Using custom plugins for your website

Using custom plugins for your website

Before you begin: Check the installed plugins

Make sure the following plugins are installed in your WordPress dashboard:
  • MasterSlider WP
  • Custom Facebook Feed
  • WonderPlugin Gallery
Additionally, the following plugins are optional:
  • WP Add Custom CSS
  • ThreeWP Broadcast (allows you to publish a broadcast post to several sites at once)
  • Custom Sidebars (allows you to create a custom sidebar)
  • Page Builder by SiteOrigin (allows you to create a simple page-building tool for pages and posts)
Note: To check what plugins you have installed, in your WordPress dashboard, click Plugins in the menu on the left.

Using the Broadcast plugin

The broadcast plugin allows you to publish the same posts or page updates across a number of sites. For instance, you can post league news on every team’s website.
To change the broadcast plugin settings, on the WordPress dashboard, in the menu on the left of the screen, click Broadcast. Then click Settings.
Assign permissions to use the Broadcast plugin
You can assign permission to use the broadcast plugin to a specific role, so all users who are assigned that role are able to publish broadcasted posts. For instance, you can choose to assign permission to the broadcast feature to everyone with the Author role. You can change a user’s role in the Users section of the WordPress dashboard.   
  1. On the WordPress dashboard, in the menu on the left of the screen, click Broadcast.
  2. Click Settings > Roles.
  3. Select a role to assign broadcast permissions to.
  4. Click Save settings.

Publish a post to multiple sites

  1. When creating a new post, in the Broadcast section on the right of the screen, select the websites that you want to publish your post on (figure 1).
  2. Create a post as you normally would.
  3. Click Publish.
Note: Images included in your post are automatically added to the other websites that you publish your post on.


Figure 1.

Using the custom sidebar plugin

The custom sidebar plugin allows you to quickly create a new sidebar for your website. A sidebar is an area where you can place widgets, and there are two sidebar locations: the right side of your website, and the footer at the bottom of your home page.
After you create a custom sidebar, you need to add widgets to it. When you create a custom sidebar, you can add it to any page or post you publish on your website. For instance, you can create a custom sidebar for game recaps you author, and you can add that sidebar to each game recap when you publish it.

Create a custom sidebar

  1. On the WordPress dashboard, in the menu on the left of the screen, click Appearance > Widgets.
  2. Click Create a new sidebar.
  3. Type a name and description for the sidebar.
  4. Click Create Sidebar.

Add widgets to a sidebar

  1. Under Available Widgets, click a widget.
  2. Complete the instructions on the screen to set any options, settings, or content for the widget.
  3. Repeat steps 1-2 until you added all the widgets you want to add to the sidebar.
Note: If you want to create a custom sidebar for built-in archiving pages, in the custom sidebar, click Sidebar location > For Archives. Click the Category Archives tab and select the default sidebar you want to replace with your custom sidebar.

Place a custom sidebar on your website

  1. When authoring a page or post, on the right side of the screen, under Sidebars, click the drop-down menu next to the sidebar location you want to replace (figure 2).
  2. Click a custom sidebar.
  3. Finish authoring the post or page as usual, and click Publish.
Figure 2.

Using Foogallery

With FooGallery, you can create photo galleries and publish photo galleries in posts or pages. You can also create an album, which is a collection of galleries.

Create a photo gallery

  1. On the WordPress dashboard, in the menu on the left of the screen, click FooGallery > Add Gallery.
  2. Type a gallery name.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • To add images to the gallery that you already added to WordPress, in the Media Library tab, click the images you want to add to the gallery.
    • To upload new images to add to the gallery, in the Upload Files tab, click Select Files. Select the image you want to upload and click Open.
  4. Click Add Media.
  5. If necessary, change any of the gallery settings.
  6. If necessary, to change the order of the pictures in the gallery, do any of the following:
    • To sort the pictures, on the right side of the screen, under Gallery Sorting, select an option.
    • To manually rearrange the pictures, click and drag a picture to a new location in the gallery.
  7. Click Publish.

Add a gallery to a post

  1. When creating a new post, above the body text field, click Add FooGallery.
  2. Select a gallery and click Insert Gallery.
  3. Create a post as you normally would.
  4. Click Publish.

Create an album

An album is a collection of galleries. Albums can help organize your galleries and display a number of galleries on the same page. For instance, if you create a gallery for each game of the season, you can create an album for the season, and add each game gallery to the album.
  1. On the WordPress dashboard, in the menu on the left of the screen, click FooGallery > Albums.
  2. Click Add Album.
  3. Type an album name.
  4. Select the galleries you want to include in your album.
  5. If necessary, change any of the gallery settings.
  6. Click Publish.

Add an album to a post

Before creating a new post, you must first copy the shortcode for the album. To copy the album shortcode, On the WordPress dashboard, in the menu on the left of the screen, click FooGallery > Albums. Under Album Shortcode, click the code to copy it (figure 3).
  1. When creating a new post, place your cursor in the body text field where you want the gallery to appear.
  2. Paste the shortcode you copied (figure 4).
  3. Create a post as you normally would.
  4. Click Publish.
 
Figure 3.


Figure 4. 

About FooGallery extensions

FooGallery includes a number of free and paid templates, called extensions. Extensions can change the appearance, layout, or user experience of galleries on your website. To explore extensions, On the WordPress dashboard, in the menu on the left of the screen, click FooGallery > Extensions.
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