Options Framework Plugin

The Options Framework Plugin makes it easy to include a full featured options panel in any WordPress theme.

Although this plugin is still maintained and secure, the recommended way to add theme options for new themes is to use the Customizer.

Instructions

Download the plugin and activate it on your site.

To learn how to set up the options panel in your own themes, download the Options Check theme from GitHub and use its files as a base. It’s a blueprint for how the Options Framework works with a sample option panel with every type of option you are able to use and a demo of how to display each one on the front end.

Available Options

These are the options available:

  • text
  • textarea
  • checkbox
  • select
  • radio
  • upload (an image uploader)
  • images (use images instead of radio buttons)
  • background (a set of options to define a background)
  • multicheck
  • color (a jquery color picker)
  • typography (a set of options to define typography)
  • editor

There’s also “heading” to define the menu tabs, and “info” if you just want to add some additional information to the panel.

Returning Option Settings

If you look in index.php of the Options Check theme, you’ll see how each option is returned. It should look something like this:

of_get_option( $id,$default );

What if the Options Framework Plugin is not installed?

The neat thing about this plugin is that it isn’t required for your theme to work. Each option should have a default which will be used if the plugin isn’t installed. Take a look at Portfolio Press without the plugin activated to see how it works.

There are a couple ways to let the user know that options are available if the plugin is installed: a notice on theme activation, an auto prompt on activation, notes in the documentation, etc. I’ve left this up to the theme authors to decide how to implement.

Download the Plugin

Download from WordPress Repository
Download Development Version

Additional Tutorials

Future Development

This plugin is not actively developed. If there’s compatibility or bug fixes needed, let me know.

Exporting/Importing Options

If you are exporting SQL databases, this thread might be of interest to you. There’s also a fork of the theme version, where someone built this out: https://github.com/vauvarin/options-framework-theme

Credits

The Options Panel was originally based on the excellent work of Woo Themes and still uses some of their code.

A huge thanks to all the people who helped out on GitHub, including @mfields, @helgatheviking, @celtic7, @samargulies, @mattweibe, @Mamaduka and any others.

Also a big thanks to folks who made donations to pay for a third party code review: Jason Schuller, Mint Idea, Luke McDonald .

671 Responses

  1. Richard Barkinskiy

    Firstly, great plugin. Thank you.

    The only problem I keep running into is with ‘wpautop’ being set to true however the output does not include paragraph tags, only “&nbsp” instead.

    Any solution to this? Thanks

  2. Marcella

    Hi Devin!
    I have downloaded a wordpress theme from themeforest and options framework plugin was included. I have installed it, but when i try to activate it, it gives me this fatal error
    “Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.

    Fatal error: Cannot redeclare optionsframework_init() (previously declared in C:\Users\user\Desktop\USBWebserver v8.6\root\wordpress\wp-content\themes\blueblog\inc\options-framework\options-framework.php:121) in C:\Users\user\Desktop\USBWebserver v8.6\root\wordpress\wp-content\plugins\options-framework\options-framework.php on line 57”
    I’m using WordPress 3.9.1.
    What can i do?
    Thanks.

  3. Anfisa

    Hello Devin,
    Thank you very much for plugin. Great job! I like it very much.

    One question. Is it possible to get “Default” button for every option like “Defaul color”? It would be is very useful if a customer plays with options and then wants to reset one or two options, instead of all options.

    Thank you in advance for your answer. :)

  4. Stas Newdel

    Hi there – thank you for the great plugin!

    I have a question about the conditional logic – making another option appear when the checkbox clicked. Do the IDs of both elements have to be related in some way? Is the implementation based on using a naming convention by adding “showhidden” to the parent option and “hidden” to the child?

    BTW, I am using it as a theme, not as a plug-in.

    Thanks!

  5. Leeza

    The tabs for both the ‘Theme Options’ and the ‘FT Options’ do nothing. In other words, the first tab for ‘Basic Settings’ shows content but nothing happens when you attempt to open the ‘Advanced Settings’. Essentially useless, since that’s where the most useful settings are located. This holds true after activating several themes. Any guidance would be most welcome. By the way, I followed the guidance found in the Theme Specific video.

