Get Theme up and running, step by step.

A quick checklist

Having these ready saves you from stopping halfway through. If you're missing something, none of it takes long to sort out.

• A working WordPress siteA fresh install is ideal, especially if you plan to import the demo.
• Admin accessYou'll need an Administrator account to install themes and plugins.
• The theme filealt-theme.zip, inside your download package.
• A stable internet connectionPlugins and demo content are downloaded while you work.

Install the theme

There are two ways to get Theme onto your site. The dashboard upload is the easiest and works for most people. FTP is there as a backup if your host limits upload sizes.

Option A — Upload from the dashboard

1. Open the theme installer

   Log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to Appearance → Themes, then click Add New Theme at the top of the page.

   

2. Upload the zip file

   Click Upload Theme, then Choose File, and select alt-theme.zip from your computer. Press Install Now and give WordPress a moment to unpack it.

   

3. Activate Theme

   When you see "Theme installed successfully", click Activate. You're now running Theme. The site won't look like the demo just yet — that comes in chapter three.

   

   ✦

   You'll see a new "Theme Options" menu

   Once Theme is active, a Theme Options item appears in the dashboard sidebar. You'll use it later to fine-tune your site. For now, just carry on to the plugins.

Option B — Upload via FTP

1. Extract the theme on your computer

   Unzip alt-theme.zip. You'll get a single folder called alt-theme.

2. Upload the folder

   Connect to your server with an FTP client (or your host's File Manager) and drop the alt-theme folder into /wp-content/themes/.

3. Activate it from WordPress

   Go to Appearance → Themes, find Theme in the list, and click Activate.

Install the required plugins

Theme leans on a few plugins for page building, forms and demo import. You don't need to hunt for them. The theme lists everything and installs it for you.

What gets installed

Installing them

1. Follow the notice after activation

   Right after you activate Theme, a banner appears at the top of your dashboard asking you to install the required plugins. Click Begin installing plugins. You can also reach the same page any time from Appearance → Install Plugins.

   

2. Select every plugin and install

   Tick the checkbox at the top of the list to select all four plugins. Choose Install from the Bulk Actions menu, then click Apply. WordPress downloads each one in turn. Please leave the page open until it finishes.

   

3. Activate them

   Installing isn't the same as activating, so this part is manual. Return to Appearance → Install Plugins, select all again, choose Activate from Bulk Actions and apply.

   When the list shows every plugin as Active, you're done.

   

Import the demo content

This is the fun part. One click brings in the pages, posts, menus, widgets and theme settings from the live Theme demo, so you can start editing real layouts instead of a blank page.

Running the import

1. Make sure the plugins are active

   Elementor, AltDesain Core, Contact Form 7 and One Click Demo Import should all be active. If you finished chapter two, you're already set.

2. Open the import screen

   Go to Appearance → Import Demo Data. You'll see the Theme Demo card with a preview image.

   

3. Click Import

   Press Import on the Theme Demo card and confirm when WordPress asks. A progress screen appears while the content, widgets and settings are brought in.

   !

   Keep this tab open

   Please don't close or refresh the page until the import says it's finished. Depending on your hosting, it can take a few minutes.

   

4. Visit your site

   When you see "All done. Have fun!", open your homepage. It should now match the demo. Images can take a little longer to appear while they finish downloading.

   

What you'll get

• Demo pages and postsIncluding the Home page, ready to edit with Elementor.
• Homepage set for youThe page called "Home" becomes your static front page automatically.
• Menus assigned"Main Menu" and "Footer Menu" are created and attached to their locations.
• Widgets and theme settingsThe same sidebar widgets and customizer options used in the demo.

Customize your site

Everything below lives in the Theme Options menu of your dashboard. Builders let you replace parts of the theme with your own Elementor designs.

Theme Options

Open Theme Options in the dashboard sidebar. Change the settings you need and press Save Settings at the bottom.

Header Builder

Replace the default header with your own Elementor design. Menus, logos, buttons and a sticky bar are all built visually.

1. Open the builder

   In the dashboard go to Theme Options → Header Builder and click Add New.

2. Name it and publish

   Give it any title you like (it is only for you) and click Publish.

3. Design it with Elementor

   Click Edit with Elementor and build your header using any Elementor or AltDesain Core widget. Click Update when done.

   ✦

   Show your menu

   Drop the Nav Menu widget (AltDesain Core) in and choose a menu. The mobile hamburger menu is controlled in the widget's Mobile Menu Settings.

   

Footer Builder

Works the same way as the Header Builder and replaces the default footer.

1. Open the builder

   In the dashboard go to Theme Options → Footer Builder and click Add New.

2. Name it and publish

   Give it any title you like (it is only for you) and click Publish.

3. Design it with Elementor

   Click Edit with Elementor and build your footer using any Elementor or AltDesain Core widget. Click Update when done.

   

Breadcrumb Builder

Controls the title / breadcrumb band shown under the header on inner pages. Without a custom one, the theme shows the page title and a trail (Home » Page).

