Kolumn

A Contemporary Theme for Bloggers

created: 01/21/2016
latest update: 10/04/2019
by: Edge Themes
helpcenter.qodeinteractive.com/

Kolumn - A Contemporary Theme for Bloggers

Hi, and welcome to the Kolumn User Guide. The User Guide covers all the information needed to use the Kolumn theme to build an amazing website, as well as some helpful tips and tricks that will make your experience working with the Kolumn theme easier and more enjoyable. If you need any additional assistance while using our theme, you can always submit a ticket to our support forum at https://helpcenter.qodeinteractive.com/ and our support team will be glad to help you out.

You can navigate through different sections of the User Guide by clicking on the links in the menu to the left of your screen. You will also notice that we have highlighted certain parts of the text throughout the User Guide, such as important pieces of information, useful tips, and helpful code snippets, with different formating for an easier overview. Here are some examples of the different formating we use for Important Notes, Useful Tips, and Code Snippets:

This is an important note

This is a useful tip

<div class="code-snippet">This is a helpful code snippet</div>

In this first section of the Kolumn User Guide we will go through the essential steps required to start building your website with the Kolumn theme. We will explain how to install the theme, import the included demo content, as well as how to update the theme. At the end of this section you will also find a set of Frequently Asked Question related to troubleshooting the theme.

Installing Kolumn

After downloading the Kolumn installation file from ThemeForest, extract it and in the extracted folder locate the kolumn.zip file. You can then install the Kolumn theme using one of the two following installation methods:

WordPress upload - For most users, this is probably the simplest installation method. To install the Kolumn theme using this method, please follow these steps:
1. Login to your WordPress admin panel
2. Navigate to Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme
3. Click on Choose File and select kolumn.zip
4. Click on Install Now
FTP upload - If you would like to install the Kolumn theme via FTP, please follow these steps:
1. Extract the kolumn.zip file you previously located. You should now see a folder named kolumn
2. Using an FTP client, login to the server where your WordPress website is hosted
3. Using an FTP client, navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ directory under your WordPress website's root directory
4. Using an FTP client, upload the previously extracted kolumn folder to the themes directory on your remote server

Once the installation is complete, your Kolumn theme will be ready for use. Now all you need to do is navigate to Appearance > Themes and activate the Kolumn theme. After you have done this, you should see Edge Options appear in the left navigation bar of your WordPress admin panel.

You should also see a notification at the top of the screen that required plugins need to be installed. Please install and activate all of the required plugins, since they are necessary for the theme to function properly.

Make sure to install the "Edge CPT" plugin, since this plugin is of critical importance for proper theme functioning. This plugin includes core theme functionalities.

If writing permissions aren't set for folders containing CSS and JS files on your server, you will see a warning message at the top of the theme options page. In order to remove that message, you need to change permissions for the wp-content/themes/kolumn/css and wp-content/themes/kolumn/js folders and set them to 755. We recommend setting writing permissions in order to optimize your site performance. If you have any issues with this, please contact your hosting service provider. Alternatively, you can submit a ticket to https://helpcenter.qodeinteractive.com/ with FTP access for your site, and our support team will take a look.

Importing Demo Content

With the Kolumn theme, you have the option to either start creating your site from scratch, or choosing to import one of the included demo sites to use as a starting point, and then modifying it to suit your needs. In this section we will explain how to do the latter.

Kolumn comes with a one-click import module. To import one of the included demo sites, please follow these steps:

Login to your WordPress admin panel
Navigate to Edge Options > Import
From the Import dropdown menu, choose the demo site that you would like to import
From the Import Type dropdown menu, choose what type of content you'd like to import:
- All - imports pages, content, widgets, and settings. We recommend this for users who would like to import a demo site exactly as it appears on our live demo.
- Content - imports only pages and their content. This option is recommended for users who would like to see how we've created our page layouts, but who want to keep their own settings in Edge Options.
- Widgets - imports only widgets. This option is recommended for users who would only like to populate the theme’s widget areas with the widgets from their chosen demo. No other content is imported.
- Options - imports settings in Edge Options only. This option is recommended for users who would like to achieve the same look and feel of their chosen demo site, but do not want to import any additional content.
If you also wish to import media files (images, videos, sounds), make sure to set the Import attachments option to "Yes".
Click on the Import button and wait for the import process to finish.

