How to Use the Featured Thesis Area

The Feature Box area of the Thesis theme for WordPress allows you to highlight important parts of your site for visitors. Featuring specific posts or articles in the Feature Box area serves as a sort of sticky on the site. Created by DIY Themes, the Thesis theme for WordPress is designed for easy coding updates via the free Thesis OpenHook plugin. Using the plugin allows you to enable the Feature Box area to showcase your important articles.

Instructions

1. Log into the administration area of your WordPress site that is running the Thesis theme. Click on "Appearance" from the left sidebar menu and then "Design Options."

2. Select your preferred location from the drop-down menu by "Feature Box." The three options are: "In Your Content Column," "Full-Width Above Content and Sidebars" and "Full-Width Above Header Only." The first option is the default selection, which you can use to show off featured posts or articles on the site. Also, leave the default settings when it is shown as "on Blog Page Only" and "Above All Posts." Click the "Save" button to save your settings and enable the featured area.

3. Click on "Posts" from the left sidebar menu and then "Categories." Enter in "Featured" for the name of your new category under the "Add New Category" heading. Click the "Add New Category" button to save your settings.

4. Write a post that you want showcased in the featured area from "Posts" and "Add New"; save that post in the "Featured" category.

5. Go to "Plugins" from the left sidebar menu and then "Add New." Search for "Thesis OpenHook" in the search box and click "Search Plugins." When it appears, click on "Install," which takes only a few seconds, and then "Activate."

6. Click on "Appearance" from the left sidebar menu and then "Thesis OpenHook." Scroll down on the OpenHook options page until you see "Before Content" and the large text box next to it. Click to put a check in the box under it that is labeled "Execute PHP on this hook" and enter the following code:

   function featurecontent() { ?>

   <div id="my-feature-box">

   <?php $my_query = new WP_Query('category_name=featured&showposts=1'); while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); $do_not_duplicate = $post->ID;?>

   <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>

   <?php the_excerpt(); ?>

   <div class="featurereadmore">

   <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Read the full article">Read the full article →</a>

   </div>

   <?php endwhile; ?>

   </div>

   <?php

   }

   add_action('thesis_hook_feature_box', 'featurecontent');

   Then, click on the little "Save" button under this section.

7. Scroll down and look for "Feature Box" and the large text box next to it. Click to put a check in the box under it that is labeled "Execute PHP on this hook" and enter the following code:

   /* Featured Post Formatting */

   .custom #my-feature-box { font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bbbbbb; padding: 22px 15px 22px 15px; }

   .custom #my-feature-box h2 { font-size: 2.2em; margin: 0 0 15px 0; }

   .custom #my-feature-box h2 a { color: #000000; text-decoration: none; }

   .custom #my-feature-box h2 a:hover { color: #ffffff; }

   .custom #my-feature-box p { font-size: 1.4em; line-height:1.571em; text-align: justify;}

   .custom #my-feature-box .featurereadmore { padding: 22px 0 0 0; }

   .custom #my-feature-box .featurereadmore a { font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; }

8. Click the little "Save" button directly under this section. Your featured area will now display correctly.

References

• Empty Cabin Media: Thesis Feature Box -- How To Show Off Your Best Articles
• WordPress: Thesis OpenHook