How to Define a Home Page in WordPress
How to define a home page in WordPress:
Per the WordPress Codex http://codex.wordpress.org/Creating_a_Static_Front_Page:
“By default, WordPress shows your most recent posts on the front page of your site. But many WordPress users want to have a static front page or splash page as the front page instead. This “static front page” look is common for those who wish to not have a “blog” look to their site, giving it a more CMS (content management system) feel.”
“When you create a static front page for your site, you must also create a way for WordPress to show your most recent posts in a “virtual directory” called blog, news, or whatever else you choose to call it. This is true whether or not you are actually using Posts in WordPress. ”
“The static front page is a customized Page that displays static content. It can be customized to direct people to featured content, or highlight posts, articles, categories, or contributors. ”
1. Create two WordPress Pages from the “Add New Page” panel. If you will not be using WordPress blogging functionality, you can skip the second page.
- Title the first page “Home” (or another name) as your “static” front page.
- Add content you would like to see within the content area of the “Home” page.
- Publish the Page.
- Title the second page “Blog” (or you could call it “News”, “Articles”, etc.). This page will be a place-holder for showing the Posts on your site.
- DO NOT add content to the Blog Page. Leave it blank. Any content here will be ignored — only the Title is used.
- Publish the Page.
2. Go to Administration > Settings > Reading panel.
- Set ‘Front page displays:’ to ‘a static page’ and choose the first page you created above for ‘Front page.’ If your WordPress site will contain a blog section, set ‘Posts page’ to the page you created for this above. Otherwise, leave this blank.
- Click Save Changes.
3. Enable “Permalinks” to show the “page title” in the address, since /index.php?p=423 defeats the purpose of making a static front page. While we are calling this a “static front page,” you can change the content on that web page at any time by editing the Page.
- By default WordPress uses web URLs which have question marks and lots of numbers in them; however, WordPress offers you the ability to create a custom URL structure for your permalinks and archives. This can improve the aesthetics, usability, and forward-compatibility of your links.
- In your WordPress Administration Panels go to Settings > Permalinks > Permalink Settings
- Under Common Settings select “Post name”
- Click Save Changes
4. Create a Primary Menu. By default if you do not set up a menu, all of the pages you’ve created will show in you Navigation Menu. To have more control and to prevent any issues it’s recommended that you create your own menu.
- In your WordPress Administration Panelsgo to Settings > Appearance > Menus
- To the left you should see “Theme Locations”, “Custom Links”, “Pages”, Categories, and possibly other options depending on your theme like “Slides”, “Portfolio”, “Carousel”, etc.
- To the right of that is where you create and edit your custom menus. If you haven’t created a custom menu, you should just see a plus “+” symbol.
- Click the “+” plus symbol.
- Enter a name for your new menu. Something like “Main Menu” will suffice.
- Click Create Menu
- Now you’ll customize your menu.
- To the right Look for the “Pages” option. Select “View All”.
- Look for the “Home” page that you created in Step 1.
- Select it and click “Add to Menu”
- Look for any other “Pages” that you’ve created like “Blog” in Step 1 and add them to the menu.
- Arrange them anyway you like, by dragging and dropping them into the desired location. You can create sub-menu items where needed by dragging the menu item slightly to the right forming a menu hierarchy.
- Click “Save Menu”
Please note:
- Now, the “Home” page settings will be configurable only from editing the actual “Home” page settings from under Pages.
- Now, the “Blog” page settings will be configurable only from editing the Blog options in your theme options.
- This is also the root cause of “Slider Not Working” issues. In your theme options, this ONLY controls the blog/posts page slider. If you you’ve setup a slider on any Page, this is only configurable by editing that page.
- http://cyberchimps.com/forum-topic/how-to-create-a-static-frontpage-and-separate-blog-page/
Did this documentation not suffice? Have more questions? Please post a support topic in the forum. http://cyberchimps.com/forum/pro/
How to Setup Permalinks
By default WordPress uses web URLs which have question marks and lots of numbers in them; however, WordPress offers you the ability to create a custom URL structure for your permalinks and archives. This can improve the aesthetics, usability, and forward-compatibility of your links.
- In your WordPress Administration Panels go to Settings > Permalinks > Permalink Settings
- Under Common Settings select “Post name”
- Click Save Changes
Did this documentation not suffice? Have more questions? Please post a support topic in the forum. http://cyberchimps.com/forum/pro/
How to Use the Menu System
The Appearance Menus Screen enables a user to create custom navigation menu in place of a theme’s default menu.
