Definition of Gantry

gan??try (gan???tr??) noun

  1. (RocketTheme) A framework used for assembling, building and maintaining a RocketTheme template

Overview of Gantry

Gantry is a sophisticated WordPress theme framework with the sole intention of being the best platform to build a solid theme with. Gantry takes all the lessons learned during the development of many RocketTheme themes and distils that knowledge into a single super-flexible framework that is easy to configure, simple to extend, and powerful enough to handle anything we want to throw at it.

Key Features

The Gantry framework is packed with many great features that enable the rapid development of feature-rich designs with a minimum amount of effort. We’ve also gone to great lengths to enhance the standard WordPress administration user interface to make configuring a Gantry-powered theme easier than ever before. Check out a sampling of the features Gantry brings to the table:

  • 960 Grid System
  • Stunning Administrator interface
  • XML driven and with overrides for unprecedented levels of customization
  • Per item/taxonomy level control over any configuration parameter
  • Preset any combination of configuration parameters, and save custom presets
  • 65 base widget positions. Easily add more!
  • 36 possible layout combinations for mainbody and sidebars
  • Up to 3 sidebars for a total of 4 column layouts
  • Many built-in widgets such as font-sizer, to-top smooth slider, IE6 warning message, etc.
  • Flexible grid layout system for unparalleled control over block sizes

Installing/Updating Gantry

The Gantry plugin is a separate from the themes that use it. It is installed separately as gantry in the plugins directory. Therefore, to update Gantry, you just need to reinstall through the WordPress interface rather than manually edit files in the theme.

Each theme will have a bundle download option available to install both the theme and the Gantry plugin at the same time, in conjunction with a standalone download.

Overview of the Administrator Interface

The administrative interface for Gantry is one of, if not the, most extensive and intuitive WordPress administrators in the community as a whole today. Gantry takes the theme options ability of WordPress and takes it to the next level with a robust, diverse, functional and overall, substantial array of options to control, essentially, all aspects of the theme.

The best way to discover all the options available, as well as what they do, is to visit the administrator itself at Admin Dashboard → Panacea Settings

The options are subdivided into various categories:

  • Content – Set the content display options
  • Style – Configure preset specific settings such as Link Color
  • Gizmos – Control the various Gantry gizmos such as Feed links
  • Layout – Customize the layout options of Gantry such as the Feature-a/f row distribution
  • Advanced – Various other options are located here