Last Updated (Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00)

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This section will give instructions to create a blog.  Blogs are useful for posting a series of articles, events, sermons, etc., usually ordered by date with the most recent at the top.  

To create a blog: 

  • Login to your administration site.  The first thing you must do is create a category for your blog. 
  • From the Control Panel, choose the 'Category Manager' icon
  • Click the 'New' button
  • Type in a title for your Category called 'Blogs'
  • From the Section drop down box, choose a section for the category
  • Click the 'Save' button on the top right of the screen

Next Create and Publish your first blog post. 

  • From the menu bar along the top, choose Content < Article Manager
  • Click the 'New' button
  • Type a name for your first blog post  
  • The name should be topical rather than a date.  The date is handled automatically, or you can override it on the right side. 
  • Choose the Section and Category you previously created.  Long posts can have the first few paragraphs in the primary text box and the rest of the body in the Read More box.  If done this way, on the frontend, the blog will show only the first part of the text and have a Read More link to the full post.
  • When finished entering the text, click the Save  button. 


Note:  If typing in your text will take a long time, click the Apply button at the top right hand side of the page periodically.  This will save your work in the back end (without saving it on the front end) in the event your log in times out before you finish or you get called to the phone, or your computer freezes).

Now you want to create a menu link to the blog. 

  • From the row of menu items along the top, choose Menu > main menu (providing you do not have a Free Site, you may choose any other menu for your blog)
  • Click New 
  • Choose Articles < Category Blog Layout
  • Type in a title for your blog 
  • From the Parameters - Basic section to the right, choose the Category you had created for your Blogs
  • Some other parameters you might want to change:
    • Columns: change from 2 to 1
    • Primary Order: change to Most Recent First
    • Author Names: If there are multiple authors posting to the same blog you might want this to Show
    • Created Date and Time: Most blogs have the date displayed so you can set this to Show
  • When finished, click the 'Save' button at the top right.
  • You can edit the parameters of this menu item at any time to customize the display of your blog 

Go to the frontend of your site to see your new blog.  

Note:  you may reorder your menu items by going to Menu > mainmenu (or wherever your menu item is) in the back end of your site.  You can reorder the menu items by clicking either the up or down blue arrows beside the menu items.