Using the "read more" function…

[GraceWaynesboro]

Hey guys,

I’ve been trying in vain to use the “read more” button in a blog post, but to no avail. I’ve even watched wordpress vids on youtube, but still nothing happens when I put them into a post. See the attached pics…in the one, you can see that the code is in place…and yet when published and viewed, there is nothing there. Please advise!

Thanks,

Richard

Attachments:

1. 

   Screen-Shot-2014-10-29-at-2.40.54-PM.png
   

2. 

   Screen-Shot-2014-10-29-at-2.41.06-PM.png
   

[Bill Robbins]

Hello Richard,

Great question. In the theme there are two options for how the content in the blog can be set. It can display an excerpt or the full content of each post. That can be changed in the theme options page.

When the excerpt (the default option) is selected, the read more tag isn’t used since the text is already shortened. The read more tag is only available with the full content option.

If you still have trouble, let me know and send over the URL to your blog page and I’ll take a closer look.

Thanks,
Bill

[GraceWaynesboro]

Bill, thanks for the response. Unfortunately, it didn’t make a difference once I changed the content setting. Would love for you to look at http://www.gracewaynesboro.com and offer additional insight.

[Bill Robbins]

I’ll be happy to take a look. What’s the URL to the actual blog page (I don’t see it in the navigation menu).

[GraceWaynesboro]

My bad- gracewaynesboro.com/blog

[Bill Robbins]

Perfect. I took a look and here’s what you’ll want to do:

1. Go to the Settings section in your WordPress dashboard and choose Reading.
2. Right below where you selected your home page as your front page, there is a drop-down menu for the “posts page.” You’ll want to select your blog from that drop-down menu.
3. Update your settings.

That should cause your posts to appear on your blog page. Right now it looks like that’s working as a standard page. For your blog you’ll go to the Posts section in your Dashboard and add the posts individually there.

Once that’s set you should be able to choose the full-content option we talked about earlier and use the read more tag.

Let me know if that doesn’t do the trick.

Thanks,
Bill

[GraceWaynesboro]

Bill, that did work. However, I’m unable to set a featured image on the url gracewaynesboro.com/blog. Please advise? Thanks for your time and energy!

[Bill Robbins]

I’m glad you have that part working.

On the post page, WordPress ignores just about everything other than the name of the page and the URL “slug” that is specified. Everything else, including the featured image will be left out.

You can add a hero section in with a bit of editing. Here’s what to do:

1. In your WordPress dashboard click on Media and then Add New.
2. Upload the image that you’d like to use for your blog hero section. Once the upload is complete, click the edit link. On the right hand side of the screen that opens up you’ll see a field for the file URL. You’ll need that in just a moment.
3. Next go to the Appearance section in your WordPress dashboard and choose Edit.
4. From the list of files on your right, choose hero-options.php and scroll to the very bottom and replace this:

   
   <?php } ?>
   

   with this:

   
   (Be sure to copy that code directly from the support site and not the notification email.)

5. You’ll need to replace the http://yoursite.com/image.jpg with the URL to the image you uploaded earlier. Also change out the “Hero Title” and “Hero Captions” text for what you’d like to say there. You can also delete them if you won’t be needing them.
6. Save your changes.

That should give you a hero section at the top of your blog. If you have questions, let me know.

Thanks,
Bill

[GraceWaynesboro]

Hi Bill-

Please forgive me for costing you so much time. There is indeed a hero section now, but I’m not properly grasping the instructions for edited my uploaded media. Right now at gracewaynesboro.com/blog the attached file is what it shows:

Attachments:

1. 

   Screen-Shot-2014-10-30-at-2.13.05-PM.png
   

[Bill Robbins]

We’re almost there. In the code you added to the hero-options.php file, you need to locate this line:

#hero-section { background-image: url(https://yoursite.com/image.jpg) }

In that line, change out the http://yoursite.com/image.jpg with the URL to the image you uploaded. When you upload an image in the WordPress media library, there will be a link called “edit” once the upload is finished. If you’ll click on that link a new screen will open up. On the right hand side of that screen the URL to that file will be listed. You can copy that and then use it in the code above in place of the http://yoursite.com/image.jpg. That’s just a placeholder for us.

If you get stuck let me know. We’ll get it straightened out for you.

Bill

[GraceWaynesboro]

Wait! I got it!!

I do think that I replaced two generic links in the coding. I had done one towards the bottom, and then saw another. Will that mess anything up down the road?

Thank you again so much for your time. You’re awesome dude.

[GraceWaynesboro]

Wait- not done yet, lol.

When I go to edit that page, I have no control over changing the hero text. In fact, I’ve tried to put other words, but it won’t reflect on the actual page.

[GraceWaynesboro]

Oh- it has to be changed in the new code. Think I’ve got it figured out. Thanks!

[Bill Robbins]

I’m glad you found the spot to change there. Sorry you beat me to it — I had to run my son to an appointment in a place with no cellular signal. Hard to believe those still exist.

If you do need anything else, let me know.

Thanks,
Bill

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