how to use postmash?

Nice project, good luck with that exploration. ??

I’ve not familiar with the postMash plugin, but getting the posts to display in ascending (older first) is really simple to do.

Rather than modify your theme (generally a bad idea if you can avoid it) just create a new plugin file called wp-content/plugins/reverse-post-order.php and put these lines in it.

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Reverse the query to ascending order
*/

add_action( 'wp_head' , 'mh_reverse_query' );
function mh_reverse_query() {
global $query_string;
   if ( is_home() ) {
      query_posts($query_string . "&order=ASC");
   }
}

That will append &order=ASC to the $query_string and display them oldest first.

Activate in your dashboard the new Reverse the query to ascending order plugin and try it out.

OK thanks for that… erm… I’m something of a novice with all this… how exactly do a “create a new plug-in file”? Do I have to create a new file in the folder where all the WordPress stuff is (in my case it’s pre-installed on the server) or do I have to do this via the WordPress dashboard? And all that code… can I just copy & paste it?

Please help an ignorant man…

@jan Dembowski

Jan, don’t worry about my last question – I think I’ve worked it out – I created a new php file in the wordpress folder & have activated it and now I have all my posts in reverse order.

Thank you! I’ve spent days trying to work this out.

Could I just ask you one more thing?

On my blog https://johnbentleyswriting.com the posts are now in chronological order, but on the right-hand sidebar, which lists “recent posts”, they are still in order of the most recent first.

Is there any way I can reverse this list’s order too?

Thank you very very much!

EDIT: DOH! He sorted it out before I could reply! ??

Not a problem, I’ll make it even easier via the magic of pastebin.com.

Visit this URL

https://pastebin.com/EVzURUP0

On that page is a DOWNLOAD link at https://pastebin.com/download.php?i=EVzURUP0

That file will want to download as reverse-post-order.php.txt. After you save it, remove the .txt extension. That will make it just reverse-post-order.php instead.

If you have FTP access to your WordPress installation, navigate to wp-content/plugins and transfer that reverse-post-order.php file you just saved.

Now in your dashboard you should see that plugin listed. Activate it and you should be good to go.

https://johnbentleyswriting.com/wp-admin/plugins.php

If something goes wrong, just use your FTP client to delete that new file reverse-post-order.php.

Hi Jan – I downloaded that file – luckily I can drag and drop these files straight into the server (or import them from my desktop via the wordpress dashboard).

Unfortunately it didn’t work this time. I activated it with no problems but it didn’t change the other list – it’s actually the list on the right-hand side of https://johnbentleyswriting.com, the one entitled “recent posts”, that I want to reverse this time. At the moment it starts at “Entry 12” & I need it to start at “entry 1”. The main text in the middle of the screen is fine now, it’s just that list on the right that’s wrong.

Any ideas? Or did I do something wrong?

Is there any way I can reverse this list’s order too?

That’s a little more difficult. Looking at the recent posts widget code, I’m really intimidated… ??

Give the plugins repository a search, there maybe one in there that will let you run a custom query to do the same thing. Modifying the Recent Posts widget query looks a little daunting…

Edit: Uh, that FTP reply was for the main loop. That works for the main body, but the Recent Posts widget in the sidebar isn’t something I have a solution for.

OK, well thanks for trying anyway. By the way, I notice from your website that you’re another Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fan… good stuff!