How to make an INDEX PAGE for my blog
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Where is that article about how to make an Index page for the blog? I saw it once but now I have gone through many pages here and cannot find it anew.
Lornakismet
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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This covers making an index page manually: http://en.support.wordpress.com/write-a-book/ .
This covers using the archive shortcode which does things automatically: http://en.support.wordpress.com/archives-shortcode/ .
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Hi Sacred Path….
I clicked the link that you provided for me above and then wrote the [archive] but after that what does one do? There are no instructions for that. I see that one can customize but there is no explanation of how to do so I assume that one selects one of the options/description/choice/default setting, but I have no idea how to effect any of that. None of those items listed are links or select/deselect boxes.Am I supposed to click Publish? It is not mentioned so I imagine not, but how, then, does the archive get generated? No explanation about that.
The URL for the following is: http://en.support.wordpress.com/archives-shortcode/
Option Description Choices Default Setting
The page says that there are nice options, but does not clearly tell a total Ignorant Person like me how to do any of it.
Lornakismet
I
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Oh!! I just now read that it said, “Add a new page” and decided that “add” means not just click open a new page and write in it, but also to PUBLISH it. So I did publish it, and aha! There is an index there with nothing at all done by me.
But for the life of me, I see these delicious options there for giving the reader more than one way to find a post (By title of by date or by category etc) and I am in the dark as to how to do it. For one thing, even if I have some sort of HTML code to make these options, I have no idea how to type the HTML code into the page. One after the other in a straigh horizontal line? One new line per each HTML code?
Oh!
Lornakismet
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You paste the code into the HTML tab in a page, then you click publish, or click preview to see what it looks like before you do.
[archives] will produce a complete list of all posts from latest at the top to oldest at the bottom.
As far as the options go you have to add the necessary stuff to the archive shortcode. If you wanted the archives list to be an unordered (bulleted) list, then you would put in the correct format code like this:
[archives format=html]
What do you want the list to look like?
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Well hey :-) I went and did that, and I got an index. Yay! I also read the other note about being able to put the index into a text widget, so now I have that. It is loooooooooon, though, and I would like it to be less long.
I am going to read your instructions above now
LornakismetOh ok. I read what you wrote there. Aha. So I would type Archives and then type in the code of the way I want the Index to be formatted? And also: If I wanted more than one option, would I just keep adding more HTML and separate the HTML codes with a comma?
By the way, ever since you first taught me a few HTML codes and how to find certain “rubbish” and just delete it, I have come a bit farther and can do that sort of thing now, so thank you, Teacher.
Lornakismet
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Oh, wait a second. Do I type in every HTML code for the options in its own separate bracket after Archives? Or do I type Archives one time and then write my list of HTML codes for formats, separating them with commas?
lornakismet is now going downstairs to make a snack to celebrate learning another new and important thing.
Lornakismet
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You’re welcome.
Some of the options can be used together, and some cannot, or won’t work together. There are some examples toward the bottom of the page. Basically they are separated in the shortcode by a space. Look over the examples to get an idea of structure.
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In other words which way will it look:
THIS WAY?
[Archives htmlCode1, htmlCode2, htmlCode 3]OR THIS WAY:
[Archives htmlCode 1]
[Archives htmlCode 2]
[Archives htmlCode 3]OR THIS WAY:
[Archives htmlCode 1] [Archives htmlCode 2] [Archives htmlCode 3]This is the way my logical mind works, Sacred Path. It automatically sees a bunch of logical systems, and it needs to know Which One To Choose.
LornaKismet
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It goes like this as is shown in the examples:
[archives format=option type=monthly limit=12 showcount=true]If you do it the second way, you get three individual archives on the one page.
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Dear Sacred Path:
I followed your example and decided on the following:
[archives format=option type=monthly limit=12 showcount=true before]But there are two items that I am not clear on:
(1) Last 12 months with post count in a drop-down:
[archives format=option type=monthly limit=12 showcount=true]Question: Is the 12 there because there are 12 months in a year? If so, why did they have to add the Limit option? Or does the 12 refer to something else, something chosen by the blogger???
(2) Last 17 weeks with some before and after text:
[archives type=weekly limit=17 before='some before text' after='some after text']Question: What does that before and after text mean? I have no clue.
And those other limits: Why signify a limit as low as, say, 18? Does that not mean that the Index will stop recording posts after the 18th post? What if one were to write, say, 25 posts in that time span? Why restrict oneself with such a low number? That is why I typed in 5,000. But maybe my reasoning is wrong.
Please advise.
Lornakismet
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I made a change. I deleted the “before” so now my htmo looks like this:
[archives format=option type=monthly limit=12 showcount=true]And now I am going to publish it and put it in the Page at top of page and also in Sidebar widget.
lornakismet, thanking you again.
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Ok then :-) I did it.
This is what I now have:
[archives format=html type=postbypost limit=5000 showcount=true]After trying out various options I realized that I did not want the reader to have to click Earlier/Later entries, so I opted for html.
A downside of doing it the way I have it: It takes longer for the Index page to load.
Question: Under Showcount, I opted for Yes because I wanted each post to have a count number. However, in my Index now, the posts are not numbered! Why not?
Lornakismet :-) :-)
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The show count only works for things like weekly, monthly or yearly archives. A monthly setting would produce something similar to the archives widget and showing the count would then indicate the total number of posts published in that week, month or year.
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I see. ok. :-) And about the drop down widget: It is awful. It is very very difficult to control the scrolling. I finally gave up and made it like the Index in the Page underneath the Header.
Lornakismet, whose blog now has an Index, thanks to you.. :-)
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I have little use for dropdowns except when short as they are far more of a pain than they are worth. Even with dropdown menus I try to keep them down to 4 or 5 items long, and no more that three levels deep. For those with handicaps, navigating dropdowns can be very difficult.
My current motto is: if I have something that appears to need a dropdown because it is too long for the place I want to put it, then it is simply too long.
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Dear webforus………this is a great question and something I have been considering too. The downside is that I know that my system of creating categories has been massacred. lornakismet
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