Do i need a child theme ? and if so which one to do this ?

[omg]

Hello, and how are you doing,

I have installed wordpress and the genesis theme,

i need the following on my site :-

- static front page (i have done this by fixing the front page and making it static)

- links to the categories on (and within) the static front page (this is to direct the surfers into the correct category etc) - unless there is a theme that specifically does this i will just have to put the html code for the categories onto the static front page

- latest posts to show on front page, either under their categories in main static page, or under the main static page, most recent at the top.

(or if someone could please explain to me how to do this.)

 

 

I also need the theme to be very good for seo, as it is in a very competitive market.

 

If i need a child theme then i want it to be a   Free theme

Also an email optin box on right, as well as feedburner

 

After doing a lot of research virtually all the places i read said that i needed a child theme, so do i need a child theme, or can i just stick with the genesis install ?

I dont need the site the be too glamorous, i just need it to carry out the functions that i need it to carry out, which i have detailed above,

 

Also what are peoples opinions on the best plugin for seo ?

Adding plugins slows down the speed of the site, but i appreciate that some plugins are helpfull/needed.

 

 

many thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AnitaC]

Because you are requesting so many different things, especially the use of a Free theme - I would suggest possibly hire a web developer to assist you.

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Need help with customization or troubleshooting? Reach out to me.

[omg]

I disagree, there are a lot of free themes, but i spent hours looking/searching for a suitable one, this forum is full of people who have/may have experience in these matters, and may have the answer/or be able to help, as i would help them if i had an answer to their problem/question.

so i think this is the appropriate place to put this

This is the support forum for the buyers of the genesis framework is'nt it ?

 

[AnitaC]

The forum is not to completely customize and build the website for you. It is to pose your questions on particular things you have problems or issues with. You've outlined that you want the members of the forum to build an entire website for you.

This is a community forum where we volunteer to assist you. This isn't the Support area. Support is handled through my.studiopress.com.

The forum description states:

Official support for StudioPress themes is offered exclusively through the My StudioPress member area. Responses in this forum are not guaranteed.

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Need help with customization or troubleshooting? Reach out to me.

[omg]

"The forum is not to completely customize and build the website for you"

 

i obviously did not state that

+ i also specifically said (and you confirmed that you read it)

"I have installed wordpress and the genesis theme,"    therfore the "website"  is already online.

"It is to pose your questions on particular things you have problems or issues with"

but thats what i did (?)

"You’ve outlined that you want the members of the forum to build an entire website for you."

NO I DID NOT DO THIS AT ALL

PLEASE CORRECT THIS - AS IT IS SELF EVIDENTLY NOT TRUE

"This is a community forum where we volunteer to assist you"

WHICH CONTRADICTS WHAT YOU SAID ABOVE

ALSO

"where we volunteer to assist you"    THEN WHY DONT YOU VOLUNTEER TO ASSIST ME ?????????

 

In case its escaped your attention - all i did was what any other person would do - and what a forum is for .

all youve done is completely distort the facts into a fictional story which bear no resemblance to what happened.

[AnitaC]

I am not trying to be difficult. The purpose of the forum is to handle one issue at a time. Please post what you need one issue at a time. We cannot assist you buy bulking up all of the issues or your needs into one discussion. You need to post them one topic at a time. That has always been the forum rules.

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Need help with customization or troubleshooting? Reach out to me.

[omg]

well that is not what you said is it ?

 

ok , i can do that if you want, but generally its the other way around,

if someone reads one post, then they may be able to help with the other issues, which is why they are bundled up,

on any other forum people would complain that there are multiple posts by the same person when they could be put in one thread.

[omg]

i was just starting to write a new thread to separate this out into individual items, but on second thoughts it will be ridiculous,

i.e. i asked if i need a child theme to do this etc, and if so what is the best one, but what is the point in separating that out when it is relevant and associated with the rest of it ?

 

 

PS.

constructive opinions are very welcome.

i spent ages (AGES) researching this and could not find an answer - which is why i am here.