This is breifly covered in “How to define a home page in WordPress”.
In your WordPress Administration Panels go to Appearance > Menus
Screen Options is located at the very top right section of your Menus page.
The Screen Options allow you to choose which modules are displayed, or not displayed, in the underlying Screen. Clicking on the Screen Options tab shows a list of the possible modules and options with a check-box next to each. Check the box for each module or option you want displayed, or uncheck the box to not display that module. Click the Screen Options tab again to close the Screen Options.
Certain modules, like Posts are hidden by default. Hence the reason this is mentioned first. If you believe something is missing from this page, please check here to make sure everything needed is checked.
Create a Primary Menu. By default if you do not set up a menu, all of the pages you’ve created will show in your Navigation Menu. There will be no organization, no sub-menus, etc. To have more control and to prevent any issues it’s recommended that you create your own menu.
- In your WordPress Administration Panels go to Settings > Appearance > Menus
- To the left you should see “Theme Locations”, “Custom Links”, “Pages”, Categories, and possibly other options depending on your theme like “Slides”, “Portfolio”, “Carousel”, etc.
- To the right of that is where you create and edit your custom menus. If you haven’t created a custom menu, you should just see a plus “+” symbol.
- Click the “+” plus symbol.
- Enter a name for your new menu. Something like “Main Menu” will suffice.
- Click Create Menu
- Now you’ll customize your menu.
- To the left Look for the “Pages” option. Select “View All”.
- Look for the “Home” page that you created in Step 1.
- Select it and click “Add to Menu”
- Look for any other “Pages” that you’ve created like “Blog” in Step 1 and add them to the menu.
- Arrange them anyway you like, by dragging and dropping them into the desired location. You can create sub-menu items where needed by dragging the menu item slightly to the right forming a menu hierarchy.
- Click “Save Menu”
Custom links allow you to create menu items that aren’t defined or fit in any of your available options like “Pages”, “Categories”, “Posts”, etc.
- In the “Custom Links” box (by default is located beneath “Theme Locations” you can create your custom menu item
- URL – This is the URL of the Page/Post/Item (TIP: To make this item a container only disabling the link, place one of the following here):
- javascript: void(0);
- #
- Label – The name of Menu Item. Please try not to use one that is already being used.
- Click “Add to Menu”
- Please note that if you’re very creative you might me able to come up with some unique menu arrangements with this feature. Use it wisely.
- URL – This is the URL of the Page/Post/Item (TIP: To make this item a container only disabling the link, place one of the following here):
Please note:
- Now, the “Home” page settings will be configurable only from editing the actual “Home” page settings from under Pages.
- Now, the “Blog” page settings will be configurable only from editing the Blog options in your theme options.
- This is also the root cause of “Slider Not Working” issues. In your theme options, this ONLY controls the blog/posts page slider. If you you’ve setup a slider on any Page, this is only configurable by editing that page.
- http://cyberchimps.com/forum-topic/how-to-create-a-static-frontpage-and-separate-blog-page/
References
http://codex.wordpress.org/Appearance_Menus_Screen
Did this documentation not suffice? Have more questions? Please post a support topic in the forum. http://cyberchimps.com/forum/pro/
How to Use the Widgets
WordPress Widgets are WordPress Plugins that add visitor visual and interactivity options and features, such as sidebar widgets for post categories, tag clouds, navigation, search, etc.
Activate a Widget
- In your WordPress Administration Panels go to Settings > Appearance > Widgets
- Choose a Widget and drag it to the sidebar where you wish it to appear. Once in place, WordPress automatically updates the Theme.
- Preview the site. You should find that the “default” sidebar elements are now gone and only the new addition is visible.
- Return to the Widgets Panel to continue adding Widgets.
- To arrange the Widgets within the sidebar or Widget area, click and drag it into place.
- To customize the Widget features, click the down arrow in the upper right corner to expand the Widget’s interface.
- To save the Widget’s customization, click Save.
- To remove the Widget, click Remove or Delete.
Using Text Widgets
- The Text Widget is one of the most commonly used WordPress Widgets that comes with every WordPress installation. It allows users to add text, video, images, custom lists, and more to their WordPress sites.
