How to Set Up Your Home Page Featured Content Section

If you look at the home page of this site, you’ll clearly see the featured content glider at the top. It’s very simple to add the featured content glider to your site. Follow these simple steps, and you’ll have it done lickety-split.

Step 1 – Activate Featured Content on the WP-Genius Theme Settings Page

Near the top of the WP-Genius Theme Settings Page, you will see a setting titled “Featured Content on Home Page.” Simply select yes and save your changes. The default setting will display up to 5 featured articles in the glider. However, you can display an additional 4 featured articles beneath the glider by changing the “How Many Featured Articles” setting to 9. The theme will display either the most recent 5 or 9 featured articles in reverse chronological order.

Step 2 – Select Some Posts to be Displayed in the Featured Content Section

If you want a post to appear in the featured content section, simply tag the post as “featured” (without the quotes). To add a tag, simply find the “Post Tags” box on the right side of the Write Post screen and enter it there. NOTE: The slug for the “featured” tag must be featured for the featured slider to show posts. If this is not possible, you may instead replace “featured” with “featured-2” (or the current post tag slug) in the features.php template. In addition, you must have at least two featured posts for the slider to work properly.

Step 3 – A Few Words About Featured Content Images

1. Featured Content Image Size: The ideal size for an image in the featured content glider is 540px wide by 250px height. For a simple, quick and free method to resize images, visit this site.

2. Use the Get the Image Plugin – If you haven’t already done so, you should install and activate this plugin. It will save you a lot of time and energy when it comes to using images on your site.

3. Upload Your Image – Once your image is the proper size, simply upload via the standard WordPress image uploader found on the Write Post page (just under the post title).

4. Alternatively, You Can Use a Custom Field – If you prefer, you can simply add your Featured Content image via a custom field. The custom field names you need to use are as follows:

• For the images that appear in the glider: custom field name = “home_feature_photo,” and the value needs to be the file path to your image (e.g. http://wp-mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/filenamebenz.jpg).
• For thumbnail images: custom field name is “post_thumbnail,” and the value needs to be the file path to your image (e.g. http://wp-mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/filenamebenz.jpg).

Filed Under: Tutorials