Questions on creating a blog (so I can launch this weekend)

  • Unknown's avatar
    nhparry2288 · Member ·

    What should I make my Menu name? Home??? Why name it at all? Can I make the Menu run down the side of my page (vertically) instead of being across the top? (I can’t find anywhere in the dashboard to do that) How can I tighten up the space between the Menu and my banner image (if the Menu continues to be horizontal, across the top)?
    I want to put the blog pages/topics I’ve already written into whatever categories I want, but I don’t know how to create categories. I’ve just got one widget for Categories (Post Topics) and a dropdown list there so you can (eventually) see the post categories/topics. When I click on Categories (under the Menu link on the left of the dashboard), it just says “Most Used (tab) > Uncategorized” (the same thing under View All). I don’t know what that means.
    I think I’m beginning to see how this works, a little – right now my Home page has the Hello there! post displayed on it because I clicked that link on the Menu (above the banner). I don’t want that topic to change when readers click on another link in the Menu. I want to keep Hello there! on the Home page. (The Home page is static. I did create a new page, but I don’t know where it ended up) How can I create pages/areas where each of the posts/topics will be so that, when a reader clicks on the link for that topic, they’ll go to that section/page to read the related post(s), and not have the posts appear on the Home page. I don’t want my blog site to contain only one page (the Home page)! If I create new pages, how do I designate them as being for a particular topic, and how do I place new posts for those topics in those areas?
    Do I have to manually put my (old) posts under Archives or will old posts automatically pop into the archives when I write a new post (on the same topic)?
    Also, when I roll my pointer over Your Blog Comments (widget), nothing happens. How do I make that a live link (in the widget) that will take readers to a page where they can comment? How do I CREATE a page where they can comment?
    How do I put a page or area in my blog site where people can go to sign up for the mailing list? There’s a link in the Menu, but, when I click on it, it says that the page “Can’t Be Found.” How do I create one?
    Enough questions for you…?

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

  • Unknown's avatar
    justjennifer · Member ·

    right now my Home page has the Hello there! post displayed on it

    Hi there, the site you’ve linked to, sexualharassment101, looks to be an established website. Are you working on this site or another WordPressdotcom website? If another one, please give us the site’s address so we can have a look. Thanks.

    If you haven’t yet worked through the starter tutorial, you’ll find there answers to most of your above questions. The tutorial is at https://learn.wordpress.com/

    Meantime:
    Menus: Your theme determines where the site menu is placed. A few themes have vertical menus in the sidebar (like Sapor), but most have horizontal menus. If you have a Premium or Business plan on your site you can change things around with CSS, but not with the free plan.

    Categories: You can add categories to individual Posts by following the guide at https://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/categories/ and you can add special pages to your site called Category Pages once you have added categories to your Posts. More on this in a minute.

    Static front page: If your want your “Hello there!” introduction page to be the very first page on your site, you’ll want to make that page your homepage. You can follow this guide https://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/front-page/ If you are also going to have a blog or news page, then follow the additional notes on that guide to adding a blog page.

    Custom Menu: In order for your Category Pages and your Blog/News page to appear in your site navigation menu, please follow this guide to creating a Custom Menu https://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/

    That’s all the computer time I have at the moment, but I will be happy to continue in a few hours. There’s a lot to digest here so take your time to read and work through the guides I’ve linked to.

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