< Logging In  Categories >

Posts and Pages

The Basics

As mentioned in the previous section, Posts and Pages are the two main types of content that can be published to your website. Creating and editing Posts and Pages is very similar, which is to say, if you learn how to create a Post, you’ll have no problem creating a Page, and visa versa.

Posts and Pages both have a Title and Content, but there are distinct differences. The main differences relate to the purpose of each, and how each is accessed from your website.

Purpose of Posts and Pages

Posts are typically not intended to display permanent content, and thus their purpose is usually to present information that is here today and gone tomorrow. In some cases Posts represent time oriented content, such as content published on a specific date and time in a blog. In other cases, Posts represent content that is assigned to a specific Category, thereby being displayed in a defined block on your website until other Post content is assigned to replace it. Either way, Posts are purposed to display passing content.

Pages differ from Posts in that they are considered timeless (or static) in nature, and thus are intended to display permanent content. Pages are typically used to display content that is not likely to change from day to day, for example an About Us page or a Contact Us page on a website.

Keep in mind that though Posts are not intended to display permanent content, the content published in a Post is usually permanently viewable on your website, often being archived in a date/time chronology, and available through Search or by browsing backward in time.

How Posts and Pages are Accessed

Posts and Pages differ in how they are accessed by a website visitor.

Each Page created in the Administration Panel will represent either a top-level or a drop-down Main Menu item. This means that by simply creating a Page with its content, and defining its position in the Page hierarchy, the Page appears in the Main Menu or its drop-downs. The Page’s content will be displayed when a visitor clicks the respective top-level or drop-down item in the Main Menu. Therefore, the Main Menu of your website is put fully into your control simply through creating and managing Pages. This is a very powerful, organizational feature provided via the Administration Panel.

Posts cannot be used to define any Main Menu item, but Posts are instead typically accessed from either a reverse-ordered chronological list (i.e., blog or latest news list), or from a defined block on your website. Typically, the visitor will initially see a Title link and Excerpt displayed for the Post, and clicking the Title link will display the full Post.

So, generally speaking, Pages are accessed from the Main Menu or one of its drop-downs, and Posts are accessed from defined lists or blocks on the website. Keep in mind however that Posts and Pages can be linked to directly from anywhere, including from other Pages and/or Posts on your website. Posts and Pages can also be linked to directly from any other website, simply by linking to the URL for the Post or Page.

Creating Posts and Pages

To create a new Post or Page, click Write in the Main Menu in the Administration Panel. You will now be viewing Write area of the Administration Panel, the area that you will use to create new Posts and Pages.

Creating a New Post

Look for the Sub Menu that is displayed directly below the Main Menu, and Write Post will be highlighted by default. Write Post is the default Write option, since creating new Posts is a more common task than creating new Pages.

Note the Title and Post fields displayed below the Sub Menu. You will ultimately fill in these fields, set the desired options, and click Publish to create a new Post and make it visible to website visitors.

Creating a New Page

With Write still selected on the Main Menu in the Administration Panel, click Write Page on the sub-menu. Write Page will now be highlighted in the Sub Menu.

Note the Page Title and Page Content fields. You will ultimately fill in these fields, set desired options, and click Publish to create a new Page.

Creating Content in the Rich Text Editor

When you type data into the main content field (for Posts or Pages), you are typing into a rich text editor (otherwise known as a what-you-see-is-what-you-get, or WYSIWYG, editor). Not only can you type text into this editor, but you can style that text in many ways (bold, italic, underline, strikeout, colors, etc). You can also insert images, videos, and other types of media. But, typing simple text is OK too, and many people simply publish text. Since the design (the look and feel of your website) is already defined by Briel Computer, typing simple text only will look good when displayed in your theme to your website visitors.

SubPages

SubPages are simply Pages like any other Page that have been assigned a parent Page. Defining Pages that are top-level (no parent) and Pages that have parent Pages (SubPages) creates a hierarchy that represents the website’s Main Menu structure (i.e., its top level menu items and drop-downs).

To assign a Page’s parent Page, when creating or editing the Page, select its parent in the Page Parent dropdown (to the right of the rich-text editor).

Note Concerning Certain Fancy Main Menus

If you notice on your website that creating Pages, or defining parent Pages, does not seem to affect your website’s Main Menu, and you desire this behavior, contact Briel Computer and ask. In some cases, a fancy Main Menu w/ special images will preclude the use of this feature, but there is usually a change that can be made to enable this functionality. Most websites, however, are designed as described above.

< Logging In  Categories >