      1. Leeza

        Thank you Devin, I did just that with no change. As I attempt to activate Options Framework, the error states “Cannot redeclare optionsframework_init() (previously declared in /wp-content/themes/booster/options-framework/options-framework.php:35) in /wp-content/plugins/options-framework/options-framework.php on line 57”

        (I removed the entire path from this message, given I wasn’t sure it would be relevant or unwise to post the directory path publicly)

        Could part of the issue be that there’s two options-framework.php files in two locations? Do I delete one of them, do you think? Thank you again for your help!

  6. Fedor

    Hi! i use Devion wordpress theme
    on homepage i need video carousal but theme options doesnt work
    i see this error:

    Your current theme does not support plug-in Options Framework.

    Please help

  7. Lisa

    Hi –

    I am using the theme ROMO which lists the Options Frame Work as neccessary. I have it installed and the plug in is active. The only issue is I am getting error messages at the top of WordPress since I have activated the plugin:
    Warning: include_once(/home/melges5/public_html/wordpress/wp-content/themes/romo/lib/admin/admin.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/melges5/public_html/wordpress/wp-content/themes/romo/lib/init.php on line 170

  8. Mathieu S

    Hi, thank you for this great tool.
    I would like to use the framework not only for a theme options but also for an option page on a custom post type. Is it possible ?

  9. Yuvraj Khavad

    Thanks for great plugin ……..

    I have a one problem, when we transfer site form one server to another or local to live that time our all data of “theme option” gone so that time we need add again those data. anyone have idea how to solve this problem.

    Thanks
    Yuvraj

  10. Lawrence

    Hi, I am just trialling your theme on WordPress 4 and options framework 1.8.2 which is installed and activated. But I am getting the message, “Your current theme does not have support for the Options Framework plugin”. I have uninstalled and tried again, but no luck. Any ideas? Many thanks ;-)

  12. Ephram Curry

    Hi Devin!
    I have downloaded a WordPress theme named Xerxes from from the site http://www.fabthemes.com/. I also installed and activated the required Options Framework Plugin. Although both the Theme and plugin are activate, it gives me this error
    Your current theme does not have support for the Options Framework plugin.

  13. Max

    Hello,
    I just downloaded this plugin to try to customize the header and the footer of my theme /grandhotel from teamforest), but I seem to get an incomplete version of the plugin. I don’t see the advanced options area, and I seem to be able to change the top menu logo but not the footer logo.
    I do not have much experience but I have been trying for a while without success.
    Can you please instruct me to have a full version of the plugin?
    Thanks
    Max

  14. Kiril Mavrov

    Hello,
    First off: amazing piece of code ! I just want to ask you a question about compatibility with WP 4.0.1 and more specifically with the color picker, because when do clean install of the OF Theme the color picker does not work. It gives me only a square with several predefined colors to choose from, but not the whole color palette. Is there an easy way to fix this?

      1. Kiril Mavrov

        I have found which plugin was causing the issues, so yeah, once again thank you for the amazing piece of code! Everything is working properly now, once I have disabled the TinyMCE color picker plugin :) Wish you all the best for the next year !

  18. Dennis

    please I use the risen theme..with the options framework as demanded by the theme
    and the upload / file upload form elements do. not work.. on.click…it shows nothing… no dialog or file Chooser..ps I need a solution ASAP.

    1. Devin

      Try disabling all your plugins except for Options Framework and see if they work again. Sometimes this can be caused by a javascript bug in other plugins. If that doesn’t fix it, I’d contact the theme authors.

  19. Jerad

    Have you had any experience adding to Ultimatum theme? I can get text fields to work just, but the file uploaders don’t work. I have tried disabling all all plugins to no avail.

      1. Jerad

        Yeah. Submitted a ticket, so I’m just waiting. Figured I’d try here, too, just in case. Looks like a JS conflict, but I get no errors in console.

