Theme Options for any commercial theme is a mandatory one but you also need it if you run your own site. There are many theme Options framework out there. But which one is best, which one is easy to integrate , which one is super easy to deploy? The answer for all the questions is Redux Framework.
To use it in your theme, you need to download it first from WordPress repository . Here is the link to Download Redux Framework .
Click on the above link , download and unzip the folder. Now the next step is to integrate into the WordPress Theme.
Now go to wp-contents/plugins folder of your WordPress installation, and keep drop the whole Redux’s unzipped folder here. Then go to your WordPress admin area , visit Plugins page and you will the find the Redux plugin, install and activate it. Now the Redux framework is installed in your WordPress installation.
Another way to install the plugin is by going to Plugins > Add New, then type the ‘Redux Framework’ into the search field, you will get the Redux, install and activate it from there.
Now you are ready to create the Theme Options. Go to Redux Framework’s folder, inside it find “Sample” folder, then copy the sample-config.php and paste it in your WordPress Theme’s root folder. Like mythemename/sample-config.php . You can also change the file name to any your choices.
After pasting the file in your WordPress theme, you need to call that file inside functions.php , so that the Theme Options will be visible. So, lets do it:
include_once( get_template_directory() . '/inc/sample-config.php' );
In the above example, I have placed the file inside a folder named “inc” , you can place anywhere, just write the correct path of the file. So, include the above line in your functions.php and then visit your dashboard Appearance > Theme Options . Here you will see all the default options that are available in this Options framework.
Now you can edit sample-config.php file to change , delete, add options for your theme. isn’t it super easy? I think its very convenient for the developers and for the newbies to use this framework. There are one more Theme Options that i like, i will discuss that in any next article. Let me know if you face any issue use it on your theme.