Please note that the images we use on our demo sites are copyrighted, and if you'd like to publish them on your site, you would need to purchase them separately. We bought most of our images on Shutterstock.

Updating Kolumn

You can update your theme by performing the following steps:

Download the latest theme .zip file from ThemeForest
Extract it and locate kolumn.zip
Extract kolumn.zip and locate the kolumn folder
Copy/Replace the contents of the kolumn folder to the /wp-content/themes/kolumn folder of your web site.

Troubleshooting FAQ

1. Why can't I save my menu?

WordPress by default has a limited number of menu items. When you import our demo content, which contains a lot of menu items, you might not be able to save changes you make to a menu. You can fix this problem by contacting your hosting and asking them to add the following lines to the php.ini file:

suhosin.post.max_vars = 5000
suhosin.request.max_vars = 5000

2. Why is there a smiley displayed on blank pages?

This problem is most likely related to JetPack and memory settings of your hosting. You can either disable JetPack or read what the JetPack developer wrote: Regarding the memory limit, please refer to the WordPress Codex section concerning this problem. Some sites that load many plugins alongside WordPress ultimately require a higher memory limit than WordPress defaults to, but since this is limited to specific hosts and configurations, it must be dealt with on an individual basis. You'll find the Codex article at: http://codex.wordpress.org/Common_WordPress_Errors#Allowed_memory_size_exhausted

3. How do I optimize my site?

Please use this tool to investigate reasons for slow loading: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?hl=en

4. How to translate or rename default theme labels?

You can use the Poedit software (http://poedit.net/wordpress) to translate/rename all the theme's labels. Another solution is to edit the theme folder/languages/en_US.po file directly in a text editor and manually edit the labels you want to translate.

5. Why do I see a white screen when importing demo content?

If you get a white screen or some other error when trying to import our demo content, this probably happens because of the maximum execution time limit. You need to increase the maximum execution time (upload time) setting of your web server. The default maximum execution time on web servers is 30 seconds. Please increase it to 120 seconds. Possible ways of achieving this are:

By Wp-config.php changes - set_time_limit(120);
In htaccess - php_value max_execution_time 120;
In php.ini file - max_execution_time = 120

Ask your hosting provider to take care of this for you.

Once you've installed Kolumn, you can start building your site. In this section of the User Guide we will explain how you can set up your header, upload your logo, create your menu, set up your footer area, customize the general look and feel of your website, and create your first pages.

Setting Up the Header

One of the first things you might want to do after you have installed and activated your Kolumn theme is to set up your header area. The header contains the logo, menu, search bar, side area icon, and other optional widgets.

To set up your header, navigate to Edge Options > Header from your WordPress admin panel. The settings you define here will be the default settings for all pages on your site. If you need any help in further understanding any of these options, please refer to the Edge Options section of this User Guide.

Some options, such as the header skin and background color, can be overridden on a page to page basis from a specific page’s backend. For more information on how local page settings work, please refer to the Pages section of this User Guide.

Uploading Your Logo

To add your logo to the header, navigate to Edge Options > Logo from your WordPress admin panel and click the upload button next to the Logo Image – Default field. After you upload your image and save the options, you should have a visible logo in your header area. For more information regarding the various logo types that can be uploaded, please refer to the Edge Options section of this User Guide.

Menu Creation

To create a new menu, navigate to Appearance > Menus from your WordPress admin panel and click on Create a new menu. Enter a name for your new menu and then click Create Menu.

