There are typically two main sections of content for a MSMOsites blog, website, or web store. They are the blog posts and the page content. Blog posts have been covered in page on Blog Posts. If you have just a blog you may not even have actual content pages and your whole site will be blog post content and links.
But, if you have a MSMOsites website or web store, or an expanded blog that has content pages, then you will have pages on which you can place pictures, text, and other content.
Let’s look at the structure of a typical site page. There will be variations in layout, design, and of course content, from site to site.
The image above shows a typical page from a WordPress-based website. In this case it is the About page from the Vintage Home Arts blog site (vintagehomearts.msmalls.com). There are 8 points of interest:
1. Pages typically have a logo or banner at the top. This isn’t a design requirement but it does help establish identity, also known as brand. This is part of the site design and is not usually controlable from the Pages management section.
2. The site menu is usually either horizontal across the top of the page sometimes above, and sometimes below, the banner. Horizontal menus often have pull-down (also called drop-down) extension menus that appear when you mouse over one of the main menu tabs. The About tab on the MSMOsites parent website shows this function.
Pull-down menus can also be multi-level. On the MSMOsites menu above mouse-over About, and then Using Your Website to see an example of this.
Your website menu could also be vertical and, usually, located in a sidebar. Vertical menus can also have pull-down extension menus. They are sometimes referred to as fly-out menus.
3. Sometimes the main content area of the page will be constrained within a predetermined area or box and the remaining space outside that box will be filled with a background color or pattern. Carefully constructed background, such as the one one used in our example site, shown here:
are quite small but tile seamlessly to fill the entire space. Backgrounds can be used to give a range of effects and feelings to your site. (Discuss this in the design and setup phase!)
Pages will have a layout created as part of the site design. You can’t easily change much of this on your own and, generally, shouldn’t try. Most pages on a site will be similar but can have distinct features designed explicitly for the purpose of the individual page. Most pages will have some general content area. In this example it is a wider area to the right side of the page below the menu (see section 5).
4. Pages will often have a title and/or other material at the top. This is usually the title you add or change when creating or editing the page and is often the same as the word(s) displayed on the menu tab or link that opens the page. It is possible to have a page title that is different from the menu content. If you need to do this please contact support.
5. The content area is where you will add/edit/remove text and images for the main information on the page. This is the area over which you have the most control. It provides the content that is displayed on the page.
6. Although not required on all pages, one or more sidebars typically form a part of the WordPress page structure. As on this page they are not always present. Sidebars usually hold widgets — small boxes used to display specific information or offer selected features or functions. Sometimes there is one sidebar to either the left or the right. Sometimes there are two sidebars, one to the left and one to the right of the main content area. Sometimes multiple (two or more) sidebars are all to one side.
On most WordPress sites it is common to have the same sidebars on every page. This site: Affaire d’Amour Vintage has three different sidebars, one on the Home, About, and Contact pages, a second on the Products pages, and a third on the Blog page. Doing this requires custom configruation, usually at extra cost. If you should have a need for multiple, different, sidebars please contact support.
7. The bottom of the content section of the page may have a tagline, theme, contact, or comment information and/or input forms.
8. The very bottom of the page box, called the footer, will typically have sub-level menus, and will often contain your own copyright line covering the website content which, of course, remains under your copyright control copyright, and design-by information. Below the footer will be our design copyright and hosting link.
Editing Pages
When you click on the Pages item in the Dashboard left-column menu the Edit Pages menu opens:
This page displays a list of all pages currently published on your site and any addtional pages held in draft (non-published) form. The draft format allows you to have one or more pages under development but not display them on the website.
Passing the mouse pointer (cursor) over any of the listed pages reveals a menu with the options:
Edit | Quick Edit | Delete | View
1. Edit opens the Edit Page page (see below).
2. Quick Edit drops down a selection of most used functions.
3. Delete allows you to remove the page.
4. View takes you to the web page.
Edit Page
The image below marks 8 items of interest discussed in the text following. Depending on the plugins you are using there may be more functions available on your Edit Page page.
1. The title for your page is displayed and may be edited.
2. The permalink or address for your page is shown. It may be editit but you should only do this if absolutely required and you know what you are doing. You may copy this to use in a link to the page.
3. The content of your page may be edited. There is a Visual tab that provides a basic WYSIWYG editor and an HTML tab that allows you to add your own HTML to the page content.
4. In the attributes section you can select the Parent menu to which the page will be added. The pull-down list shows existing pages (menu items). Select the one to which you want to add the current page. Choosing Main Page (no parent) will add your page as a new tab on the main menu.
5. In the same section you can select the Template used by the page. The pull-down list will display available template choices. Each template offers a unique page layout. If you need additional page layouts they can be added.
6. The number in the Order box determines the order your page will be displayed in the menu to which it is assigned. Pages with the same number will order alphabetically. To have all pages in a menu sort in alphabetical order set the numbers for those pages to “0″ (zero).
Using numbers spaced, say, in tens will allow room to easily add new pages in between without renumbering pages. For example, if you have the following pages in your main menu, numbered as shown:
Home 10
About 20
Blogg 30
Contact 40
you can easily add a Products page between Home and About by giving it the number 25, like this:
Home 10
About 20
Products 25
Blog 30
Contact 40
If you original four pages had been numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4, you would have had to renumber the last two pages in order to add the new page (3) to the list, like this:
Home 1
About 2
Products 3
Blog 4
Contact 5
A little initial planning goes a long way when you need to make updates and additions in the future.
7. The Discussion section allows you to choose whether or not to allow comments and pings.
If you select Allow Comments a comment entry form will be displayed below your content on the page. This is a good idea to get feedback from those who visit your site. Some site owners allow comments on all pages. Others are more selective. You can choose what is best for you.
If you select Allow Pings (also called Pingbacks) you are enabling a process that lets you notify the author of an article if you link to his article (on another pingback-enabled blog). If the links you include in an article you write on a blog lead to a blog which is pingback-enabled, then the author of that blog gets a notification in the form of a pingback that you linked to his article. This process is optional but does allow you to know that your article is being linked by others.
8. The WordPress engine stores revisions and automatically saves (Autosave) your work as you are typing. You can refer to previous versions and even revert to (restore) one if necessary.
On MSMOsites blogs, websites, and web stores, there will be additional items that may include Custom Fields, Exclude Pages, Page Menu Editor, Page Links To, and others. These items are for more advanced users and/or administrator use and are beyond the scope of this document. If you have need for one of these (or other) functions please contact the MSMOsites owners or tech support.
Adding Pages
Your MSMOsites blog, website, or web store, comes pre-configured with the basic pages that are part of the package you selected when you decided on your MSMOsites options. You can, however, add additional pages to your site.
The Add New function opens the Add New Page feature. The choices are identical to the Edit Page feature with the exception that the fields are empty and the blue button says Publish instead of Update Page.
Refer to the Edit Page section above for details. Be especially careful with your Attributes selections as your website can quickly become the Nightmare On Navigation Street and a very un-friendly place to visit if you are not.
It is usually best to discuss your plans for new pages with the MSMOsites owners or tech support. If you need additional pages, but are concerned about creating them yourself, tech support can help.
Click Here for a short (about 5 minutes) video that might help put this all in context. You’ll need a Macromedia Shock Wave Flash player plugin for your browser (most people already have this) to see this video.
