QuikTab is built on WordPress 2.6, the most recent release of the popular and easy to use blogging software. QuikTabs uses tools in WordPress in new and creative ways, treating WordPress more as a CMS (content management system) than a blogging platform. WordPress is easy to install, easy to learn, and easy to customize. For more information, documentation, tutorials, or to download WordPress, please visit WordPress.org

From WordPress.org, “WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time. More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it. Learn more about WordPress

QuikTabs is only available through ThemeForest.net, a template marketplace created by Envato. ThemeForest is a growing community allowing users to buy, sell, and discuss templates.

From ThemeForest.net, “ThemeForest is a marketplace for buying and selling website templates and CMS themes for all sorts of products, like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla.”

The contact info in the header is generated from posts you make with special tags on them. To add a new contact detail, create a new post. Title the post with your information. It is not necessary to add anything to the post body. Next, add one of the following tags that best describes the information: phone, mail, aim, or twitter. For example, if you wanted to add a link to your Twitter account, you would make a blank post titled with your Twitter username, then add the tag “twitter”

This tabbed menu controls which “panel” is currently visible on the page. To make a new tab (and panel), create a new post and add the tag “panel” to the entry. The title of the post will be what is visible on the tab, and the body of the post will make up one “panel” that slide in and out. See more about the “panel” below.

Under the tabs there is a space for mini-posts. Simple add the tag “mini” when creating an entry. Right about now you should be noticing a pattern. Create a post, add a special tag, repeat. This theme works on that simple idea. When creating a post you have thee basic types of content to pick from: contact, panels, and mini-posts. Simply pick the right tag and have the post show up in the right place (beware of net setting a tag: your post won’t show up in you’re layout!)

Now comes the fun part: filling in the “panels.” This is the part where you flex that creative muscle. While this theme is very full featured and complete, these “panel” spaces are up to you. Fill them in with any content that matches your site’s goals. If you happen to like my example content, you can find all the source art in the .PSD file included with the theme.

In designing QuikTab, I’ve tried to make a lot of the setup as easy as possible. This demo site contains most of the info you need to get up and running. Below you can find some basic answers to questions you might have during the initial install. If you’ve still got some questions or are interested in customizing the theme further, you can leave me a comment at ThemeForest or ask for some help in the ThemeForest forums.

You can find the logo at /wp-content/themes/qicktab/images/blog_title.png. The logo used in this demo is set in Qlassik, a free typeface. It is also a 8-bit transparent png, saved on a matte color of #178CB8. To replace the logo, simply replace the file. I’d you like to switch the logo with text, you can locate it under <div class=”header”> in index.php.

There are four different types of contact information you can set to be displayed (only 2 at a time). To set a phone number, create a new post titled with the phone number and tagged with phone. To set an email adress, create a new post titled with the address and tagged with mail. To set an AIM screen name, create a new post titled with the screen name and tagged with aim. To set a Twitter link, create a new post titled with the Twitter user name and tagged with twitter. The posts do not need anything in the body (it won’t be displayed). Remember, only 2 contact details will show at a time.

There are two types of content, panels and mini-posts. A panel is this large space on the right. Each time you make a post and tag it panel, a new tab will be created and the content will show up here. Mini-posts are small posts in the sidebar and can be created with a post tagged mini. You can have as many of these as you want, but remember, sometimes less is more.

To change the text in the footer: from the WordPress admin section: edit the footer.php file under Design > Theme Editor.

Each “panel” is just the post content from any post tagged panel. This theme has some very basic content styles (link colors, font styles, etc) but most of the content styling will be your responsibility. Think of this theme like a base to build on. Customization is really what a template is all about, so make it your own! All the content in this demo site is in the source .PSD file. I tried to keep my content’s styling out of the theme’s styling to make sure you have a clean base to expand on. In this demo, I’ve attached an extra style sheet to make sure my content looks pretty. I’ve also used a lot of inline styles (something I wouldn’t otherwise be doing but in this case ensures a cleaner theme for distribution).