Every page that you have created will be listed in the section on the left named Pages. Simply check the pages that you would like to add to your menu and click the Add to Menu button. Once you have added pages to your menu, you can click and drag the menu items to rearrange them, or nest them one underneath the other.

In the Menu Settings section (which is located underneath the Menu Structure section), check the checkbox next to Main Navigation and click Save Menu. This will activate the menu you have just created, and you should now see a functional menu in your header.

Footer

To set up your footer, navigate to Edge Options > Footer from your WordPress admin panel.

The settings you define here will be the default settings for all pages on your site. If you would like both the top and bottom footer areas to be displayed, make sure that both the Show Footer Top and Show Footer Bottom options are enabled. If you need any help understanding any of these options, please refer to the Edge Options section of this user guide.

Content is added to your footer via widgets. Navigate to Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress admin panel. On the right side of your page you will see the widget areas for your footer. The widget areas for the top footer are named Footer Column 1, Footer Column 2, Footer Column 3, and Footer Column 4. On the left side of the Widgets page you will see the available widgets. To add a widget to one of the Footer widget areas, simply drag the desired widget to one of the Footer Column widget areas on the right.

To add content to the bottom footer, simply add widgets to the Footer Bottom widget area, or the Footer Bottom Left and Footer Bottom Right widget areas.

General Look and Feel

Now let’s set up the general look and feel of your site. If you have imported a demo site and would like to keep its general look and feel, then you do not need to do anything else. Otherwise, go to Edge Options > General and in the Font Family field set a default font family for your site. Next, in the First Main Color field set a default main color for your site.

Now that you have set up the basic elements for your site, you’re ready to start building your pages.

Building Pages

To create a new page, navigate to Pages > Add New from your WordPress admin panel. In the text field near the top of the screen enter a title for your page. After you have added a title, choose the “Full width” template from the section on the right named Page Attributes. This will allow you to add sections to your page that span across the whole width of the screen.

In the bottom section of your screen you will find local page settings. Any settings that you define here will override the global settings set in Edge Options.

It is generally considered good practice to set up the look and feel of your site on a global level, and override the settings when necessary on a local level. This will save you a lot of time, unlike if you were to set up every page separately.

To start adding elements to your page, first make sure that you are in the backend editor view. If the blue button near the top left of the page says BACKEND EDITOR, click on it to enable the Visual Composer page builder view. Once you’re in the Visual Composer view, the blue button will say CLASSIC MODE. You can now click on the Add Element button to start adding elements to your page. You can learn more about elements in the Custom Shortcodes section of this user guide.

Please note that the Frontend view for Visual Composer has been intentionally disabled since some of the added custom shortcodes require page reload because of script calculations, and due to this do not appear on the page while building with the Frontend view. The Frontend view can be used. However, while building your page some elements might not display properly until you refresh the page. If you would like to use the Frontend view, you can enable it by going to Appearance > Editor, opening the extend-vc.php file and finding the following piece of code if(function_exists('vc_disable_frontend')){vc_disable_frontend();} and either removing or commenting it out. To disable the Frontend view again you just need to uncomment or return this code.

Finally, click the Publish button in the upper right section of the page. (If you made some changes on an already published page, you will see an Update button instead).

In this section of the User Guide we will discuss page creation in more detail, including the various page templates available in the theme, and all the page specific options.

When creating a new page, one of the first things you will probably want to do is to choose an appropriate template for your page. To this this, visit your page from the backend (or create a new page by going to Pages > Add new), and locate the Page Attributes section on the right side of the screen. Kolumn comes with a variety of page templates to choose from:

Default Template - Select this template if you would like to create a standard page with your content inside the grid.
Blog: Masonry* - Select this template to display a list of your blog posts on the page. The blog list will be displayed in a Masonry type grid.
Blog: Masonry Full Width* - Select this template to display a list of your blog posts on this page. The blog list will be displayed in a Masonry type grid that spans the width of the page.
Blog: Masonry Gallery* - Select this template to display a list of your blog posts on this page. The blog list will be displayed in a Masonry Gallery layout (with the featured covering the whole post container, the date in the top left corner, and ppost info overlaying the image in the bottom).
Blog: Standard* - Select this template to display a list of your blog posts on this page. The blog list will be displayed in the Standard layout (post info text located underneath the featured image).
Blog: Standard Whole Post* - Select this template to display a list of your blog posts on this page. The blog list will be displayed in the Standard layout, with the whole post text visible on the blog list page.
Full Width - Select this template if you would like to create a standard page with your content spanning across the full width of the page.

