gallery.
    • Add image descriptions: Add descriptions to your images (optional) which appear as image captions below each thumbnail in the gallery.
    • Remove images: Hover over a thumbnail and click on the "X" to remove any of the images you previously selected.
    • Add more images: Click on the "Add to Gallery" link in the left hand sidebar and add or select the images you want to include in your image gallery by choosing from either "Upload Files" or "Media Library" tabs.
    • Cancel Gallery: Click on the "Cancel Gallery" link from the actions on the left to exit the Edit Gallery page and cancel your image gallery.
  5. Before inserting your gallery, you also have several Gallery Settings available in a pane on the right to control the following:

    • Links To: Controls whether the gallery thumbnails (on the published page/post) link to the image attachment page or directly to the source image file itself.
    • Columns: Set the number of columns you would like to have in your gallery. 3 Columns is the default settings, which is ideal for most sites.
    • Random Order: Enables your gallery to display your image thumbnails in a random order each time they are viewed on the site.
    • Size: Changes each image size in gallery. Available options are Thumbnail, Media, Large and Full Size.
    • Type: Type of the gallery. Available options are Thumbnail Grid, Carousel and Masonry.
  6. When you finished click the Insert Gallery button.

Editing Existing Galleries

Within the visual editor, the image gallery is displayed as a series of thumbnail images.

When you click any area of the image gallery, icon buttons appear top of the area. At any time, you can edit the images or settings of your gallery by clicking on the Edit button. You can remove the image gallery at any time by clicking on the Remove button.

Post Videos

YouTube, Vimeo, Vine etc.

Copy the url of the page with the video you want to embed (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TTswKT9J9g ) and paste it into the editor. Wordpress automatically embed video in a blog post.

Self-hosted Video

  1. In order to embed media in your page or post content, you must first insert your cursor in the place in the text where you want the media to appear.
  2. Once you’ve placed your cursor on the line where you want your media to appear, click on the «Add Media» button to launch the media uploader interface.
  3. In the open window, select the drop-down menu All Media Items > Video.
  4. Select video, enter caption and click button «Insert Into Post».
  5. Or click tab "Upload Files", upload video and follow step 4.

Author Info

Do you want to add an author information block in your blog posts? The author info box is a small section where you can display information about the post author. In this tutorial, we will show how to add an author info block after the post.

  1. Go to Wordpress Admin Panel.
  2. Navigate to the Users > Your Profile menu.
  3. Enter your bio text to "Biographical Info" field. You can use a HTML tags.
  4. Click Update Profile button.

First Steps

To create a portfolio page you need to install and activate the Portfolio plugin. Please read this documentation part. If you already have any Portfolio plugin installed, you can skip this step.

Creating Portfolio Page

Now you need to create a page with a gallery of your projects. By default, your projects gallery is located at http://YOURSITEURL/portfolio/. If you want to create a portfolio page with a description and make it the homepage you need to create a separate page.

  1. Log in to your WordPress Administration Panel (Dashboard).
  2. Navigate to the Pages > Add New menu.
  3. Type portfolio page title and description (if needed).
  4. On the right side you need find a block Page Attributes. In the drop-down list «Template» to select «Portfolio Grid».
  5. If necessary, set a background image and featured image.
  6. Click «Publish» button.
  7. Now you can add this page to your site menu.

Creating Project

Creating a project is very easy and similar to creating a blog post.

  1. Go to Wordpress admin panel.
  2. Go to Portfolio > Add New Item.
  3. Start filling in the blanks: enter your project title in the upper field, and enter your portfolio project content and images in the main post editing box below it.
  4. Check the boxes with categories on the Portfolio Categories block. If this block has no categories, you need add them on the page Portfolio > Portfolio Categories.
  5. In the blocks «Featured Image» and «Background image on left side» set the thumbnail image of the project and the background image (if necessary).
  6. Click «Publish» button.
  7. Now this page will be added to the gallery of your projects.

Homepage with Portfolio

You can show the projects gallery on the home page of your site.

  1. Create portfolio page.
  2. Create empty page with title «Blog».
  3. Go to Admin Panel -> Settings > Reading.
  4. In section «Front page displays» check the box «A static page (select below)».
  5. In the drop-down list «Front page» select your portfolio page.
  6. In the drop-down list «Posts page» select empty blog page.
  7. Click «Save Changes» button.

First Steps

To create a page with contact form you need to install and activate the Contact Form 7 plugin. Please read this documentation part. If you already have Contact Form 7 plugin installed, you can skip this step.

Creating Contact Page

When you finished installation the Contact Form 7 plugin you can start creating a contact form and page with this form.

