Portfolio Press is a responsive WordPress theme for showcasing your photography, art, web sites, or other projects. It also works nicely as a regular blog site. An options panel is available for uploading logos and changing the layout. There’s also support for various post formats and menus.
Here’s a video screencast of how it works:
The theme is in the WordPress Themes Directory. You can demo it here. Or download a copy and try it out.
Portfolio+
If you need more design and customization options than the ones included with Portfolio Press, check out my new theme Portfolio+.
Suggested Plugins
You will need to Portfolio Post Type plugin to use the portfolio features.
You will need to the Options Framework plugin to enable the options panel.
Examples of Portfolio Press in Action
Some of these examples have been customized a bit and show the adaptability of the theme.
Michalis Palis
Kim Kermode
Todd Milbourn
Golden Retriever Adoption
Instructions and Common Questions
How to Set Up a Portfolio Item:
When you activate Portfolio Press, you will see a new post type called “Portfolio”. Click “Add New Item” and you will be taken to the edit page where you can add a title, description, and tags for your portfolio piece.
To add the portfolio image, click “Set featured image” on the right side of the screen beneath “Portfolio Tags”. This will take you to the media uploader to add your image. When you finish, click “Use as Featured Image”.
How to Set Up the Menus
A lot of people were asking how the menus work. Here’s a video that explains it, plus instructions for how to create different portfolio sections.
404 Errors:
This theme uses custom post types. If you are getting a 404 error when you try and view the portfolio posts, reset your permalinks. You can do this by going to “Settings > Permalinks” and re-saving the permalink structure.
Portfolio Items Disappear:
If you deactivate the “Portfolio Post Type” plugin, your portfolio items will disappear. They are still saved in the database, but you need the plugin in order to access them.
How can I have different portfolio sections?
Use the portfolio tags or categories. These are like the regular tags in posts. You can also put the links in the menu- so, Portfolio could be your main menu item that display all the items, and then have a drop down menu with illustration, websites, etc that link to the tag urls and just displays those items.
How do I change the size of the thumbnail images?
At some point I will probably make theme options for this, but for now you’ll have to do this through the code. Open the file functions.php, and find the line of code that says: add_image_size( ‘portfolio-thumbnail’, 215, 175, true );. The first number “215″ is the width- the second number “175″ is the height.
If you change the thumbnail size, you was also need to install this plugin and regenerate thumbnails.
Is it possible to change a regular post to a portfolio post?
Yes, you can use the Post Type Switcher plugin to convert any type of post type to another.
How do I change the number of portfolio items per page?
In functions.php of your child theme, add a filter:
function mytheme_posts_per_page() {
return '16'; // Return however many items you choose
}
add_filter( 'portfoliopress_posts_per_page', 'mytheme_posts_per_page' );
Can I stop the featured image from showing automatically in the portfolio post?
Yes, install the options panel and choose “Display images manually.”
How can I make the portfolio display on the home page?
Create a new page, call it whatever you like, and choose the page template “Portfolio” (on the right side of the screen in page attributes”. This will now display the portfolio on this page.
Then under “Settings” > “Reading” click “Front page displays” a static page. Then select the page you just created that has the portfolio.
Can I display my portfolio items in with my regular posts?
Yes, but you’ll just need to update the query call on every template where you want both to appear. See Justin Tadlock’s article about this. The intention of this theme was to have them live separately.
My Thumbnails Looks Distorted, Cropped or Weird
Try installing this plugin and regenerating them: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/regenerate-thumbnails/
What if I have hundreds of images to upload? Is there any easier way?
Try using the Automatic Featured Images Posts plugin. In the settings, set the “Default Post Type” to “portfolio.”
Can I change the order that portfolio posts display?
The easiest way is to change the post date- that’s how they are naturally ordered. Another way is to use the Post Type Order plugin- though some folks have mentioned bugs with how the prev/next buttons work when that plugin is in use.
I want to lightbox my portfolio images. Can I do this?
Portfolio Press does not have support for lightbox images. You might try a plugin if you need lightbox functionality.
Translation Credits
Translations by Eduardo-Martín Larequi García, Wolforg, Erling Håmsø, and Sandro Bauer.
Do you like the theme?
Rate it at: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/portfolio-press
If you’d like to support this project, consider purchasing Portfolio+. It’s the same design as Portfolio Press, but with some bonus features like infinite scroll, additional customization options, and a portfolio category template. Enjoy!
