The Layers Showcase  plugin is a Layers extension created by the Layers team for adding portfolio and gallery support to your Layers site.

Showcase will add a new post type to your WordPress admin menu called “Projects,” a new Layers Projects widget, and a Projects page template.

To report issues with Showcase, you are welcomed to send us a question via the Layers Messenger under your Layers Dashboard.

1. You must have the latest version of Layers installed. See How to Update Layers if you’re unsure.
2. From the WordPress admin, go to PLUGINS → ADD NEW
3. Click on UPLOAD PLUGIN 
4. Click on CHOOSE FILE in the center white box and navigate to the to file, select it and click  OPEN
5. Click INSTALL NOW
6. When complete, click Activate Plugin
7. You will be directed to a getting started wizard that provides an overview of the steps in this guide, which you can return to any time under  Layers → Showcase Help.

Showcase needs a few things in WordPress to be optimal. These settings are part of a standard Layers setup, but are worth double-checking before you get started:

1. Go to Settings → Permalinks
2. Ensure Date or Post Name (recommended) is selected and click Save.
   • Save even if this was selected to load the new post type and category.
3. Go to Settings → Media
4. Ensure the Medium image max width is 600 and click Save.
   • If you want to use the Masonry layout (where images of different dimensions lock together nicely), make sure the max height is 9999
5. If you plan to use images you have already uploaded, you will need to regenerate your thumbnails

• For best results, upload images at least 1000px wide, saved at 100% quality. WordPress will take care of jpg compression and resizing for the templates itself.
• SVGs are not natively supported in WordPress as image objects. We recommend creating a gif to showcase animations, and link to a demo where needed from the Project post.
• Animated GIF files and cinemagraphs (JPG) will not work anymore if they are cropped. These file types will not be affected in archives or your single posts if List or Grid is used. For widgets, make sure the Image Ratio is None.

This guilde will walk you through the following:

You may create a static Showcase page which displays all your project posts by going to Pages → Add New and selecting the Project page template.

This template can be customized just like your Project Category archives in the Showcase Customizer settings, explained in detail later in the guide.

This page is created automatically if you use the demo content.

Showcase includes a Projects widget for displaying project posts in any Layers page. It can be used alone to create a custom Projects page vs the static page template, or in combination with other Layers widgets. The Project Widget is explained in more detail later in this guide.

Before you can customize anything, you need content. For best results, we recommend creating your own posts vs. loading demo content, to ensure your content does not end up with tags or other data that don’t belong on your portfolio. Click the Project Posts link in the table of contents to the left or follow the link at the bottom of this post to jump to that section.

Using Demo Content

A demo content file is linked from the help wizard under LAYERS → SHOWCASE HELP

To install it:

1. Go to Tools → Import and select WordPress
2. Browse to the xml file and select it
3. Click Upload File and Import
4. Change the author to you and proceed
5. When finished, go to Projects

We recommend you read through how to create a Project from scratch so you understand all the options, up next →