  20. Humayun Kabir

    For the social link, I added below code at theme-options.php
    array(
    ‘id’ => ‘social_links’,
    ‘label’ => __( ‘Social Links’, ‘theme-text-domain’ ),
    ‘desc’ => __( ‘The Social Links option type utilizes a drag & drop interface to create a list of social links. There are a few filters that make extending this option type easy.’ ),
    ‘std’ => ”,
    ‘type’ => ‘social-links’,
    ‘section’ => ‘footer_sittings’,
    ‘rows’ => ”,
    ‘post_type’ => ”,
    ‘taxonomy’ => ”,
    ‘min_max_step’=> ”,
    ‘class’ => ”,
    ‘condition’ => ”,
    ‘operator’ => ‘and’
    ),
    Now I want return in footer.php for below code

    Would you please help me that what code I will put in footer.php

  21. Ruud Visser

    Dear Devin,

    Everytime i try to save the things i changed in the theme with the Options framwork plugin i get this error:

    “Service Temporarily Unavailable

    The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.”

    My hosting provider says its not in the hosting side.

    1. Devin

      Do you get that on any other pages? Wouldn’t be caused by the plugin- that notice means WordPress is trying to talk to some server and having trouble connecting.

  23. Johanna

    Hi Devin,

    I am using your Portfolio Press theme (which is great, I love it!) but it won’t let me use the Options Framework Plugin. Here is what message I get:

    Your current theme does not have support for the Options Framework plugin.

    Do you know what the problem could be?

    Thanks in advance!
    Johanna

    1. Devin

      I moved all the options functionality into the customizer, so the plugin is no longer needed. Just click “Appearance > Customize” to edit any of the options that used to be in the panel.

  25. Anil Ankola

    This Plugin is really Great,

    but one problem is that when i transfer site to another server then theme options all data is delete.

    Thanks
    Anil Ankola

  26. Xeeone Kim

    I have changed all the names of functions and classes to have two instances for each my theme and plugin. For now, I finished for the theme and no trouble happened yet. I use OptionsFramework Theme version, and I wonder what’s the difference between plugin and theme versions? Because I had already done so huge changes to the Theme version of your plugin(All Google Typography Options, Draggable Ranger, Color Collection Selectors and so on for my premium theme), so I would use the same OF Theme version even for my plugin if it’s okay to replace the theme version to the plugin version.

    1. Devin

      Go to the “Install Plugins” tab under “Plugins”. Click “Deactivate” and then click “Delete”. If you’re having issues, try switching themes or deactivating all plugins to make sure there isn’t some sort of bug or conflict caused by another product.

  29. swaranan

    Hi, i have integrated the theme option in my theme..But how to fetch the value in my theme??like if i want to change my logo which code need to insert in header.php??

      1. Ruby

        Any chance of getting the information in “plain English”? I don’t see any annotation in that file to explain what to use and how.

      2. Devin

        Hi Ruby. The video and instructions on this page explain how to set it up. Let me know which piece is unclear. You’ll need to know at least a little PHP in order to implement.

  30. ha

    I make every thing as above, but the page not show
    only white page with out any information
    even I need to log in to my account I cannot !

    What I can do now?

    2. ha

      Notice: add_option was called with an argument that is deprecated since version 2.3 with no alternative available. in /home/content/74/6083274/html/wordpressNet/wp-includes/functions.php on line 3510

      what this mean?!

  31. John

    I am developing my own custom theme, i have used redux framework and their documentation is well written on how to include and activate, yours says to copy options.php to your theme, theme always contain many directories.. so WHERE? and what to do next, what to include in theme functions.php, what if there should be something like this, download from github, find this file.. include to something like this, to make it active to your custom theme do this and that.. and you will be done, then you will be able to customize options you want…

    Please i want to use options framework, briefly, there’s no clear documentation on how to make it usable for custom developed themes. Would you please explain a bit on what to do, i have downloaded, done everything but i dont see theme options.. or what are the required things for it to work?

  32. Anton van Pelt

    Hi,

    Im developping my own website, and used the options framework. Its al working but there is one thing which gives me a headache! When i fill in my custom options, it wont save the values. What can cause this?

  33. achui

    Hi Devin,

    Hope you are doing good,

    I am using viper theme by fabthemes, where they have recommended you plugin i.e, options framework, but here is the error that I am getting,

    “Your current theme does not have support for the Options Framework plugin”

  34. Antonio

    Hi, I am developing a plugin with an option settings panel using the framework plugin and I need to set alpha values for color so, after some search I find a very good solution using picker wp-color-picker-alpha (https://github.com/23r9i0/wp-color-picker-alpha).
    You need just some little changes to the core files but it works and is very useful if you need to set color with alpha values. For any question contact me.

