I have created a number of Blogs using the blog gadget but they are not linking to my blog list (on my blog home page). Is there a way to remedy this without recreating all of my blogs?
Joseph,
Did you follow all the steps in How to Create a Blog (http://help.percussion.com/how-to/how…) ?
Does the blog gadget on the dashboard show your blog (collection of posts) ?
If so, when you click “View Posts” do the posts show up there?
It’s easy for people to get confused between “Blog” and “Blog Post.” It sounds to me like you may be creating Blogs (high-level topical collections of posts) when you want to create Blog Posts (individual essays) within a specific Blog.
These are just my thoughts after reading your description above. Any more detail on what you’ve done and what you’re seeing may help to solve this for you.
-Mark
Mark, I believe I misspoke. I created a number of Blog Posts that didn’t show up in my blog list. When I click “view posts” they are listed correctly. However, the blog list widget is not displaying them. I understand that the widget must be set up to employ two template and I believe I have done so correctly. The list template holds the blog list widget and should be displaying my blog post template (which has a blog post widget). Can I attach these blog posts to my pre-existing blog list?
If I understand correctly, your List template contains the blog list widget - this is where you want to see :
Blog post 1, detailsdetailsdetails - READ MORE
Blog post 2, detailsmoredetails - READ MORE
Blog post 3, detailsdetailsandevenmoredetails - READ MORE
When an end-user (website visitor) clicks on READ MORE - they would be taken to the blog post page - which uses the blog post widget to create each blog post.
The list widget doesn’t display the blog post template - it displays an overview of the blog posts. (You can configure what details it shows in the Layout Tab of the Template that uses the Blog list Widget)
Any posts you create from the dashboard -> blog gadget -> new post should show up in that list widget. This will use the blog post template to create blog post pages. These pages are created in the section of the site specified when creating the blog. These pages are still subject to workflow rules - so if they’re in draft, they must be moved through the workflow for them to show up on the published site.
I can’t find a scenario where they do not show up for me in my blog list widget. The draft items still show up for me in preview.
In order for me to be any more help, I’m going to need more details on every step you’ve taken to get to where you are now. Names of Templates, specific order each step was taken, etc.
I understand entirely what you are talking about. If the post template name doesn’t match the blog name, would that cause the posts not to link to the list widget? I tried to rename the post template for ease of locating and I think that’s where it went wrong. But at this point, I have over a dozen posts created that need to be linked to a list, can I achieve this without recreating the posts on a different template?
I don’t believe that the blog post template name has to be related to the blog name.
I’ll play with some things tomorrow and see if I can figure anything else out.
If you’ve only got 15 posts or so - I would start over from scratch - you can copy-paste the post content relatively easily. I’m not sure that finding this issue will be that easy. :-/
Joe,
It sounds like you used a template for the Blog Post and one for the Blog List. You have probably set up the Blog properly and chosen the correct templates for the Blog. Can you go in to the Templates for your site and look for the two that start with the name of your blog? In the current version of CM1, a copy is made of the templates you choose to use for the Blog. Your original Blog Post and Blog List templates will exist but 2 additional ones will exist as well, with the blog name you created as part of the template name.
In addition to this, it sounds like you are wanting to list the blogs on the home page. I would venture to say the Home page is not the page that has the blog list control on it. The blog list is directly linked to the blog posts as part of the “behind the scenes wiring” that occurs when creating a blog. The blog list template is typically used as the landing page for the blog when someone goes from the home page to the blog to view the posts.
The solution for this, though, is to use the Page Auto-List on the Home page and point the filter criteria to the blog folder. The page auto-list allows you to choose a template for filtering as well so you can select the blog folder you want to use and then, additionally, select the blog post template for that blog you want to list out. Set the layout properties on the Page Auto-List to sort by Latest Date, and you should end up with a list of the latest blog posts for that folder.
A written review of the Page Auto-List can be found here: http://help.percussion.com/widgets/wi…
Incidentally, release 2.7 will introduce the option to create or prevent from creating a copy of the blog templates you choose. This will allow you to maintain the layout for all blogs from one template, or spin up copies on demand to allow unique styling per blogs if you want.
Joseph,
I’m curious to know how you made out setting up your Blog List. Were you able to get everything up and running? If so, how did you ultimately go about it?
Nathaniel
Nathaniel,
I’m so glad you asked. The blogs did eventually link up, but it was a nightmare and the end result is so visually unappealing that we can’t really use it. The templates left for us feature a 900x300 picture that displays in the blog list widget with a title beneath. It always pulls this info from the most recent post. The text is completely lost on the posts and the lay out is not at all what anyone had in mind.
We are very curious as to how the blogs on the CM1 site were created? We’d love to use your template. It’s exactly what we hope to accomplish.
Thanks, Joe
Joseph,
In order to create a stylized blog list like you see on the Percussion page, first you need to specify a root class for the Blog List widget and stylize its contents through CSS. For additional styling options you can use descendant selectors to style elements within this root class (in the case of a blog list, you might use “div.myRootClass li {}” to hone in on the individual list items). Also, defining a blog page’s summery through the page’s meta data can give you more control over what shows up on the Blog Auto List, too.
Because this is a separate issue from your initial one of linking up your blog, if you want to create a new post with screen shots of your blog turned out and a description of how you would like it to appear, I would be happy to guide you in the right direction with regards to styling your blog.
Nathaniel
Nathaniel,
sounds like a good plan to me! I will create a new post and do my best to show you what we ended up with. The screen shots of where we would like to go will come from the percussion page itself. Thanks for your continued help,
Joe
The new question will be titled “Building a Better Blog”
What is the best way to change templates for a blog?
This is a great question! It seems it might be worth it’s own post, so I created a new conversation to continue the discussion.
Am I correct that you are asking how to change the templates used by a blog after you have created it? When you create a blog you choose (1) a template for the blog index page, and (2) a template for the blog post page - you are looking to change one or both of these templates after creating the blog? At this time we do not have this option - although current versions of Percussion have the option to “Make copies of the blog templates for use by this blog,” which will create new templates to be used by your new blog.
Please reference the new conversation here: Changing Blog Templates