Quote

“where we volunteer to assist you”

[Susan]

Hi, @omg:

I cannot answer all of your questions, but wanted to offer you some direction for at least some of your questions:

- You shouldn't make changes to your core Genesis files. You will need a child theme.
- If you want a free child theme, then try Sample, which is the child theme based on the pure Genesis framework
- Genesis has built in SEO capability, but others swear by Yoast's plugin.
- to add categories to your menu is fairly straightforward under Dashboard > Menus > Categories (select the ones you want), and then select "Add to Menu".
- If you want your latest posts to show on your home page, you cannot accomplish that right out of the box with a static page. The point of a static page is to have non-changing content. You can have a widgetized home page with some widgets with static content, and then posts underneath.
- You can add feedburner to wherever you would like on your site - most people choose either header right or their sidebar.
- You can add an e-mail opt-in widget to your front page, or sidebar.

[omg]

Thank you Susan for your constructive and helpfull answer, i am now looking at the sample child theme,

"to add categories to your menu"

no, what i meant was the categories are in the middle of the page, (on the page) not in the header, i have seen a few sites like it, but after looking for ages couldnt find any - so that the categories are in the middle vertically - i will try and find a site(s) that do this

"You can have a widgetized home page with some widgets with static content, and then posts underneath."

how would i do this ?

what widgets would i use ?

are there any sites that you know of that do this already that you can show me please ?

 

thank you Susan

[Susan]

- I see what you mean about adding categories to the content of your page. I don't think there is a theme which does that without some kind of customization, but adding html as you suggested would work.

- Brian Gardner (founder of StudioPress) has written a great tutorial about adding a home page widgeted area:

http://www.briangardner.com/home-widget-area-eleven40/

- The eleven40 theme has a small text widget on the home page with blog posts underneath. The text widget can be expanded to put whatever you want in there.

- The "Adorable" theme is another theme which I know of which comes with a home page widget with posts underneath. It's not the default layout of the theme, but it comes with instructions for setting it up that way, but any theme which has posts on the home page can have a widgeted area added to the top following the instructions I linked to above.

- The Minimum theme has four home page widgets followed by posts, as another example.

 

[omg]

Thank you susan, i will look into all of the above that you mentioned,

i looked at the sample child them,

http://www.studiopress.com/releases/sample-theme.htm

but there was no download link.

 

"but any theme which has posts on the home page can have a widgeted area added to the top following the instructions I linked to above."

so i would'nt want a static homepage then ?

i will look at the links you kindly gave in detail - thanks

[Susan]

At the top of this screen, there is a "My StudioPress" menu item, with "downloads" below that - you should be able to log into your mystudiopress account, and see the sample theme available for download there.

If you plan on having your most recent posts on your home page, then you wouldn't want a static home page.

 

 

[omg]

thanks for the download link

"If you plan on having your most posts on your home page, then you wouldn’t want a static home page."

"most posts on your home page"   - im not sure what you mean ?

i wanted the categories to direct them to the appropriate section/category, but i also wanted the latest posts as having a link from the main url helps to index the pages quicker and better, and it will also get them deep in the site if coming from the main url and this will help the bounce rate.

 

[Susan]

Sorry - I meant "most recent posts" 🙂

Rather than having static category links, you could do a widgetized home page with various categories presented in other ways. For example, the "News" theme...

http://demo.studiopress.com/news/

which has the tabs for the various categories within the content of the home page, and then various sections of the home page dedicated to different stories based on different categories...

 

[omg]

Thank you susan,

when i was looking on the net previously i thought a "news" type theme or a "directory" type theme might be appropriate,

im not sure what a "widgetized home page"  encompasses etc, (how it works and what would be the benefits)

the categories are sub categories within the same niche, so say for example it was a website about "cars"

the the categories would be "ford cars" - nissans - bmw - etc etc, so its best if the categories are static and easily navigatable and easily viewable in front of the user as they open the main page.

i think having the categories un organized would leave people unable to find what they were looking for etc.

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