Detailed Total WordPress Theme Review – Ultimate Drag & Drop WordPress Theme

Let’s face it: Not all WordPress themes are created equally.

In the digital space, the only way to measure the effectiveness of your own website is in the number of shares, email subscribers, visitors, comments and most importantly the sales the site generates.

And if you already have a personal website I am sure you know the amount of work and time all of this takes.

You need to add social media buttons, find and install suitable email opt-in plugin, configure your shopping cart and manage all of that.

Evan though most of the premium themes have a lot of available options and configurations included, not all have everything inside. Yes, they maybe look good and have these options, but often something is missing and you need to take the time and find a plugin ( and pay for it) that will fill the gap.

But that’s not the case with the best WordPress themes, and more specifically the one I am going to present in this detailed review. Let me introduce; Total – The most complete WordPress theme on the market:

In this detailed review of total WordPress theme, I am going to show you why this theme is, in my opinion, is the best theme currently on the market.

Yes, there are themes that look awesome, like Divi Theme and X WordPress theme, but Total really stands out with all the included functions and available features.

Who is this theme for? And is it for you?

Like the authors of Total are saying in the official ThemeForest page: It’s called Total for a reason. Using this drag and drop WordPress theme you can easily build any type of site. Everything from personal portfolio site, eCommerce store, design agency to professional looking company site.

Thanks to all built-in features and the included demos, there are no limitations for this highly customizable WordPress theme.

Installing Total WordPress Theme

Once you have your own copy of Total WP theme it’s time to install it. Access your WordPress admin area by typing yourdomain.com/wp-admin inside your browser and navigate to Appearance > Themes > Add new:

Click Upload theme to proceed:

Load Total theme files using the choose file button and click install:

Finally, click activate to make Total active on your WordPress site:

Success! Your site is now running with the Total theme.

Installing Total WordPress Theme Recommended Plugins

Immediately after activating the theme you will see a message that will prompt you to install a couple of plugins that are recommended. Click on begging installing plugins to see all of them:

The exact number of the plugins is 7, but that doesn’t mean you need to install all of them.

I will personally suggest only installing the ones you are going to really use. And if you are not quite sure which ones to add, I will help you decide. See the list below:

• Contact form 7 – There is a high chance you are already using this plugin. One of the most used WordPress plugins for creating contact forms. It’s really easy to use and setup. A great alternative of this plugin is CaptainForms. Read my Detailed Review of CaptainForm to see all the features.
• Envato Toolkit (Auto Updates) –  This plugin will automatically update your theme when there is a new version available. I will suggest installing this plugin to be sure your theme is always up-to-date.
• Layer Slider and Revolution Slider – Add only one of these two plugins if you are planning to add sliders to your site. I will personally suggest Revolution Slider. Read my Detailed Review of Revolution Slider.
• WPBakery Visual Composer – Total won’t work without this plugin. Make sure to install this awesome drag and drop WordPress plugin.
• WooCommerce – Really powerful eCommerce plugin that will help  you sell anything on your website. Install WooCommerce only if you are planning to make your site a shopping cart.

If you didn’t installed all of the plugins, like I did, you will constantly see the same message telling you about the recommended plugins. I bit annoying don’t you think?

Hopefully, you can easily disable it. Go to Theme Panel > Uncheck Recommended Plugins > Save the changes:

There are other cool features listed here that we are going to review later.

How to Install Total WordPress Theme Demos?

The authors of this powerful WordPress theme designed more than 30 demos that you can easily install on your site and change the overall look of it:

The demos are mainly modeled for creative agencies and business site, but there are also a couple of them which are great for individuals starting their own online businesses. Your can see all of the demos here: Total Theme Demos.

Before the last update of Total WordPress theme, you had to download the demo on your computer. Now, everything is done straight from inside your WordPress dashboard.

Once you’ve successfully installed Total, to add a demo, click on Theme Panel > Demo Importer:

Here are listed all demos available. The installation process is pretty simple. Find the desired demo, you can also live preview it by clicking on the button right next to the layout:

Once you’ve found the one you want to use, just click with the mouse over the picture of the demo. The installer will check if you’ve installed the plugins needed for the demo and will show the ones needed. Click on listed plugins to easily install them. Click Next to proceed:

The next screen will give you the option to choose what exactly you want to import. Click Confirm Import to start the process:

A successful message like the one below will pop-up:

Click on My site to see the changes:

You are all set! Super easy, right?

What Is Making Total The Ultimate Drag and Drop WordPress Theme?

When I began looking for a theme for my own site, I’ve probably previewed and tested dozens of WordPress themes, and there was always something missing. But that’s not the case with Total WordPress theme.

The are 4 main things, besides all others, that are making this theme really awesome:

• Call to action box on all pages and posts –  By default, Total will place a call to action boxes below all of your pages and posts, which can help you increase conversion and sales.
• Social Buttons Included – Add awesome social media buttons on all of your pages and posts.
• Opt-in forms included – Total also has Mailchimp form built in. Meaning, you won’t need to purchase email opt-in plugin.
• bbPress on Steroids – If you are using or planning to use bbPress, you will be amazed from the available options. Total now comes with improved bbPress experience. Your forum will look, feel and perform better now thanks to the new design, customizer and much more. On top of that, total comes with amazing new bbPress demo:

• Menu shortcodes – Use shortcodes to add add icons inside your menu to make your navigation even better.
• Page and Posts Functions – After each post and a page, there is a settings panel that allows you to enable/disable things on the specific page you are working on. For example, you can change the layout to boxed or full-width, overlay the header, add custom title and subheading, change the background, and more.