*All of the blog templates listed above are used for displaying blog posts in various manners.

Now that you have chosen an appropriate template, let’s go over the custom fields available for pages.

Please note that any settings you save here will override the global settings you've set in Edge Options. It is generally considered good practice to set up the look of your pages on a global level, and then override settings on a local level, if necessary. This will save you a lot of time, unlike if you were to set up every page locally.

Edge Blog

Blog Category - Choose a category of posts to display (only if you are using one of the blog list templates for this page).
Number of Posts - Set a number of posts to display (only if you are using one of the blog list templates for this page).

Edge Content Bottom

Enable Content Bottom Area - Choose "Yes" to enable the content bottom area of your page.
- Sidebar to Display - Choose a custom widget area to display in the content bottom area of your website. You can create custom widget areas by navigating to Appearance > Widgets and there creating your custom widget areas.
- Display in Grid - Set this option to "Yes" if you would like the content bottom to be fitted in a centraly positioned gird.
- Background Color - Choose a background color for the content bottom area.

Edge Content Top

Enable Content Top Area - Choose "Yes" to enable the content top area of your page.
- Sidebar to Display - Choose a custom widget area to display in the content top area of your website. You can create custom widget areas by navigating to Appearance > Widgets and there creating your custom widget areas.
- Display in Grid - Set this option to "Yes" if you would like the content top to be fitted in a centraly positioned gird.
- Background Color - Choose a background color for the content top area.

Edge Footer

Disable Footer for this Page - Set this option to "Yes" to disable the footer on this page.

Edge General

Page Background Color - Set a background color for this page.
Page Padding - Set padding for the page. Please input the padding in a top right bottom left format (e.g. 10px 0 10px 0).
Slider Shortcode - If you wish to have a slider on the top of your page, copy and paste the slider shortcode here.
Page Transition - Choose a type of page transition for this page.
Show Comments - Set this option to "Yes" to display comments on this page.

Edge Header

Header Skin - Here you can choose a header style to be applied to the header on this page. The "Light" header style displays white navigation text and the "Light" logo version, while the "Dark" header style displays black navigation text and the "Dark" logo version. If you wish to use the default colors and logo, leave this field empty.
Enable Header Style on Scroll - By enabling this option, you will enable the header to change styles ("Light" or "Dark") on scroll, depending on row settings. You can define whether the header will be "Light" or "Dark" when located over a certain row on your page by going to edit that row and setting your desired header skin in the Header Style field.
Scroll Amount for Sticky Header Appearance - Set the scroll amount (how many pixels you need to scroll down the page) at which the sticky header will appear when enabled.

Edge Sidebar

Layout - Choose the desired layout for your sidebar. You can also disable the sidebar here by choosing "No Sidebar".

