The featured area on the Prime News homepage has three parts: the slider in the middle (765×550px) and a widget area on each side — Editorial and Latest News in the demo.
The side columns
Fill the two widget areas in Appearance → Widgets:
Left of Slider — the demo uses a Featured Category widget showing 2 posts (the Editorial column).
Right of Slider — the demo uses the WPZOOM: Recent Posts widget (the Latest News column).
Any widget works in these areas.
Featuring a post in the slider
Edit the post and check Feature in Homepage Slider in the Post Options box.
Make sure the post has a Featured Image — ideally at least 765×550px.
Update the post.
Faster for bulk changes: the Posts screen has a Featured column — click the star to feature or un-feature posts directly, and Posts → Featured Posts lists only the featured ones.
Slideshow settings
Go to WPZOOM → Theme Options → Homepage → Homepage Slideshow:
Display Slideshow on Homepage? — turn the slider on or off.
