Community Forums › Forums › Archived Forums › Design Tips and Tricks › Genesis Simple Menu + Secondary Menu for Blog
- This topic has 23 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 3 months ago by Brad Dalton.
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January 24, 2013 at 8:47 am #14295sarahsmileyMember
I followed all the steps to create a secondary menu option for Genesis because I'd like visitors to have a separate navigation menu for the categories on the blog page. All the installation and settings adjustments went well, but no extra menu is appearing on the blog page.
What I'm trying to do: Make blog categories visible and able to be navigated on the blog page.
January 24, 2013 at 9:22 am #14300Brad DaltonParticipantYou could use the custom menu widget with Genesis simple sidebars plugin for the blog page only. This would display a vertical menu.
Another option is to create a custom blog page template and display the menu on the blog page only.
Can you provide a link to your site please.
Do you want the second menu on all pages or only the blog page archive?
January 24, 2013 at 10:56 am #14327sarahsmileyMemberYou are so great to always help!
I did upload/install the simple sidebars and simple menus plugins. And I selected to have them displayed on the blog page. But they don't show up. I'm wondering if it's because Pretty Pictures theme doesn't inherently have sidebars? Where do sidebar widgets go if the theme is one column only?
I want the second menu to appear on the blog pages only. Because otherwise, as far as I can tell, there is no way for visitors to navigate the blogs. No categories, tags, or search feature appears on the blog page.
Here's the link: http://70.40.220.101/~sarahsm1/blog/
See? No way to navigate blog..... (or am I missing something?)
January 24, 2013 at 11:28 am #14339Brad DaltonParticipantYes is doesn't work. I think this is because the theme only supports one menu so you'll need to add support for a second menu and display it where you want. Do u want it displayed on all pages and posts or only on your blog archives page?
What exactly do you want on the blog page template? Do u want the default header?
I created a blog page template like a landing page and removed everything including the header and footer.
January 24, 2013 at 11:42 am #14342sarahsmileyMemberI did upload and install the second menu plug in from Studio Press. That allowed me to create a second menu. But I can't figure out how to get that into the blog.
Yes, I want the second menu (which will consist of the blog's categories) to appear on the blog pages only.
But, maybe there is an easier way? Does Pretty Pictures not have an inherent way for visitors to navigate through the blog pages? Is there code to add tags, categories, etc in a sidebar on the blog?
January 24, 2013 at 11:53 am #14348Brad DaltonParticipantYou can add a new template for the blog page only which includes a sidebar or second menu with category menu links.
The plugin doesn't work because the theme only supports one menu unless you add support for another, then it will work.
Doesn't matter how many menus you create, if you don't add support for another menu, the plugin won't work.
You'll need to code the custom blog page template depending on what you want it to display.
There's no sidebar on the themes blog page template which is why u need to code a new custom blog page template for that OR add support for second menu and use the plugin.
Many ways to do this.
1. Would u prefer a sidebar
2. Category menuOr both?
Do u want the header and footer on the custom blog page template?
January 24, 2013 at 11:56 am #14349sarahsmileyMemberI think I'd prefer a sidebar on the blog template.... because then I could install categories menu in the sidebar, right?
I'd still like the blog template to look like the rest of my site. Is there code I can install into the template I already have to add the sidebar? Or do I have to upload a whole new template?
Confused.
January 24, 2013 at 12:02 pm #14350Brad DaltonParticipantYes. You can add code to your existing blog page template to display a sidebar on the blog page only.
Try this http://dreamwhisperdesigns.com/genesis-tutorials/load-sidebar-specific-pages/
Adding a horizontal category menu to the blog page would be easier.
January 24, 2013 at 12:04 pm #14351sarahsmileyMemberOh, how do I ad horizontal category menu? (Would that go under header?)
January 24, 2013 at 12:08 pm #14353sarahsmileyMemberewww... just tried that sidebar process in link you sent. I was following along okay until it said to upload php file to theme directory. Where is that?
January 24, 2013 at 12:30 pm #14359Brad DaltonParticipantRoot directory of your child theme. Same location as your functions.php and style.css files
This is the problem.
The functions file contains this code which removes all support for sidebars
/** Register default layout setting */ genesis_set_default_layout( 'full-width-content' ); /** Unregister layouts */ genesis_unregister_layout( 'content-sidebar' ); genesis_unregister_layout( 'sidebar-content' ); genesis_unregister_layout( 'content-sidebar-sidebar' ); genesis_unregister_layout( 'sidebar-sidebar-content' ); genesis_unregister_layout( 'sidebar-content-sidebar' ); /** Unregister sidebars */ unregister_sidebar( 'sidebar' ); unregister_sidebar( 'sidebar-alt' );
January 24, 2013 at 12:50 pm #14363Brad DaltonParticipantHere's a tutorial i wrote earlier about how to create a custom blog page template which allows you to add content before posts on your blog page archives.
It also shows u how to add a widget area before the content so you can simply drag in a custom menu with your category links
January 24, 2013 at 1:48 pm #14380sarahsmileyMemberI don't think I know how to upload php is the problem : (
I FINALLY got the footer widgets to appear! Take a look: http://70.40.220.101/~sarahsm1/blog/ I just wish the widgets appeared IN the brown area, not above it.
And that "Sample Writing & Resources" dropdown menu I have in footer now.... that's what I wish could be at the top of the page on the blog.
Thoughts?
January 24, 2013 at 2:25 pm #14384Brad DaltonParticipantYou can remove the after footer area with brown background and change the footer background color.
The tutorial i linked to gives you the solution to add the category dropdown menu at the top of the blog page.
Another option is to add the categories to your main menu in a fancy drop down with the parent item named Categories.
The php coding is a very quick job.
January 24, 2013 at 2:57 pm #14392sarahsmileyMemberYes, I followed your tutorial. I got everything plugged in except "upload php file." Do I do that in a text document and then upload? Or do I put that in the "Functions" file available to me already on WordPress? If I need to upload a new file, where do I upload it? (And maybe is it a problem that I don't have FTP and I'm accessing WordPress through a host?)
January 24, 2013 at 3:16 pm #14396Brad DaltonParticipantUsing File Manager in cPanel is fine. Same as FTP
Upload the new blog page template to your child theme.
Make sure you saved it using a text editor like Notepad++ as a php file.
Then add the code to your child themes functions.php file to register the widget and hook it into the top of the blog page.
January 24, 2013 at 3:34 pm #14405sarahsmileyMemberBut I already have a blog template, right? So I can skip the first part of your tutorial (making a blog template)?
January 24, 2013 at 5:22 pm #14455Brad DaltonParticipantNo because the default blog template doesn't allow for adding content before the posts
January 24, 2013 at 10:18 pm #14534sarahsmileyMemberBut if I upload the php file, will the blog still look the same as it does now?
January 24, 2013 at 10:23 pm #14536Brad DaltonParticipant -
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