    Antonio

  36. Xeeone Kim

    Hi, Is there any method to add a container(wrapper) for several options? It’s because I need to implement some options with jQueryUI sortable. I want to add a container() for them.

  37. Theo

    I am adding text editor in theme options, but, unfortunately I don’t get font color option. How can I add it? Other than that, editor works nice but I’d love to add an option for a client to change the color of the text via editor in theme options.

  38. Holo c

    my wordpress version is the lastest and I still use the version 1.7.0 Options_Framework
    I follow the tutorial ,but now I can’t get the value by of_get_option(‘id’,’default’) and it only echo the default thing which I write in the function
    And I save the option ,there is no error display on the front end.
    I don’t know why .

  39. Vivek

    If I want to upload my theme on WordPress.org, can I still use the Options Framework [and have the theme pass the theme review]?
    I’ve read that WordPress has made it mandatory to use the Customizer and not have a separate options page/menu as a way to unify the concept of customization.

    1. Devin

      You cannot include the Options Framework in your theme code, but you can set it up to work with the plugin version. However, recommended best practice is to use the Customizer and I’d suggest going that route if you can.

  40. Elise

    Hello!

    I downloaded the plugin but when I go to drop the options check into my theme I am not sure where to locate it in my computer… I downloaded a theme from Mojo themes. Where would I find this in my computer? First time doing any of this and teaching myself, so I am a little lost at the moment… I can’t find any themes on my computer though. Did I miss a step? Thank you

      2. elise

        I followed your video, but when you go to transfer the file into the theme. That is where I am having difficulty…

  41. Helena

    Okay I downloaded Zillafile and dragged and dropped options check folder into the them I wanted’s file. But it still won’t show up on my word press.. So I tried to upload it through Bluehost cpanel file manager and it still wouldn’t show up on Word press. What am i doing wrong?

    1. Devin

      “Options Check” is a stand-alone theme that shows off the functionality of the Options Framework plugin. “Options Check” should go in the theme directory of your WordPress install.

      1. Helena

        Okay I dropped the file into the theme directory. It now shows up as a theme under themes in WordPress. But it still is not showing up on the side panel under appearance. Am I missing anything else?? Thank you.

  42. Leda Black

    I run a Portfolio Press child theme (I have only done some typography changes and color changes). My banner formatting looked messed up (my site logo did not load and the menu lost its formatting: http://ledablack.com) so I looked at my dashboard and saw a notice that I no longer need the options framework plugin (that I should use “customizer” instead) and also that the plugin was no longer compatible with the theme. So I deactivated Options Framework plugin and my site broke and would not load anything in Firefox Mac or on my android phone. All options in the “customize” tab looked fine. When I reactivated the plugin my site came back but my banner is still messed up. How do I fix that stuff and why did I get that message which made things worse? Thanks for any help or hints. –Leda

    1. Devin

      If you’re using a child theme, it sounds like you may have used some functions that require the Options Framework. The parent theme no longer requires it (because updates have been made). Look at the specific templates you copied in a modified and compare them to the originals in the parent theme.

    1. Devin

      If your child theme is just a stylesheet, there isn’t anything that should cause an issue. Are you sure there aren’t any .php files in your child theme? Try removing those and testing.

  46. pramod singh

    hi Devin ,
    Language directory path problem in my site . please help me.

    1. wp-content/themes/Cartel/FT/plugin/options-framework/languages/ft_optionsframework-en_US.mo) is not within the allowed path(s)

    2. wp-includes\l10n.php on line 554
    both problem is my site

  47. Sander

    Hi, the Options Framework was required with my recipes theme but it doesn’ t show any options, very shortly you see the options and then they disapear leaving me with two buttons, ‘ restore defaults’ and ‘ save options’
    Can you help?

    Thanks, Sander.

  49. ali

    hi devin thanks for plugin it’s great but i can’t atteching to my theme how i add color and font to my theme please help me?

  50. Michael

    Hi Devin I need some help, I can’t get the option framework plugin to install. It give me a ( the theme is missing the style.css.stylesheet ) error. What can I do ?
    The theme is TETRIS

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