WordPress 3.4 introduced the Theme Customizer API. An excellent way to include customization options into a theme build.
These features are not well documented on the WordPress.org Codex site, but there are several pages online that dig a bit deeper into the options and inner working of the Theme Customizer API.
External References:
- https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Customization_API
- http://wp.tutsplus.com/tutorials/theme-development/digging-into-the-theme-customizer-components/
- http://ottopress.com/2012/how-to-leverage-the-theme-customizer-in-your-own-themes/
- http://ottopress.com/2012/making-a-custom-control-for-the-theme-customizer/
- http://wptheming.com/2012/07/options-framework-theme-customizer/
- http://abandon.ie/exploring-wordpress-theme-customizer/
- http://themefoundation.com/wordpress-theme-customizer/
- http://www.wpexplorer.com/theme-customizer-boilerplate/
This is a great alternative to having to build a full options admin menu page. As the Theme Customizer is already in WordPress and does offer several input formats: text, textarea, checkbox, radio, colour selector and image uploader.