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Sample 2: Quickstart guide

💼 Project title​

Quickstart guide for the Ethereal Glow WordPress.org theme

📂 Context​

A month ago, I bought a WordPress.org theme from Etsy. My purchase came with a comprehensive installation guide, which was a bit difficult to follow and too detailed for my needs.

At the time, I only needed a quick guide that would help me get started with my blog in no time. Despite being elaborate, the installation guide skipped many prerequisite steps, so I had to look for external resources. The writer of the theme documentation probably assumed that the user was already familiar with WordPress. In my case, I had only started working on my website.

The issues I encountered prompted me to create this document.

In this quickstart guide, I aim to:

  1. Cover the pre-installation procedures,
  2. Make the instructions easy to follow even for non-tech savvy users, and
  3. Opt for the most straightforward method, particularly for steps that can be done in multiple ways.

👥 Target audience​

The target audience of this quickstart guide is non-technical people installing a WordPress.org theme for the first time. The users are unfamiliar with WordPress and only need the bare minimum from the theme.

📝 Quickstart guide for the Ethereal Glow WordPress.org theme​

The Ethereal Glow WordPress Theme provides the ultimate blogging and design solution for your needs. This theme is beautiful, professional, easily customizable, and packed with several features. It's also available in multiple languages, compatible with different plugins, and SEO-optimizable.

Before getting started, you must first install WordPress.org on your computer.

After installing WordPress, you must complete the steps below.

  1. Download the theme from Etsy.
  2. Update your site's .htaccess file.
  3. Upload the theme to WordPress.

Step 1: Download the theme from Etsy.​

Procedure​

  1. Log in to your Etsy account.
  2. Click your profile picture in the upper right corner of the page. Select Purchases and reviews from the dropdown box.
  3. Locate the Ethereal Glow WordPress theme. Select Download Files on the right side of your order, which will open a new page.
  4. Navigate to the bottom of the Download page. Click the Download buttons to download all available files.

Step 2: Update your site's .htaccess file.​

The WordPress .htaccess file is a powerful configuration file. It contains commands that control and configure how the server runs your website.

Procedure​

  1. Log in to your WordPress cPanel.
  2. Scroll down the page and locate the Files section.
  3. Under the Files section, select File Manager, which will open a new page.
  4. In the File Manager, find the search bar in the upper right corner of the page. Type .htaccess in the search bar. Press enter to initiate the search.
  5. The search results pop-up screen should appear on the page. Double-click on /public_html/.access. It should return to the File Manager or the previous page.
  6. Right-click on the .htaccess file, and choose Edit. A pop-up screen will appear. Click Edit to proceed.
  7. Add the following code to the end of the file.
php_value post_max_size 64M  
php_value upload_max_filesize 128M  
php_value max_file_uploads 128M  
php_value max_input_vars 5000
  1. Click Save Changes.
caution

The dotfiles might be hidden if you can't see the .htaccess file on the File Manager. Follow the steps below to make the file visible:

  1. On the Files Manager page, click Settings in the upper right-hand corner.
  2. Check the Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) checkbox.
  3. Hit Save. The page will refresh and display all dotfiles or files starting with a . (dot).

Step 3: Upload the theme to WordPress.​

You can upload the Ethereal Glow theme via WordPress or FTP. For this guide, you'll be uploading the theme via the WordPress admin panel.

Procedure​

  1. Log in to your WordPress.org account.
  2. On the left sidebar, select Appearance > Themes.
  3. Choose Add New.
  4. Choose Upload Theme, which will show a new page section.
  5. Click Choose file.
  6. Navigate to the folder where you downloaded your Ethereal Glow theme and select the ethereal-glow.zip file.
  7. After choosing the file, click Install Now.
  8. Once the theme has been successfully installed, click Activate.
caution

Make sure you choose the theme archive–ethereal-glow.zip–and not the other .zip files you downloaded.

Next steps​

Once you are done with the prerequisite steps, you can start setting up and customizing your new theme, which includes:

  • Adding plugins
  • Setting up WooCommerce
  • Uploading demo content
  • Customizing the appearance of the theme
  • Updating the header, footer, logo, and favicon
  • Setting up the menu
  • Adding widgets
  • Adding pages and blog posts