Actually I have another question.
I’m not being able to get portfolio items to show up, I’ve watched your video a few times now.
I want to have my home page show blog posts etc which it already does, but then have a top level gallery page that holds the portfolio, so I guess my question is what would I have to do in order to have the portfolio display on the gallery page?
Thanks a ton!
~Neo
It automatically displays on yoursite.com/portfolio. If you want to use another URL, follow the same instructions as “How can I make the portfolio display on the home page?”, just don’t set that page as the home page.
Hi Devin, I have been playing with your great theme, thank you for creating it.
I have been customising the size, number and columns of ‘featured images’ and found notes on this page helpful for tracking down the relevant sections in style.css
I also altered the behaviour for different screen sizes too. If anyone wants to see then you can visit my portfolio. I would also be happy to supply the .css file.
Thanks,
Al
Hello,
How can I remove the postdate and author on portfolio items?
Thank you in advance.
Hi there. OI love this theme, but the pics in my portfolio are appearing as scaled down versions of the whole picture and not as cropped versions of the whole image, so the grid is not even as some images are quite wide and others more square. How can I make the portfolio display a portion of the image as it does on your demo?
Thanks!
It should scale as close as it can, and then crop. Did you add images before the theme was installed? If so, you may need to regenerate them.
Devin, I really like how my site is coming together using this theme. I have two questions, One, why is the category title showing up then I go to that via the nav bar? I’d like it to be clean like the home/portfolio page.
Second, can we upload video? Can I use Vimeo or YouTube, or do I have to upload each individually?
Thanks again for the great theme.
Dennis
Hey I’m sorry to spam questions, I’ve figured most everything out but the thing that hasn’t worked no matter what I do, on my main page, it shows the full blog posts rather than just excerpts. So that you have to click on it to view the whole post. Any tips on this?
Thanks!
~Neo
You’d have to change the_excerpt to the_content in the code:
https://github.com/devinsays/portfolio-press/blob/master/content.php
I tried replacing that code and it still shows the the full posts on my home page. Is there anything else I have to do to do to have it show just excerpts?
Thanks!
~Neo
Hi Devin,
Thank you for the lovely theme, it was quick and easy to install and set up.
The only thing that I am not able to figure out is how to adjust the margins (left/ right) of the homepage (portfolio) to create the same width in lay out as
http://www.kimkermode.com
Would you (or anyone else) be able to help me out with this?
My website is: http://www.bankastraat46.nl
Thanks a million!
Set the portfolio as your home page, and use the “Full Width” page template.
Thanks for your quick reply!
I’m already using the settings as you describe (full width portfolio as homepage).
Is there another way to make the content/ portfolio wider?
Thanks,
Kim
I tried the setting ‘left sidebar’, and this is generating a full width page.
Problem solved for me, but maybe it’s something to pick up with the next theme update.
Hi Devin,
I have a question, I am realy new to the whole wordpress and themes thing so this might not be the smartest question :)
So trying to figure out your cool theme and overall it’s pretty straightforward and easy to learn, but I can’t seem to figure out how to make a thumbnail for the featured image. Should I make a seperate Image myself and upload it, or can I crop the image within wordpress somewhere and will that work with you theme?
Which would be easier and quicker ofcourse :)
Thanks,
Milan
WordPress will crop images to the right size for the thumbnail. If you want a different image entirely for the thumbnail (or crop), I’d probably do that in a graphics program (easier). Make sure to set off automatic display of featured image in the options panel if you decide to do that.
Hi Devin
Thanks for this great theme ! I really want to use it but I have just one question …
Is it possible to use video instead of using images ?
Thanks for your answer
You can insert video into the post- but you’d still need to upload an image for the “featured image” field.
Hey it’s me again, still customizing my website lol
Is there a way to set a header background image on this theme? I know you can change the color but I decided to look through the CSS to see if I could edit in an image and found nothing, is there another way to change it? Thanks! c:
~Neo
You can add a background image on the #branding div if you’re editing the CSS.
I tried adding “background-image:url(‘http://rainwolf-art.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/rainwolf-banner.jpg’);” under #branding and there were no changes to my website, am I doing something wrong?
