The Privateer Theme Content Areas

One big benefit of using the privateer theme over some other theme is that you can place content all over the place.

Let us start with the PWS Busy Business theme look. By default it doesn't seem as if there is anywhere to place extra content.

Rather than use a static set of areas to place content in, the Privateer has a variety of areas where content can easily be placed via the admin panel so long as that content does not need server side scripting such as php.

The sidebars each have an area above and below them that can have content placed into them.

If both sidebars are on the same side, you can have the following content areas:

One content area above each sidebar and one content area below each sidebar
One large content area above the two sidebars and one large content area below the two sidebars
Any combination of the above ( one above each and one large below them, etc. )
Content only above or below one sidebar and not the other

Here is an example of using the large content area above the sidebars:

And an example of using all four sidebar content areas individually. Keep in mind that these can be whatever height you want, but are limited to the width of the sidebar they are associated with unless spanned across both of them.

Keep in mind that you can mix and match:

One large area above and two small areas, one below each sidebar...or the reverse
Areas only above and/or below one sidebar or the other

Also, it is worth noting that the below box areas are a bit odd as this functionality currently uses a table. Below content boxes typically show up right above the footer rather than right underneath of the last widget in the sidebar.

If you have only one sidebar showing or one on either side, then you can place content above and below each one, but cannot have the space above and/or below them shared.

The area above and/or below each bar is equal to the width of the sidebar...which you can set to be whatever you want it to be.

Content in the Footer
Since the footer consists of entirely custom content, you can place whatever you want into it.

Content in the Header
The header of the privateer is made up of any number of horizontal bars stacked on top of each other.
Among the bars available are three custom content bars which you can place anything into.

By mixing the custom bars in with the other bars, you can get a number of looks with extra content.

Here is an example using all three available custom header areas

Keep in mind you can place whatever html and javascript you want within these custom bars. The ones above are ugly, but you can see the adsense block, the series of non-bold links, and the series of bold links in the header area.

Content in the Body Area

Within the Privateer theme, each template can be configured individually and can have content placed into the following extra areas that normal wordpress themes simply do not have:

A Page Kicker - displayed at the top of the page
A Page Title - not really for extra content, but it is available
A Page Subtitle - not really for extra content, but it is available
A Page Summary - not meant for extra content, but it is available and works for it
A Page Byline - displayed below the title
An area to place extra HTML ( or Javascript ) above the list of posts
An area to place extra HTML ( or Javascript ) below the list of posts
A page footer - displayed at the very bottom of the page

Additionally, the post listing on each page has the following areas:

A Post Kicker - displayed above each post title
A Post Subtitle - set via each post and placed as specified
A Post Summary - set via each post and placed as specified
A Post Byline - displayed below each post title
A Post Footer - displayed below each posts content

If you place something in all of the above areas on your home page, it will look as follows:

Of course, you can also use custom displays to make even more spaces available on different types of pages. The available spaces depend upon the custom display.

For the home page, using the Two Column Box List and Post List Display, we can place a list of content boxes to one side of the displayed posts or the other.

When using that display, you can:
. Note which side of the post listing you want your boxes on
. Note how many boxes you want ( each having a header, body, and footer available for use )
. Note how wide you want the boxes to be, either as a flat width or a percentage of available space
. Have extra links to any categories and/or products associated with a particular post inserted above each posts footer

If we setup three boxes and place some content in them while activating the above custom display, we get the following:

Make note of the extra content areas introduced above and below the list of posts as well as the three new content boxes that consist of a header, body, and footer each.

The content boxes can be placed on either side of the list of posts.

Some final thoughts
Between the additional page and post areas, the ability to turn different parts of pages and posts on or off, and the use of custom displays, you can get a lot of different looks with the privateer theme.

As time goes on I will be adding more custom displays and more quick sets ( pre-configured looks ).