front page is a mess

  • Unknown's avatar
    folkcatalogue · Member ·

    i’ve been trying to tidy up the front page of my blog (www.folkcatalogue.wordpress.com).

    Is there any way to do the following?

    1) hide superfuous information for each summarised version of posts that automatically appears – the “posted in” and “tags” information, for example, and the date of publication and “leave a comment (Edit)” options that follow the post title

    2) separate the individual post summaries with some added breathing space. at the moment they’re all shunted up together and it’s difficult to see at a glance where one post summary stops and the other starts.

    Any help much appreciated

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    Do you have CSS editing experience?

  • Unknown's avatar
    folkcatalogue · Member ·

    No. but i’d give it a try if it’s not too fiendish.
    cheers for reply

  • Unknown's avatar
    1tess · Moderator Emeritus ·

    Give this a look:
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-css/
    scroll down to this:
    “I’m not sure if the CSS upgrade is for me. Can I try before I buy?”
    Don’t buy the upgrade if you don’t have a plan or experience with CSS. No official support at wp.com…

  • Unknown's avatar
    folkcatalogue · Member ·

    thanks for that. while i check it out, i wondered if the easy solution might be to take all the post summaries off the front page. what do you think? are there any big reasons why not?

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    What exactly do you mean? Blog posts are displayed in reverse chronological order with the most recently published post on top. How would removing the “read more” (the more tag) from the posts on the front page change anything for you and your readers? Please specify exactly what you want to achieve so we can help you achieve it.

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    If you have CSS editing experience, you can get the paid custom CSS upgrade and renew it annually. It will allow you to stylize the appearance of themes you find here > Appearance > Themes, but it does not allow you to change the functionality, by editing the underlying template. Also note that CSS is theme specific, so you cannot use the CSS stylesheets from other themes with the themes here at wordpress.COM.

    If you think you can purchase the CSS upgrade and then expect either Volunteers or Staff to do all the work for you – think again. Since there is no official support for the CSS upgrade, I agree with 1Tess, and recommend that you don’t buy the upgrade unless you have at least moderate understanding of HTML and CSS because you must be prepared to do the work on your own.

    If you are considering purchasing the upgrade, you can go to Appearance > Edit CSS. There wordpress has provided a preview function where you can try before you buy. http://en.support.wordpress.com/editing-css/

  • Unknown's avatar
    folkcatalogue · Member ·

    Sorry for not making myself clear.

    At the moment the front page is a mess.

    I got into this problem partly because I started using the ‘more’ tag to give double spacing between paragraphs within my posts.

    I then discovered that that had an effect on the posts that stack up below the home post, cutting them where the first ‘more’ tag was inserted within the post.

    The end result is really messy, because:

    1) there is too much usless info in these post summaries (the “posted in” and “tags” information, for example, and the date of publication and “leave a comment (Edit)” options that follow the post title)

    2) there isn’t enough space between one post summary and another. they almost run into one another.

    So, I want to either:

    a) strip out the info that’s getting the way (as described in 1)

    b) create some extra blank space between the post summaries

    c) get rid of the post summaries completely (if that’s possible)

    d) or go back to leaving the full posts stacking up under the home page post (but that would mean finding another way of achieving a double space betwee paras within my posts)

    e) find a new scheme that’s got a tidier front page

    Hope that’s clearer.

    Thanks again

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    (1) Summaries – You can get rid of the more tag you inserted into the posts by editing them and removing “the more tag”.

    (2) The other information you consider to be useless (the “posted in” and “tags” information, for example, and the date of publication and “leave a comment (Edit)” options that follow the post title) is actually useful to most people using a blog in the manner a blog is intended to be used.

    If the fields you indicate can be removed by CSS editing then you will be the one that has to do the CSS editing. And as you do not know whether or not they can be removed by CSS editing that’s a pretty strong indication that you don’t have the knowledge, skills and experience to do CSS editing.

  • Unknown's avatar
    1tess · Moderator Emeritus ·

    Using the more tag is not a reasonable way to add space between paragraphs!!!
    Here are some more realistic options:

    Formatting text pt. 1: blank lines, alignment, wrap-around, two columns

  • Unknown's avatar
    1tess · Moderator Emeritus ·

    ~~~time thief

    @folkcatalogue
    re: a)

    You can get rid of those tags and categories by setting your blog to:
    “I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors”
    settings—>privacy

  • Unknown's avatar
    1tess · Moderator Emeritus ·

    @folkcatalogue
    re: c)

    “get rid of post summaries completely”
    Do you want only titles to appear on your front page?

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