Types of content
Lets review the basic content types that will make up your web site. WordPress and Ashford offer you two kinds of content:
Posts
Posts are typically articles with comments. Posts have no hierarchy. Blogs are a reverse chronological list of posts. You can think of posts as being “living” content that has immediate value for your audience but diminishes over time.
All posts use the same Ashford template.
Pages
Pages are often articles without comments.
Pages are hierarchical. This means that you can structure your site using parent pages and child pages. You can think of pages as cornerstone, flagship or timeless content. There value does not diminish over time.
You can add child pages under each parent page. Child pages appear inthe right column at the top listed as “Related pages”. (In the next release, child pages will be listed in a drop-down menu under each parent page.)
Ashford provides you with many page templates to customize your site.
Parent pages appear in the main navigation. Ashford allows you to have a maxium of six parent pages.
Ashford allows you to use these two types of content to create three types of sites. Each has its own set of benefits and reasons for use.
Blog
By default, Ashford is set up with a blog as its frontpage and one parent page (i.e. About). You should use this type of site if you are primarily blogging.
To build a blog:
- Start adding posts to fill out your frontpage. By default the frontpage will display, ten excerpts of your posts at a time. When you have over eleven posts, a “previous” and “next” navigation links will appear at the bottom of the page. You can customize your excerpts or Ashford will auto-create excerpts.
- Add parent pages to fill out your main navigation. By default, Ashford displays the About page in the main navigation. You can have up six parent pages in the main navigation. Using Ashford’s page templates, you can add pages which displays your links or archive by date, category or tag.
Custom frontpage with blog
This is an example of a “custom frontpage with blog”. It features a front page, blog and additional parent pages build using Ashford’s page templates.
To enable a custom frontpage:
- Create a new page to be used as your frontpage. You select any Ashford’s page template including the custom frontpage.
- In the Options panel select the Reading tab.
- At the top of the Reading Options subpanel you’ll see:
- To change the front page to your new home page, select “A static page” for Front page displays.
- Select “My New Home Page” from the Front page drop down menu.
- Now tell WP which page to use to display your recent posts. From the Posts page menu select the “Recent Posts” page you created earlier.
- Click Update Options
View your site. “My New Home Page” should now be your home page.
Note: Any Page Content you have entered for the page you designate as your Posts Page will be overwritten by the listing of your recent posts.
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