1. Open the builder

   In the dashboard go to Theme Options → Breadcrumb Builder and click Add New.

2. Name it and publish

   Give it any title you like (it is only for you) and click Publish.

3. Design it with Elementor

   Click Edit with Elementor and build the breadcrumb area using any Elementor or AltDesain Core widget. Click Update when done.

   Use Dynamic Tags (see chapter six), such as Page Title (Auto) or Archive Title, so one design fits every page.

   

404, Search, Archive & Single Page Builders

These four builders sit in the same Theme Options submenu and share the steps above. Pick the one you need:

Mega Menu Builder

1. Create the menu first

   Build your normal menu in Appearance → Menus.

2. Add a mega menu

   Go to Theme Options → Mega Menu Builder, click Add Mega Menu, and design the dropdown in Elementor.

3. Select the target

   In the side box Select Target, pick the menu item this design should replace on hover, then Publish.

   

Custom Post Type

Create your own content types (Portfolio, Services, Events…) without code, then show them with the Blog List, Project Slider and other widgets.

1. Add a new type

   Go to Theme Options → Custom Post Type and click Add New Custom Post Type. The title becomes the type's name and URL (first 20 characters).

2. Configure it

   In Custom Post Type Configuration: choose a Menu Icon, tick Format Supports (Title, Editor, Featured Image) and optionally Enable Category.

3. Add custom fields

   Click Add New Field and fill in Field Name, Label, Type and, where needed, Options. Drag to sort. Types: Text, Date, Number, Textarea, Select, Checkbox, Radio, Image, Gallery, Post Relation, Post Object, Taxonomy.

   For Select and Radio, put choices comma separated (e.g. Yes,No). For Post Relation, list allowed post type slugs (e.g. post,project).

   

4. Publish and use it

   Click Publish. A new menu appears in the dashboard where you add entries with the extra fields. Display them in Elementor with the Custom Field dynamic tags, or give them templates in the Single and Archive builders.

Create a contact form

Contact Form 7 is installed with the theme. Here is how to build a form and place it with the dedicated widget.

1. Create the form

   Go to Contact → Add New Contact Form, name it, and edit the Form tab. A ready-to-use template:

   <label>Your name
     [text* your-name autocomplete:name] </label>
   <label>Your email
     [email* your-email autocomplete:email] </label>
   <label>Subject
     [text your-subject] </label>
   <label>Message
     [textarea your-message] </label>
   [submit "Send message"]

   A star (*) makes a field required.

   

2. Set up the email

   Open the Mail tab. Put your address in To, keep [your-name] and [your-email] in the body, and set Reply-To via Reply-To: [your-email] in Additional Headers.

   

3. Edit the messages

   The Messages tab holds the success and error texts. Click Save.

4. Add the form to a page

   Edit a page with Elementor, drag in the Contact Form 7 widget from the AltDesain Core group, and pick your form in Content → Form. You can also paste the shortcode, e.g. [contact-form-7 id="123" title="Contact"], into a Shortcode widget.

   

5. Style it

   The widget's Style tab styles Form Container, Input Fields, Labels, Checkbox & Radio, Submit Button, Inline Layout, Loading Spinner, Response Messages and Field Validation Tip.

Widgets, modules & conditions

A map of the places in Elementor where AltDesain Core adds its options. No need to memorize it, just know where to look.

Where to find the widgets

Open any page with Edit with Elementor. In the left panel, search by name or scroll to the AltDesain Core group and drag a widget onto the page. Every widget has two tabs: Content (what it shows) and Style (how it looks). Hidden options live inside the collapsible sections listed below, so open each section to discover them.

Modules (extra Elementor controls)

The plugin adds extra controls to every Section, Container and Widget. Select an element, then open the tab shown below. Items marked with a check (✓) come from AltDesain Core.

Dynamic Tags

Dynamic Tags fill a field automatically from the current page. Click the small Dynamic (stack) icon at the right of any text, link, image or gallery field, then choose a tag.

Display Conditions

1. Open the section

   Select an element, open Advanced → Display Conditions.

2. Choose the action

   Action: Show or Hide. Display When: All Conditions Are Met or Any Condition Is Met.

3. Add conditions

   Click Add Item under Set Condition, pick a type and its value (Is / Is Not).

   

Multilanguage support

Translate the theme and plugin interface into your own language, and prepare your site for several languages.

1. Set the site language

   Go to Settings → General and choose Site Language. Install and activate Loco Translate from the plugin directory.

2. Translate Theme and plugin

   Open Loco Translate → Themes and pick the theme, then click New language. Do the same in Plugins for AltDesain Core. Translate the strings and press Save. Both ship with a translation template (.pot) in their languages folder. You can also use Poedit and upload the .mo file there.

   

3. Translate your content

   Pages, menus and Elementor designs are your own content, so write them in the language you need. For a multilingual site use a translation plugin of your choice (Polylang, WPML, TranslatePress…).

If something doesn't look right

These are the questions that come up most often. Most fixes take under a minute.