I’ve got my background images working in the header, body and footer in this theme. talk to me if you need help. I’m just a humble tweaker trying to make cool blogs, and i’m happy to help if i can. i saw your fox art, if i remember correctly, pretty cool, i think you had a deviant art too?
Hi Devin.
I’m using the standard wordpress image gallery ( and maintaining aspect ratio on thumbs) which works fine until I view on an iPad and then all images run into each other.
Is there any way of aligning the images on the iPad version so that there is a gab between each image.
Thanks.
Under “Settings” > “Media” you can set your thumbnail size to smaller. But I also created an image to look into this:
https://github.com/devinsays/portfolio-press/issues/42
Hey Devin,
I cant quite get the theme up and running on my site, I have followed everything in the video but it doesnt seem to workout for me
What’s the issue?
Is there a spot where you have listed the optimal sizes for feature images, logos and any other image sizes. I would like to have media files in the best size png file for when in import. Love the theme so far.
Featured images get cropped and scaled by WordPress, so it really doesn’t matter what size you upload. The logo should be no wider the 980px.
you’re awesome Devin. thank you! :)
I have 2 issues:
1) I want to use the site for my video portfolio, and I’m a WordPress novice. I’ve set up my Home Page as a portfolio and I’ve loaded one item. It looks good on the Home Page but the portfolio page it links to is all wrong. I included the correct Vimeo embed code in the main body of the page, and it is not appearing. I have a heading up for SVN even though I don’t want it and have loaded no comment in that field. The same thumbnail that appears on my Home Page shows up again on the corresponding portfolio page, which it shouldn’t.
Basically, I want each thumbnail on my home page to link to a page which describes a certain project (with either video+description or photo+description) or introduces a photo gallery. Am I using the wrong theme or am I using the theme wrong?
2) I inserted my own header image to control the font. Everything looks fine in Chrome, but proportions between the header image, menu item fonts and main body items are completely whacked out in Firefox. How do I fix this?
Many thanks.
1) For the linking issue, make sure your permalinks are set. Settings > Permalinks. For the image showing by default, you can turn that off in the options panel.
2) Interesting. I haven’t run across that bug before. I just pushed a fix up to GitHub: https://github.com/devinsays/portfolio-press/commit/ab94acf1647b75ac44007450ae59723e95f2bda1. Thanks for reporting the issue.
A better fix would be to resize your logo image to 780px though. Right now it is just being scaled by the browser.
Hey Devin.
Is there a way to combine having a static page and recent posts as the home page? So that I can write a little about the site at the top of the page and then have the latest posts under that little intro? One reason I would like to do this is to have some static content on every page to optimize for search engines. (Though I’m still learning about SEO, I don’t know for sure what exactly is best.)
Thanks again!
~Neo
Why does the image file location magically appear when a blog post is printed? I know there must be a way to turn it off?
Example: http://crisfulton.com/blog/?p=9243 The link for the image appears under the image when the post is printed.
Thank you for this awesome theme!
Looks like you got this worked out?
I tried the printfriendly plug-in but my friend doesn’t like the way it prints. She wants the blog posts to print as they are by default (with title, subhead, blog title, date, image, etc) but without the image location underneath the photo.
I’m sorry to bother you since this is a free theme that is so clean works so well for her site.
Thank you.
Thank you! She figured it out. Photo upload > Attachment Display Settings > None.
Hello Devin,
Thank you so much for your responsive portfolio theme, I really like it!
The site I am using it for is not live yet, and I was wondering if you could help me with something.
The website I am making is for a model, the static front page with the portfolio is broken up into categories: B&W, Close ups, Runway. etc…
I would like to add another gallery to the pages that the users go to when they press on one of those categories. I used the WP gallery but would like something that doesn’t put the pictures on their own page. Where the user can scroll through them more easily
Do you have any suggestions or plugins that would work well for this. I tried a responsive picture gallery called Gamma but I think it conflicts with the Portfolio plug in for your theme.
Thank you and any suggestions would be much appreciated! I’ll post the final result when I’m done :)
How do I change the tagline from being italicized to just being bold?
You’d need to edit the CSS. See: http://wptheming.com/2012/07/chrome-developer-tools-wordpress/
Ok, so now where do I change it so it’s not italicized? I’m looking for the word “italicize”, thinking if I change it to bold, or normal, it will change the look. But I don’t see anything…
Hi Devin,
I love this theme…but would like to adjust a few things for ease in reading. I would like to have the description copy show up in the side bar area on the individual portfolio pages instead of at the bottom of the page. How can I get it to move or be able to add custom sidebar content to each portfolio entry.