Edge Title

Show Title Area - Choose whether you would like the title area to be visible on this page. By default this option is set to "Yes".
- Title Area Type - Chose a type for your title area. You can choose between "Default" and "Breadcrumb", the difference being that if you choose "Breadcrumb", instead of the page title being displayed the whole breadcrumb path will be shown in your title area. You also have the option to enable breadcrumbs when using the "Default" title area, and in this case the title area will display both the page title and breadcrumbs.
  - Enable Breadcrumbs - Set this option to "Yes" to display breadcrumbs along with the page title when using the "Default" title area type.
- Animations - Choose an entry animation for the title area content.
- Vertical Alignment - Define the vertical alignment setting for the title area content on this page. You can choose to vertically align the title area content from the bottom of the header, or from the top of your browser window.
- Horizontal Alignment - Chose a horizontal alignment for the title area content on this page.
- Title Color - Set a color for the page title text.
- Breadcrumb Color - Set a color for the breadcrumb text.
- Background Color - Set a background color for the title area.
- Hide Background Image - Set this option to "Yes" to hide the title area background image.
  - Background Image - Chose a background image for the title area.
  - Background Responsive Image - Set this option to "Yes" to make the title area background image responsive.
    - Background Image in Parallax - Set this option to "Yes" to enable the Parallax effect on the title area background image. You also have the option to additionaly enable a "zoom out" effect on the background image.
- Height - Set a height for the page title area. This option is not available if you previously set Background Responsive Image to "Yes".
- Subtitle Text - Enter subtitile text to be displayed in the page title area.
- Subtitle Color - Choose a color for the subtitle text.

In this section of the User Guide we will discuss the creation of blog posts and all the available options for each post, setting up pages to display blog listings, as well as how to change the date format for your posts.

Blog Posts

To create a new blog post, go to Posts > Add New from your WordPress admin panel. First, you need to enter a title for your blog post in the text field near the top of the screen. Then choose a format for your blog post in the Format section on the right side of the screen.

Let's take a look at the available blog post formats:

Standard - This is the default blog format. You can start adding content with the Visual Composer page builder.
Gallery - this format features an image gallery slider. In order for it to work, you need to add a gallery at the top of your page. A field named Edge Gallery Post Format will appear at the bottom section of the page, and here you can upload and add your gallery images.
Link - a field named Edge Link post format will appear at the bottom section of the page. Here you can enter the full URL of the page you would like to link to.
Quote - a field named Edge Quote post format will unfold at the bottom section of the page. Here you can enter the quote you would like to display.
Video - a field named Edge Video post format will appear in the bottom section of the page. Here you can enter your video links. You can link videos from YouTube or Vimeo, or alternatively, host your own videos. If you decide to self-host your video files, you need to upload the video files via the Media section, and then enter the path to your video files in the corresponding fields. We recommend uploading videos in all three formats (WEBM, MP4, and OGV) in order to ensure compatibility with all modern browsers. In the Video Image field you can upload a background image that will be visible while the video is loading.
Audio - a field named Edge Audio post format will appear in the bottom section of the page. Here you can enter the path to an audio file you have previously uploaded to the Media Library.

Now it's time to categorize this post:

Beneath the Format section you will see a section named Categories. Here you can select the categories that you would like to add this post to. If you would like to create a new category, click on the + Add New Category link. A text field will appear in which you can enter a category name, and then click Add New Category.
Once you've selected the categories you would like to add your post to, click the Publish button. Congratulations, you've just published your first blog post!
Beneath the Categories section you will see the Tags and Featured Image sections. Here you can add tags to your post, and set a featured image which will be displayed for this post on blog list pages.

Now that we have published our first blog post, let’s go over the available custom fields for blog posts.

Note that most of them are the same custom fields you'll find when creating standard pages.

Edge Content Bottom

Enable Content Bottom Area - Choose "Yes" to enable the content bottom area of your page.
- Sidebar to Display - Choose a custom widget area to display in the content bottom area of your website. You can create custom widget areas by navigating to Appearance > Widgets and there creating your custom widget areas.
- Display in Grid - Set this option to "Yes" if you would like the content bottom to be fitted in a centraly positioned gird.
- Background Color - Choose a background color for the content bottom area.

Edge Content Top

Enable Content Top Area - Choose "Yes" to enable the content top area of your page.
- Sidebar to Display - Choose a custom widget area to display in the content top area of your website. You can create custom widget areas by navigating to Appearance > Widgets and there creating your custom widget areas.
- Display in Grid - Set this option to "Yes" if you would like the content top to be fitted in a centraly positioned gird.
- Background Color - Choose a background color for the content top area.

