Showing posts with label Pages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pages. Show all posts

Monday, 25 September 2017

How to put posts into pages in Wordpress - without using a plug-in

This article shows how to set up your blog made with Wordpress so that that (it looks like) your posts are on separate web-pages, without needing to install any plugin.

(For this task, the answers for Wordpress.org and Wordpress.com are so very similar that they have been combined into the one article.)


Wordpress, like most blogging platforms, is basically made up of Posts, Pages and Widgets (aka gadgets).

People who are building blogs often want to "put posts into pages" ie to have a page which shows a subset of their posts, based on the category.  

The standard, but unsatisfactory, answer is
"Sorry, that's not how Wordpress works.   Static pages are used for reference information that doesn't change often, which you don't want to be part of your regular post-feed, but which you do want users to have easy access to."

Luckily it's easy to set up your blog so that it looks like your posts are on different pages by following three simple steps.   This is an out-of-the box function and no plug-in's are required.



Follow these steps to put your posts into pages


1   Add Categories to your posts

Edit each post, and add one or more Categories to it.  

It's your choice whether to add a Category to all posts, or just the ones that you want to show up on specific page-look-alike ones.


2 Make a menu

Skip this step if your blog already has a primary menu.   But if it doesn't:

Wordpress.org users:

  • In your Wordpress dashboard, go to Appearance > Menus
  • Enter a name for the menu.   fyi, this name isn't displayed, it's just used to help you know which menu is which,  I usually call it   topMenu
  • Under Menu settings > Display Location, click   Primary menu
  • Click the Save Menu button

Wordpress.com users

  • In your Wordpress dashboard, go to  Customize > Menus > Add a menu
  • Enter a name for the menu.   fyi, this name isn't displayed, it's just used to help you know which menu is which,  I usually call it   topMenu
  • Click Create Menu
  • Under Display Location, click   Primary menu
  • Click the Save and Publish button

3   Add each Category that you want a page for to the menu

In the Wordpress dashboard:
  • Wordpress.org users, choose  Appearance > Menus
  • Wordpress.com users, choose Customize > Menus

Choose the menu which you want people to use to a page of posts  (mostly this will be the primary menu - but in theory you could use any one).

Wordpress.com users - you also need to click Add Item here, to open the next screen.

In the screen that opens, there are four types of items that you can add to a menu.   Click on the drop-down arrow beside Categories to see the current list of category values which you have added.

Select the Category-value(s) that you want to have pages for, and click the Add to Menu button.




This will add the selected category values to the "Menu Structure" section.  

Drag-and-drop them up and down the list to change the order of the items on the menu.

When you are happy with the order, click the Save Menu or the Save and Publish button.


3   Optional:  Deal with the home-page

By default, Wordpress blogs show posts on the home page, as well as on the "Category pages" for the categories you have assigned to them.

You can stop this by choosing
  • Wordpress.org users:     Appearance > Customize > Static front page   
  • Wordpress.com:    Customize  > Static front page   
and clicking the Static Page radio button.


Next, under the Front Page drop-down box, either
  • Choose one of your existing Pages or
  • Use the Add New link to create a new Page  (you can edit the contents later).

And under Post Page, either
  • Choose one of your existing Pages or
  • Use the Add New link to create a new Page
Note that this step is optional:   if you do it, you also need to edit your Menu (see step 2 above),  and add the selected Page to your menu.    If  you don't do this, then you need to have set up some other method for people visiting your blog to get to the posts.


Click Save and Publish    (at the top of the sidebar), to make these changes take effect.


Job Done

It really is that simple.  Your readers can now click on the "pages" in your blog from your menu, and see a list of posts for the Page that they chose.

Even better, if some posts relate to more than one topic, they show up on all of the relevant pages.  




Related Articles

Coming soon.

Tuesday, 4 March 2014

How to put put Posts into Pages in Blogger

This article shows how to set up your blog, using Blogger, so that it looks like your posts are on separate web-pages.


Can you put Posts onto Pages in Blogger?

Ever since Google introduced "pages" into Blogger, people have complained that their posts all go onto the "home page", and asked how to put posts onto different pages in their blog.


The standard, but unsatisfactory, answer is
"Sorry, that's not how Blogger works.   So called "static" pages in Blogger are meant to be used for reference information that doesn't change often, which you don't want to be part of your regular post-feed, but which you do want users to have easy access to."

Basically, this is part of the difference between post and pages.

Luckily it's easy to set up your blog so that it looks like your posts are on different pages [tweet this]    (even though you and I know that this isn't how Blogger works) by following three simple steps.


Follow these steps to put your posts into pages

1   Add Categories

Categorise your posts by adding Labels to them.

It's your choice whether to add Labels to all posts, or just the ones that you want to show up on specific "pages".


2 Make a "pages look alike" menu bar

There are (at least) are three ways of doing this - described below.

When Blogger first implemented static pages that could link to websites, I suggested choosing which ever option suited your blog best.

However now, due to the increasing importance of mobile themes, I recommend Option c), because the pages-gadget is the only one mentioned that automatically shows upon mobile-themes.

a)   With a Labels Gadget    

Use the usual add-a-gadget approach to put a Labels gadget into the spot where you would put the Pages gadget if you wanted to make a horizontal menu bar with it.

If your blog has some Labels that you don't want to have "pages" for, then set it to show only some of your Labels:

b)  With a Linked-list gadget

Use the usual add-a-gadget approach to put a Link-list gadget where you would put the Pages gadget if you wanted to make a horizontal menu bar with it.
Add a link to the list for each Label that you want a "page" for.   The HTML to use for each Label value is

http://YOUR-BLOG-URL/search/label/THE-LABEL-NAME

You can also add other items (eg individual Posts, or even Bllogger's static "pages" if you really must have them - see why I don't like them!) - see the menu bar at the top of this site for an example of this. 

c)   With a Pages gadget   <===   RECOMMENDED APPROACH

Use the usual add-a-gadget approach to put a Pages gadget into the menu bar area.   (You can do this even if you have not created any Pages of content).

While you are editing the Pages gadget, there is an  + Add external link option.  

Click on this, and add an entry in like the ones described above in he Linked-list gadget option, putting
  •  the text you want in your menu bar into the Page title field 
  • The label search command into the Web address field.




3   Optional:  Deal with the home-page

If you don't want your posts to appear on the "home page" was well as the topic pages, then there are two possibilities:

OR

  • Give your blog a "home page" using the custom-redirect option discussed in this post.

However I generally see this as unnecessary, because in most cases, very blog visitors ever see the home page.






Job Done

It really is that simple.  Your readers can now click on the "pages" in your blog from a "menu" at the top, and see a list of posts for the Page that they chose.

Even better, if some posts relate to more than one topic, they show up on both of the relevant pages.    And if you have used the Pages gadget, your blog is well set-up to work with a mobile-theme - which is something that is getting more important every month.

Don't forget to test your blog, to make sure that the menu bar is working how you expect it to and that it looks OK, in all the browsers that your readers are actually using.




Related Articles

Using Labels to group your Blogger Posts

Adding external and internal URLs to your pages-gadget / menu bar

Giving your blog a home page

The difference between posts and pages

Showing a Gadget only on the Home Page

Making your blog work for people using smartphones and tablets