Also, how do you remove the Posted on… from all pages?
Thank you,
Courtney
I can’t get the portfolio thumbnails to display correctly. I have regenerated thumbnails (per the recommended plugin) countless time to no avail. I did not change thumbnail size or code at all. Any help would be much appreciated.
I can’t see anything because it is password protected. Does anything show up? Are the images large enough, are they set as the featured images?
Yes, I had to password protect the site, but yes the images show up and they are set to featured images. If you register for an account, I can grant you access and you can check it out.
In trying to change the background image for the header, I tried adding “background-image:url(‘http://rainwolf-art.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/rainwolf-banner.jpg’);” under #branding in the CSS and there were no changes to my website, am I doing something wrong?
Also, by default a page has the title in h1 text at the top, for example, I’m building a new home page and I don’t want the “Home” with the at the top, how do I get rid of this?
Thanks!
~Neo
If you set the menus, you can remove the “home” menu item: http://wptheming.com/2010/10/how-to-use-the-wordpress-menus/
Hi Devin,
The thumbnails are not showing on my portfolio page, just black squares with text.
Have you set the featured image?
Thanks Devin, that was it!
Good day,
I can’t find solution do display all my portfolio items on one main page. I changed functions.php from 9 items to 15, but I do not see any changes. Anu advice?
Hey there Devin, I’ve been having issues with images on my site lately. I’ll have them uploaded into the portfolio and they’ll look fine, then I’ll be busy updating things and when I come back to check how things are looking a lot of the images will be replaced by the dreaded white box with a little red X in the corner. Any idea why this is happening?
Thanks
No. Is there a chance your images are getting deleted on the server or from your media library?
Just to share with you my webside created with your simple but outstanding theme.
Thanks.
Thanks. Added your site to the examples, hope you don’t mind.
I’m using your theme on my photography site mojokiss.com. I’m into writing, blogging, photo, and music. So far, the best theme ever. I haven’t used the portfolio feature yet, but I probably will for a static page of my work. but even without, its so well designed and functional. You’re a very productive person! above and beyond. – Matt Mayes
Hi Devin,
Thanks for this nice sleek theme and the video tutorial!
Is it possible to make the title overlay permanently shown on the portfolio item thumbnails (without having to hover the mouse on the images)?
Thanks
You’d need to edit the CSS so that it’s opacity is set to 100% by default, and then remove the javascript that controls that module.
Hey Devin, thanks for the reply c:
I actually meant below the header and menu though, I do want the home page on the menu but below it in the actual content I don’t want the h1 title on every page.
For example, my “Commissions” page says “Commissions” at the start of the content area, the home page says “Home” at the start of the content area, as if they were blog posts with a title. I’m just trying to find a way to keep my pages from looking like blog posts.
Thank you!
~Neo
Hi! Love the theme!
Quick questions – whenever I add images to my library and set them as featured to be showcased on the home/portfolio page they are blurry. When I choose images I had uploaded using a previous theme, and then set them as featured..they are pretty sharp. Anyway to fix this?
Thanks!
I’d try regenerating your thumbnails- even though I’d expect it to be the other way around for image blurriness.
Hi Devin,
first I want to thank you for that great theme! I really love it!
I have a question regarding the background for articles. Is there a way to change the background around the articles into white (for example like on this page “http://www.jaypatelphotography.com/blog”)? I think that makes it easier to read.
Thank you in advance!
Regards
Mathias
Looks like you switched themes. Yes, you could do that, but you’d need to edit the CSS background for: #portfolio .portfolio-item.
This is a wonderful theme! Thank you. I have a question regarding thumbnails: How do you get the thumbnail to be set on the upper part of the image when you are viewing the main portfolio page? I have tried to crop the image and adjust for just the thumbnail to no avail. I have used the regenerate thumbnails and that just reset them. How does the front page respond to the custom thumbnail?
Thank you!
WordPress crops to center by default. You can filter this behavior if needed, but it’s a little code intensive:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Filter_Reference/image_resize_dimensions
Another option is to not show featured images by default on the portfolio page (theme option). Then you can upload a different cropped image for your featured image, then manually insert a different one into the actual post.