Setting up a menu
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Hey, I am new at WordPress and it’s my first blog, that means I am not aware of all the different terms. For days I am trying now to set up a ‘normal’ menu how you can find it on every usual website. For example (down ways): About me; journey experiences; recipes; etc…just a menu where my followers will be able to search for something specific so that they’re not supposed to scroll down for hours at the start page. I thought it would work by setting up categories but they didn’t appear on my web site. So you see, I am slightly over challenged and I hope you will be able to help me:-) Thank you and greetings, Christophenopelis website: travelwithtintin.wordpress.com
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Welcome to WordPress.com :)
The first step towards setting up a menu is to create your pages and categories (which you mentioned you have done). Next, you add these pages and categories to a menu.
This WordPress.com documentation about Custom Menus is a great place to learn more about menus. The step by step video guides you through setting up a menu, including how to add pages and categories.
If anything is unclear, let me know. I am happy to explain.
Gemma
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Thank you, Gemma, for your answer! The Problem is that I don’t understand why I should add pages which are already like Blog entries to the menu… I would like to have a menu with just categories in which I can match the different blog entries. One example: if I publish an entry about my time in Sweden, I would like the people to find it in the menu under ‘travelling’ or if I publish a recipe, I want them to see it in the category ‘my recipes’. I hope you understand what I’m struggling with. Thanks again!
Christophenopelis -
Hi Christophenopelis,
I will explain the custom menu. Let’s choose one of your categories as an example — Recipes. Adding a link to the Recipes category in your menu means that when visitors click that link, they are taken to a list of posts in the Recipes category.
Using some example categories you mentioned, you would create the following links in your menu. I have listed whether the link would be to a page or category.
- About me (page)
- Travelling (category)
- Experiences (category)
- Recipes (category)
Does that help?
Gemma
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Hey Gemma,
so that means when I set up categories visitors can’t look at them until I add a link to it? And how do I add such a link to a category? Sorry for acting clumsily!
Oh and I added now a post to the recipes but I actually don’t want it on my start page how can I do that?
Greetings and a big Thanks to you,
Christophenopelis -
Hi Christophenopelis
No need to apologise, I am happy to explain.
Menu categories
- Go to your My Sites, and click on Menus. By default the Primary Menu area for your theme is selected for you, and Default Menu has been started.
- Click on the + icon next to an existing item and choose whether the new item should go above or below it. (You can always move it again after you create it.)
- Choose Category from the list that appears on the left.
- Select a category name.
- Give the menu item a name in the New Item field — this is what will actually appear in your menu.
- Click the Add Item button.
- Click the Save button.
If a visitor clicks on a category link containing no posts, they will see a message stating nothing was found.
Front page
By default the front page of your WordPress.com site will display latest posts from your blog. If you would like to create a more traditional website, you can set a static “home” page instead. You can use this process to select which page you would like to use:- Navigate to the Customizer in My Site(s) and click Static Front Page.
- Select the Static Page option, then choose your page from the Front Page drop down.
- Click the Save & Publish button.
There is a video explaining the process in more depth here: https://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/front-page/
Gemma
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Gemma, you’re the best! :) thanks so much for your patience, I finally got it! There’s just one question left…How can I make Blog entries not appearing on my start Page, just in the menu under a specific category?
Greetings!
Christophenopelis -
Hi Christophenopelis,
I’m pleased it helped. I had a look at your site and can see your menu changes — they are looking good.
Your start page is called a ‘front page’ on WordPress.com. If you follow the Front page instructions above, posts will no longer be displayed on your front page and visitors will see a page you have chosen instead. For example, you might want them to see an about page.
So the first step is to make sure you have created the page in My Sites → Pages and then work through the Front page steps above.
Let me know how you get on.
Gemma
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Hey Gemma,
so it’s not possible to let just one or two pages not appear on the front page? The idea was to write a long entry about a specific recipe, how I made it etc. and to just add the recipe to the menu category ‘recipes’. So that it doesn’t appear on the front page again. Do you know what I mean…? And thanks for the advice! Would you mind if I asked you some questions more? There are still so many things that confuse me :D
A big thanks and greetings,
Christophenopelis -
Hi Christophenopelis,
Thanks for your patience waiting for my reply!
I understand what you mean but I don’t think it’s something you can do using WordPress.com. The two options for your front page are displaying all of your posts or displaying a static page.
You can learn about the difference between posts and pages here: https://en.support.wordpress.com/post-vs-page/
Feel free to ask me more questions :) It would be best to start a new thread for your next question. That way, my answers will be easier to find for anyone else looking for help with the same issue.
If you add @gemmagarner in your message, I should get a notification.
Have a great day.
Gemma
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