Edge Footer

Disable Footer for this Page - Set this option to "Yes" to disable the footer on this page.

Edge General

Page Background Color - Set a background color for this page.
Page Padding - Set padding for the page. Please input the padding in a top right bottom left format (e.g. 10px 0 10px 0).
Slider Shortcode - If you wish to have a slider on the top of your page, copy and paste the slider shortcode here.
Page Transition - Choose a type of page transition for this page.
Show Comments - Set this option to "Yes" to display comments on this page.

Edge Header

Header Skin - Here you can choose a header style to be applied to the header on this page. The "Light" header style displays white navigation text and the "Light" logo version, while the "Dark" header style displays black navigation text and the "Dark" logo version. If you wish to use the default colors and logo, leave this field empty.
Enable Header Style on Scroll - By enabling this option, you will enable the header to change styles ("Light" or "Dark") on scroll, depending on row settings. You can define whether the header will be "Light" or "Dark" when located over a certain row on your page by going to edit that row and setting your desired header skin in the Header Style field.
Scroll Amount for Sticky Header Appearance - Set the scroll amount (how many pixels you need to scroll down the page) at which the sticky header will appear when enabled.

Edge Post

Back to Link - Choose what page the "Back to" button will lead to from this post.
Dimensions for Masonry Gallery - Choose the dimension of the featured image for this post when appearing in Masonry Gallery blog lists.

Edge Sidebar

Layout - Choose the desired layout for your sidebar. You can also disable the sidebar here by choosing "No Sidebar".

Edge Title

Show Title Area - Choose whether you would like the title area to be visible on this page. By default this option is set to "Yes".
- Title Area Type - Chose a type for your title area. You can choose between "Default" and "Breadcrumb", the difference being that if you choose "Breadcrumb", instead of the page title being displayed the whole breadcrumb path will be shown in your title area. You also have the option to enable breadcrumbs when using the "Default" title area, and in this case the title area will display both the page title and breadcrumbs.
  - Enable Breadcrumbs - Set this option to "Yes" to display breadcrumbs along with the page title when using the "Default" title area type.
- Animations - Choose an entry animation for the title area content.
- Vertical Alignment - Define the vertical alignment setting for the title area content on this page. You can choose to vertically align the title area content from the bottom of the header, or from the top of your browser window.
- Horizontal Alignment - Chose a horizontal alignment for the title area content on this page.
- Title Color - Set a color for the page title text.
- Breadcrumb Color - Set a color for the breadcrumb text.
- Background Color - Set a background color for the title area.
- Hide Background Image - Set this option to "Yes" to hide the title area background image.
  - Background Image - Chose a background image for the title area.
  - Background Responsive Image - Set this option to "Yes" to make the title area background image responsive.
    - Background Image in Parallax - Set this option to "Yes" to enable the Parallax effect on the title area background image. You also have the option to additionaly enable a "zoom out" effect on the background image.
- Height - Set a height for the page title area. This option is not available if you previously set Background Responsive Image to "Yes".
- Subtitle Text - Enter subtitile text to be displayed in the page title area.
- Subtitle Color - Choose a color for the subtitle text.

Blog Lists

After you have created enough posts, you need to also create a blog list on which all of these posts will be displayed. To create a blog list, you first need to create a new page on which your blog list will be displayed, and in the page's backend find the Templates dropdown on the right side of the screen. Then simply choose from one of the following options:

Blog: Masonry
Blog: Masonry Full Width
Blog: Masonry Gallery
Blog: Standard
Blog: Standard Whole Post

By choosing one of the blog templates you will have set this page to automatically show a list of your blog posts. All you need to do now is publish the page.

Date Format

If you wish to change the date format on blog posts, navigate to Settings > General > Date Format from your WordPress admin, and select your format of choice.

In this section of the User Guide we will discuss menus and menu creation, as well as the creation of anchor links for One Page site functionality.