Posting to a page
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@ designsimply,
At the bottom of page 1, I noted:
Also, your three subcategory menu items: “Thrift Store Finds,” “Painting,” and “The To Do List,” are each linked to a single untitled post (#129), published on April 30 which contains merely a link to the April 29 post “In the beginning…..”
This multiplicity of errors wasn’t pointed out be anyone else. There are two separate mistakes here:
1. The OP created a post, which is untitled, dated April 30, 2015 which contains merely links to an earlier post (“In the Beginning,” published April 29). The link is broken now, but it was working when I commented on it previously. Perhaps the OP intended this to be a category page. I don’t know. The untitled April 30 post still exists.
2. The subcategory menu items displayed in the header drop-down menus: “Thrift Store Finds,” “Painting,” and “The To Do List,” were each linked to posts.
These links have been corrected, though by the looks of that page it would have been much more difficult to make the correction with the confusing new menus page than with the old. Your instructions for changing page links to categories links would not apply in this case (i.e. You could not merely change a link to a post in the menu to a category link.).
The OP now has those subcategory menu items linked properly to (sub)category archives pages. I presume my pointing out the error here was helpful.
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jeremylduvall, thanks for the links. Before I muck up the whole thing again, I just want to clarify. And, as you can tell, I’m more than a newbie to this stuff. Can I create a new menu choice without having a post to attach to it yet? Can I have a category set up before I have a post to attach to it? This is what started all the confusion for me in the first place. I keep thinking of this as an old fashioned outline where you have your topics/sub topics and then go do your research and insert in the proper place. But in this case you have to have your posts first, then create where you want them to go? Is that right?
I. Menu
A. Category
1. Post
2. Post
So, for example, I’d like to add “Travel” to my menu and as a category “Europe” and sub categories of “Italy” “Germany” etc. with sub sub categories of “Rome” “Florence” etc. if you can walk me through this, in simple step by step instructions, I think I can take it from there.If I then write a post for Florence, how do I correctly place it (I know I must type in categories, but do I just type in Florence and/or Italy and/or Europe?) I’m extremely reluctant to go in and try this after the huge number of screw ups I made and all the untangling it took to fix it. My head is swimming with all the new terminology and most of the instructions I received, though I am truly grateful for everyone trying to help me. I really need instructions given as if I were 10 years old. (No insult to 10 year olds intended)
I’m ordering WordPress for Dummies (recommended by anyone?)
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I’m ordering WordPress for Dummies (recommended by anyone?)
That book is for build sites/blogs with WordPress.org software:
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I mean, it’s not about WordPress.com blogs/sites.
See the differences between WordPress.COM & WordPress.ORG: -
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Before answering the questions below, I’d like to echo @galois sentiment regarding WordPress for Dummies. That’s really intended for self-hosted sites from what I can read. The difference between WordPress.com and self-hosted sites is broken down here if you’re curious:
Instead, I would recommend our Blogging 101 lessons here:
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/courses/blogging-101-zero-to-hero/
They’re designed to get you up to speed with using WordPress.com. We’re also happy to help if you have any questions!
Can I create a new menu choice without having a post to attach to it yet? Can I have a category set up before I have a post to attach to it? This is what started all the confusion for me in the first place. I keep thinking of this as an old fashioned outline where you have your topics/sub topics and then go do your research and insert in the proper place. But in this case you have to have your posts first, then create where you want them to go? Is that right?
So, for example, I’d like to add “Travel” to my menu and as a category “Europe” and sub categories of “Italy” “Germany” etc. with sub sub categories of “Rome” “Florence” etc. if you can walk me through this, in simple step by step instructions, I think I can take it from there.
Awesome! We can definitely do this. So, first, to answer your question, you can put categories in your menu before you have added any posts to those categories. For example, you can create all of the new categories (Rome, Florence, Germany, etc) here:
https://paintingprettythings.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit-tags.php?taxonomy=category
Then, you would see them under the Categories list on your menus page. Here’s a screenshot as an example:
That will display all categories on your blog regardless of whether they have posts in them or not. However, if you add a category to your menu that doesn’t have any posts and then a reader clicks on the category, they’ll just see a “No Posts Found” error message.
As an example, let’s create a menu item called Travel with Italy and Rome as sub-items within Travel. I’ll list out the steps, and then also include a screencast of me completing the steps on a test blog just to provide a visual illustration.
1. Create three categories on this page (Travel, Italy, and Rome)
https://paintingprettythings.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit-tags.php?taxonomy=category
2. Navigate to your menu page here:
https://paintingprettythings.wordpress.com/wp-admin/nav-menus.php
Make sure Menu 2 is selected at the top (not shown in my example) to ensure that we’re editing the correct menu.
3. Click “Categories” on the left-hand side of the page and then click “View All” to make sure you see all of your categories.
4. Check the box next to the categories we want to add (Travel, Italy, Rome) and click “Add to Menu”
5. By default, they’ll appear as their own menu items on the top level. We’ll drag and drop them so they appear as a drop-down menu. First, drag Italy underneath Travel. Then, drag Rome underneath Italy. This is probably best illustrated in my example.
Here’s a screencast of me completing the steps:
Can you give those steps a try?
If I then write a post for Florence, how do I correctly place it (I know I must type in categories, but do I just type in Florence and/or Italy and/or Europe?)
To make this simpler, let’s use the category names above (Italy, Rome, Travel). In the above example, we created three new categories. Then, we added them to our menu. So, when someone clicks on Travel in our menu for example, they’ll be directed to a link like this:
https://paintingprettythings.wordpress.com/category/travel
Then, they’ll see all posts in the Travel category. The same thing happens when they click Italy and Rome.
Now, when you create a post, you’ll see this option on the bottom right-hand or left-hand side depending on the editor you’re using:
http://d.pr/i/1az05 or http://d.pr/i/1k0xz
For each post, you’ll want to type in or select the appropriate categories. So, if the post was about Italy, you would select that category. Then, when someone clicks on the menu item Italy, they’ll automatically see that post since we’re going to show all posts in the Italy category. Does that help to clarify?
Now, let’s pretend that you want to add a new category (like Florence). You haven’t created the category yet or added it to your menu. To create the category Florence and add it to your menu, you would follow these steps (same for any new category):
1. When you’re editing the post, click “Add New Category” here:
2. Type in the category and make sure it’s checked off (It will automatically get added to the post).
3. Navigate back to Appearance -> Menu
4. Add the category to your menu and save the menu
Here’s a screencast of me creating the category Florence and adding it to a test menu:
I hope that helps to clarify! As you move through these steps, please let me know if you need any additional help.
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Did Lisa Sabin-Wilson discontinue the section about WordPress.com in her “WordPress for Dummies” book? I have two editions that are long out of date (even for standalone WP), but I found the info about WPcom in them helpful for a linear learning experience.
If you don’t want to buy the whole book for those few pages (around 70 or so), then the public library is the way to go. Haven’t got a clue when the last edition was published.
Of course things change so fast around here that even our own Support site can barely keep up. (Observation, not a criticism)
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Did Lisa Sabin-Wilson discontinue the section about WordPress.com in her “WordPress for Dummies” book?
I didn’t know about that section! I can’t answer that for sure. I was just assuming the majority was going to be about WordPress.org.
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@jeremeylduvall – Well, to be honest, the majority of her book IS about self-hosted WP sites. Stands to reason. But there are (or used to be) about 70 or so pages that laid out WordPress.com. When I was a newbie user I found them helpful.
Of course, when I was a newbie user on WPcom, The Daily Post/Blogging 101 wasn’t even a twinkle in someone’s eye yet. :)
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