This article describes the free and paid plugins that we recommend and are using on the Mai Lifestyle Theme demo.
The Mai Lifestyle Pro theme demo utilizes several plugins that are not included with the theme. These plugins lend some functionality and features to the demo. If you want to recreate the demo, or duplicate the demo’s features, you may want to consider the following plugins:
WooCommerce – WooCommerce is used to create the Shop page and the “Our Products” section on the homepage. There are several widgets included with WooCommerce, and there are
WooCommerce specific GRID parameters (used in the “Our Products” section GRID on the homepage). Please see WooCommerce documentation to ensure correct setup of WooCommerce. Using WooCommerce also requires use of the Genesis Connect for WooCommerce plugin.
Genesis Connect for WooCommerce – Genesis Connect for WooCommerce is required when WooCommerce is installed. This plugin replaces WooCommerce’s built-in shop templates with its own Genesis-ready versions.
Simple Social Icons – Simple Social Icons creates a widget for displaying links to your social profiles. We used the Simple Social Icons widget in the Before Header widget area to display our social links.
Shared Counts – Shared Counts is used for the sharing buttons on posts.
Portfolio Post Types – The Portfolio Post Types plugin is used to create the Showcase page on the demo. Please read this plugin’s documentation to understand its use and setup.
Cookbook – Cookbook is a premium paid plugin, It’s simply a great recipe plugin – we used it to create the “Recipes” and “Recipe Categories” section on the homepage, and the “Our Favorite Recipes” sidebar widget using GRID – we added all recipes to a post category, and then either displayed or excluded it using GRID. Since Cookbook is no longer supported, we prefer WP Recipe Maker and have heard good things about Tasty Recipes.
Mai Testimonials – Mai Testimonials allows you to manage and display testimonials on your website, creating a new area to add testimonials, including name, testimonial, byline (person’s title), and website link. Your testimonials are easily displayed on a page via the [grid] shortcode, which means they can be in columns, as a slider, in a widget, etc… you decide.
Mai Ads & Extra Content – Mai Ads & Extra Content enables flexible ad locations and extra content areas throughout Mai Theme & Genesis child themes. Easily display ads or content before or after your header, on the left or right of your logo, after the banner area, before or after your posts, inside your posts after any number of paragraphs, in widgets, in your footer, and practically anywhere you want.
Most of these plugins are free, and can be obtained from the WordPress repository – just visit the Plugins page from the Dashboard, click on Add New, and search!