- To use the WordPress Text Widget:
- Go to Themes > Widgets in the WordPress Administration Panels.
- Open the sidebar, footer, or Theme section to which you wish to add the Text Widget.
- Find the Text Widget in the list of Widgets.
- Click and drag the Widget to the spot you wish it to appear.
- To open and edit the Text Widget:
- Click the down arrow to the right of the Text Widget title.
- Set the Text Widget Title (optional).
- Add the text or HTML code to the box or edit what is currently there.
- Choose the option to Automatically add paragraphs to wrap each block of text in an HTML paragraph tag (recommended for text).
- Click Save to save the Text Widget.
- Click Close to close the Text Widget.
- Switch tabs in your browser and preview the results and make changes if necessary.
The Text Widget can hold a variety of HTML, XHTML, and multimedia links and players such as video and object embeds.
References
https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Widgets
CyberChimps Pro and iFeature Pro 5 come with the following widget areas
- Sidebar Left
- Sidebar Right
- Footer Widgets
- Box Left
- Box Middle
- Box Right
Please note that the “Box Left”, “Box Middle”, and “Box Right” are specially placed widgets. They are not to be confused with the Boxes Element which you can read about here:
http://cyberchimps.com/question/how-to-use-the-boxes-element/
The “Box Left”, “Box Middle”, and “Box Right” widgets will only appear on what you have set for your Front/Home page here:
Settings > Reading Settings > Front page displays
UPDATE: You now have the ability to control where the Box Widgets appear on a per Page basis and have at the same time, on your Blog if you choose. But when set to appear on your Blog they will only appear on your main Blog page which is set up like above via your Reading Settings. Please see the Blog – Widget Option for more info. For usage within a Page see the How to Use the Widgets Element.
Did this documentation not suffice? Have more questions? Please post a support topic in the forum. http://cyberchimps.com/forum/pro/
Manual Theme Installation Instructions
Adding New Themes Manually (FTP/SFTP)
To add a new Theme to your WordPress installation, follow these basic steps:
- Go to CyberChimps.com and login in to your account. http://cyberchimps.com/my-account/
- Download the Theme archive to your personal computer/Mac and extract the files it contains. To be on the safe side it is recommended that you extract the contents from the .zip file. Do not just Open the file and drag the contents. Sometimes that will work, other times it will not. It will be more reliable if you extract the content. Depending on your operating system, you may be able to right click or control+click the .zip file and select Extract, Extract With, or Open With. Usually that will use or direct to your utility that’s used for extracting. Extract the files to somewhere that’s easy to locate, eg: desktop.
- Using an FTP/SFTP client (like FileZilla http://filezilla-project.org/) to access your host web server, FTP/SFTP (upload) the folder contents to the wp-content/themes directory provided by WordPress. For example, a Theme named CyberChimps should be in wp-content/themes/CyberChimps. Follow the instructions below for selecting the new Theme.
- Log in to the WordPress Administration Panel.
- Go to Appearance > Themes
- From the available themes section (Manage Themes), click on the Theme title (or Theme screenshot) for the Theme you wish to activate.
- A preview of the Theme will be shown.
- To activate the Theme click “Save & Activate” “Theme Name” link in the top left. Your selection should immediately become active.
Note: If the Theme preview is blank, do not activate the new Theme without investigating further. Your site may not be displayed correctly or you may have a corrupt download.
Or while in the Themes panel, just select “Activate” under the corresponding theme that you wish to use.
Note: If you’re having issues downloading your theme from your account at CyberChimps.com please fill out the form here and we will resolve your issue as quickly as possible:
http://cyberchimps.com/contact/
Reference
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Themes
Did this documentation not suffice? Have more questions? Please post a support topic in the forum. http://cyberchimps.com/forum/pro/
CyberChimps Pro, Eclipse Pro 2, and iFeature Pro 5 Changelogs
Whenever CyberChimps Pro, Eclipse Pro 2, or iFeature Pro 5 is updated, you can find out the latest changes and versions here:
http://cyberchimps.com/changelogs/cyberchimpspro/changelog.txt
http://cyberchimps.com/changelogs/eclipsepro2/changelog.txt
http://cyberchimps.com/changelogs/ifeaturepro5/changelog.txt
For ease of use, right click the link and save the text file to your desktop.
CyberChimps
0 Items $0