  1. Log in to your WordPress Administration Panel (Dashboard).
  2. Navigate to the Contact > Add New menu.
  3. Enter the contact form name in the "Enter title here" field.
  4. In the text editor located on the "Form" tab edit the contact form fields. You can remove some fields or add new fields. More information about the contact form fields you can find on this page.
  5. Click the Mail tab. You can edit a mail template for mail that is to be sent as a result of a form submission. You can use mail-tags in these fields. Mail(2) template, which is an additional mail template that can have different contents from the primary Mail template, is also available. For more information, see Setting Up Mail.
  6. Click the Messages tab. You can edit messages that are used for various situations, including “Validation errors occurred,” “Please fill in the required field,” etc. Note that only plain text is available here. HTML tags and entities are not allowed to use in the message fields.
  7. Click button «Save».
  8. When you finished, below the Title field appears shortcode of the contact form. Copy this shortcode.

  9. Navigate to the Pages > Add New menu.
  10. Enter a page title and insert the shortcode to post editor. You can also add your custom text or images before/after the shortcode.
  11. When you're ready, click «Publish» button.
  12. Now the contact form page ready for use.

The "Wild Book" theme has two areas widgets located in the footer of the site. To add widgets to the footer of your site, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the WordPress Administration Panels.
  2. Navigate to the Appearance > Widgets menu.
  3. Choose a Widget and either drag it to the sidebar where you wish it to appear, or click the widget, (select a destination sidebar if your theme has more than one) and click the Add Widget button.
  4. Preview the site. You should find that the "default" sidebar elements are now gone and only the new addition is visible.
  5. Return to the Widgets Panel to continue adding Widgets.
  6. To customize the Widget features, click the down arrow in the upper right corner to expand the Widget's interface.
  7. To save the Widget's customization, click Save.
  8. To remove the Widget, click Remove or Delete.
If you change WordPress Themes, the Widgets will return to the left side of the page in the Widget Archives or Available Widgets list. You may need to add them again and rearrangement depending upon the Theme's ability to preserve other Theme's Widgets.

Before you create a subscription form on your site, you need to create an account on the MailChimp service. MailChimp is an email marketing platform. This kind of service is typically used for creating email newsletters or advertisements that people opt-in to receive, often by entering their email address into a form on your website.

You can integrate MailChimp with social media services and your applications to collect contacts for your lists of recipients.

Emails sent by MailChimp on your behalf comply with anti-spam regulations, which is important to reduced the chance that your messages will be filtered into spam.

First Steps

  1. Create an account on the MailChimp. If you have already created an account, log in to the MailChimp Admin panel.
  2. Create an email list for your site.
  3. Generate the API key.
  4. Install and activate the MailChimp for Wordpress plugin.

Creating a Form

  1. Navigate to the MailChimp for WP -> MailChimp menu.
  2. Enter the generated API key (First Steps - Step 3) to the API Key field and click Save Changes button.

  3. Once the API key is added and the changes saved, your list information will populate in the Your MailChimp Account area. This will give you a break down of each list and the information about them.

  4. Navigate to the MailChimp for WP -> Forms menu.
  5. Enter the form title to the What is the name of this form? field. Check the box next the name of the created email list (First Steps - Step 2). Click the Add New Form button.

  6. On the next page, you will see the HTML editor for editing the subscription form. You can add additional form fields, text and other HTML tags. If you want to use the form like on the demo site, enter this HTML code:

    <div class="wdb-newsletter-form">
    <div class="wdb-newsletter-form-wrap">
    <input type="text" name="NAME" placeholder="Your name" required />
    <input type="email" name="EMAIL" placeholder="Your email address" required />
    <input type="submit" value="Sign up" />
    </div>
    </div>
  7. Click the Save Changes button.

Adding the form to the site

Now add the created form to the site. You can add a form to several areas of the site, for example, in the sidebar or site header.

  1. Navigate to the MailChimp for WP -> Forms menu.
  2. Click the Get Shrotcode button. In the dialog that appears, select the shortcode and copy it.
  3. Navigate to the Pages -> Add New menu.
  4. Enter a page title, eg. My Subscription Form. Paste the copied shortcode to the text editor.

  5. Click the Publish button.
  6. Navigate to the Apperance -> Customize menu. Open the Additional Content Areas tab.
  7. Select the created page in the dropdown list for an area where you want to show the subscription form.

  8. Click the Save&Publish button.
  9. Now the subscription form appears in the selected area.

More information about the forms of subscription you can get on the site MailChimp for WordPress - Knowledge Base.