But these are only a few of the things that are making Total really awesome.

Getting Started With Total Theme

Most of the premium WordPress theme will add a lot of options inside your WordPress admin panel that you will probably never going to use.

Total theme, on the other hand, is only showing the features you need.

The main options of the theme are located inside Appearance > Customize:

It’s different from the regular theme options panel located inside the admin area of the theme, but that’s for a good reason. All the changes are happening live and you don’t need to constantly go back and forth to see updates live.

General Theme Options

This tab includes some of the basic configurations. You will need to go through these settings to make the theme look more like the design you are going for:

Main options here are:

• Accent colors – Modify the accent color of the theme.
• Site Background – Add background color or a picture. This works only if the boxed layout is enabled.
• Social Sharing – Activate social media channels, choose the style of your icons and what should be the position.
• Breadcrumbs – Enable/disable breadcrumbs change color and position if needed.
• Page title – Choose a background color for your page title.
• Pages – Set the layout of your pages, enable comments and features images.
• Search – The search option is actually the page where the results are shown when someone uses the search option on your website. How many posts per page, what should be the layout and etc.
•  Scroll to top – Modify the scroll to top button to fit your design.
• Links & Buttons – What colors should be the links and the buttons on your website.
• Lightbox – If this is enabled, when someone clicks on an image a pop-up with the image will load on the page

Set Different Font For Different Section of Your Website (if needed)

The typography option of Total Theme is really powerful. You can set a specific font for a different section of your site. Everything from the body, Post Header 1,2,3 to the widget area of your website. You will find the typography section inside Appearance > Customize > Typography.

Set Specific Layout Width

Total is allowing you to modify the layout width in all devices. Change the layout width if this is needed by going to Customize > Layout.

Choose From 6 Different Header Scenarios

Your header navigation is an important part of your website. With Total theme, you can choose from 6 different header scenarios and pick the best for your design. Go to Header > General > Style:

Call To Action Box on Every Page

I previously mentioned about this option. If you are using a different WordPress theme, and you want to a call to action box on all of your pages, it will probably cost you a lot of time to add it to all of your pages. Total has this feature by default.

You can easily promote your products using this form. Additionally, if needed, you can change the text and design of the call to action box for specific pages.

From the general Menu, click on Callout. You are allowed to modify everything. Text, color of background, links color and etc.:

Form Shortcode module

Adding and customizing shortcodes has never been easier.

By using the form shortcode module inside Visual Composer you can easily add and style your contact form created with Contact Form 7 or Gravity Forms..etc.

Find the element called “Form Shortcode” and add it:

See also

WordPress Theme Reviews

·November 9, 2015

Detailed Review of Salient WordPress Theme – Stand Out from the Crowd With This Creative WordPress Theme

Paste your shortcode and choose one of the available Styles:

See the changes on your site:

Additional Configuration Options

Besides the options inside the customization panel, Total has one extra panel allowing you to make additional changes.

Inside your WordPress admin area, you will find a couple of extra settings that will come in handy:

Here are some of the main options:

• Theme Panel – Disable elements of the theme you are not planning to use. If you are not going to add testimonials to your site, simply disable this option. By doing so, your theme will load faster.
• Under Construction – Enable this if you don’t want people to see your site until is complete.
• Favicons – Add favicons in all sizes.
• Custom 404 page – Redirect the traffic from your 404 page to a specific page.

Creating a Landing Page with Total WordPress Theme

Total is powered by Visual Composer, meaning that all of your pages will be build with this drag and drop page builder.

To start building a page go to Pages > Add new > Add Title and enable Visual Composer by clicking on the button Backend/Frontend Editor. Start adding elements to customize the page:

Once you are ready, if you want to disable all defaults features, like menu, sidebar, footer, from the Template section choose the Landing page option:

To make additional changes to your pages, you can use the Page settings option below each page. After your text editor, you will find the section called – page settings:

Here you can enable/disable elements of the page. Change the layout, remove or add a sidebar, enable or disable the social buttons, overlay the header, add a custom title, change the default background color, edit the call to action box and more. This is a simple landing page build in minutes:

Another really simple and easy way to build your landing pages is to use the ones that are added when you install Demo content. Simply find one of the pages added after installing the demo data and modify the content inside.

Customizing your Blog Section with Total WordPress Theme

Essential part for every website owner is to have a page where all of the blog posts will be listed. Creating such page will Total WordPress theme is really straightforward.

Create a New page > enable Visual Composer > Add Blog Grid element > Modify the settings using the options panel:

This is how your blog section may look like when using Total:

Of course, you can modify everything when needed.

What is the price of Total WordPress Theme

Total is one of the best selling items on ThemeForest. The asking price for a single license is 59$, which is a really reasonable price considering the available options and configurations.

Pros and Cons of Total WordPress Theme

Pros:

• Highly customizable.
• Easy to use and configure.
• Available demos.
• Email opt-in forms and social buttons included.
• Powerful page and posts configurations.
• Premium plugins included.

Cons:

• I wasn’t able to find any downsides that are worth mentioning.

Final Thoughts

Total theme is one of those themes that can do just about anything.

Clean looks, flexibility, powerful customization options and really easy to setup. You will save a lot of time designing your site to focus on building your online business.

There aren’t many themes that are providing the options Total theme does. I highly recommend using this theme for your personal or client sites.

What do you think about this WordPress theme? Share your thoughts in the comments below:

(This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see my affiliate disclaimer page.)