Multiple Static Pages with Dynamic Content

  • (I have a child theme) I’ve read through the codex multiple times and I think I more or less understand pages, templates, and posts and the php/looping, etc., that go with them. So this is more of a structure question. I am building a website. The client wants a static front page that displays dynamic content in four (ish) “boxes.” Then she wants the top navigation to lead to static pages as well. For example on the Front Page Static Page Top Navigation she wants “recipes.” When you click on “Recipes” she wants you to go to a page where she has listed all of her recipes (and links to them). As a short term solution I’ve had her change all her recipes to “recipeitems” since if they are in the category “Recipe” they don’t show up, presumably because there is already a static Page called Recipe in that place. So they are sort of like ghost posts that you can access through the Recipe Page or through the Search Form. The categories don’t show because they aren’t in a widget area or anything like that. She is happy with this set up. I feel like it might be a “best practices” disaster. So my question is, in this situation, what is the best way to structure a site like this. I don’t need how-to instructions but more like start with a static front page, add additional sub-level static pages, etc., and then blind category for the posts? Should I have the posts be dynamic somewhere? If where? Should everything be a page (I assume not since that is the whole reason for WP and not old school html in the first place).

    You can check out the site here: https://strongerwithjeng.com. Obviously it’s undergoing some serious maintenance and design improvements.

    *Not sure this is the right forum for this.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • Have you tried adding categories to your Custom Menu, in addition to Pages?

    You could have a Recipes page, but also set up a Recipes category. They won’t conflict with each other. Apply that category to all your recipe posts. Then, in your Custom Menu, add a Category. There’s information on that here: Appearance Menus > Categories

    The category menu item will show up in your header menu just like any other page link, but it will lead the viewer to a page that shows a stream of all the posts in the category ‘Recipe.’

    Once you start doing that, I think you’ll find it will open up a lot of structural options for you.

    Thread Starter wen.wainwright

    (@wenwainwright)

    I have/am using custom menus with both Pages and Categories. If the Page name is “recipes” and the category name is “recipes” how will you tell them apart? I’ve tried using just the Page “recipe” and have assigned the individual recipe posts “recipeitems” but while that works (and isn’t visible anywhere) it doesn’t feel like the right answer. Yes the links work and yes you find those recipes via the search form…but somehow it doesn’t feel “right.” She wants a fully static Page called “Recipes” to which she will add additional recipe links as she goes. She wants you to click on those links on that static Page “Recipes” and go to individual posts. I’m having a hard time figuring out the best structure in regards to those individual posts.

    Oh sure. I meant as an alternative to the page Recipes, really. As a category, it’s automated and all the recipes can be browsed. They would, however, be chronologically ordered like blog posts.

    The manual version you describe will work fine, it just takes a little more work on her part. But the links will still work and the SEO will be safe and she gets total control, which is nice. It’s just lacking a bit of automation!

    I am not sure if you’re familiar with creating templates, but if you’re interested in going a little further, the best way to automate this would be to create a page template for the Recipes page which contains a special loop that pulls in anything in a certain category in a certain order (i.e. alphabetical, instead. Or grouped in child categories by recipe type.) Anyway, if you’re interested in reading further, here are a few links that will make you feel like a master once you try it. ??

    Page Templates
    The Loop
    4 Ways to Loop with WordPress: wp_query

    Thread Starter wen.wainwright

    (@wenwainwright)

    Thanks! I have looked into those but don’t want to add them to the time commitment to this project. The reality is that she wants to for sure control what people see first in order to not lose people by them not being able to find what they want. But really everyone is used to searching for something and everyone expects dynamic content that refreshes every time they look. I’ve talked her into drop down categories on the top nav bar. I think. The whole point of all of this is for content management after all.

    Absolutely. Good luck with your improvement campaign ??

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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