Wednesday, May 10th, 2006...11:56 am

Professional Posting Tips

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Small visual enhancements can go a long way towards adding credibility and readability to your content. Fortunately, PressRow comes replete with pre-styled elements that you can easily implement to help your content stand out among the crowd.

Using Sub-Headlines in Posts

See that headline above? You can easily include elements like this in your posts without having to do any on-the-fly styling. All you have to do is switch to the HTML viewer and enter your headline between <h3> tags. When you’re done, click on update, and you can continue writing your entry.

Lists

There are three types of lists you can use in your posts: unordered lists, ordered lists, and definition lists. First, let’s look at an unordered list:

  • Item one
    • Nested item 1
    • Nested item 2
    • Nested item 3
  • Item two
  • Item three
  • Item four

If you prefer to number your list items, you can use an ordered list like this one:

  1. Numero uno
  2. Numero dos
  3. Numero tres
  4. Cuatro!

If you’re really into content presentation and organization, then perhaps you also like to make use of definition lists. You could use one of these in the following context:

Press Row, familiar
Where writers sit while covering sports events
Press Row, new
Where writers blog while covering the new media revolution

Blockquotes

Occasionally, you may wish to include a quotation to help relay a message to your audience. PressRow makes this both easy and beautiful via the incorporation of blockquotes, which look like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Quisque pharetra velit vel purus. Nunc tempor, urna sit amet euismod elementum, erat tellus auctor erat, non condimentum dui wisi non orci. Nam fringilla leo sed dui. Vestibulum ac elit sit amet diam vehicula scelerisque.

To use a blockquote in your posts, simply place the quotation text between <blockquote> tags!

Images

Excellent handling of images can bring your blog to life, and because this topic is so important, it’s been given its very own post, which you certainly ought to read!

Learn more about image handling with PressRow.

Front Page Post Display

On this test site, I’ve employed a method of displaying posts on the front page that I think is far superior to simply listing a bunch of posts one after another in their entirety. What you see on the PressRow home page are “teasers,” or snippets of text that are designed to pique your interest and to get you to click through to read the rest of the article. Displaying posts in this manner has a twofold benefit for your site:

  • First, it encourages putting additional thought into the introductory copy of your post. The more enticing you can make it, the more you’ll be able to draw in your readers and establish a true connection with them.
  • Second, it increases the total number of pageviews on your site. If your copy is good, then readers will want to click through to read the rest of your articles, and thus you’ll gain at least one more page view per reader. One aspect of this that you may not have considered is the fact that once users have clicked on one link on your site, they are far more likely to click on another. Additionally, by getting users to click at least once, you’ve gone a long way towards focusing their attention on what you have to say and what you have to offer. This is a powerful connection that should not be overlooked, and I absolutely recommend doing whatever you can to enhance user/site interaction.

In order to start using teasers on your front page, all you have to do is use the <!--more--> tag at the beginning of the first paragraph that you don’t want included in the teaser. So, if I had the following paragraphs:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Proin risus urna, volutpat nec, congue eget, congue id, lectus. Sed rhoncus lectus at orci. Pellentesque sit amet lectus et nisl iaculis accumsan. Donec massa. Aliquam non nulla.

Donec lorem odio, dignissim a, mattis eu, molestie in, sem. Nunc condimentum sodales est. Fusce non ligula sed nisi aliquet fringilla. Curabitur nec enim vitae libero dictum egestas. Curabitur lobortis molestie libero. Nulla vestibulum consequat quam.

Now, I only want the first paragraph to appear in the teaser, so I’m going to edit my post to make it look like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Proin risus urna, volutpat nec, congue eget, congue id, lectus. Sed rhoncus lectus at orci. Pellentesque sit amet lectus et nisl iaculis accumsan. Donec massa. Aliquam non nulla.

<!--more-->Donec lorem odio, dignissim a, mattis eu, molestie in, sem. Nunc condimentum sodales est. Fusce non ligula sed nisi aliquet fringilla. Curabitur nec enim vitae libero dictum egestas. Curabitur lobortis molestie libero. Nulla vestibulum consequat quam.

Booyah! Only the first paragraph will be displayed on the front page, and you’ll get all kinds of page views!

17 Comments

Filed under Theme Info, Tips

17 Comments

  • PressRow Theme for WordPress » Blog Archive » Welcome to PressRow!
    May 10th, 2006 at 3:51 pm

    […] about Professional Posting Tips […]

  • Pande
    August 15th, 2006 at 8:16 pm

    Hi, I’m trying to place some “Previous Posts” in my index but it doesn’t work, Can you help me?

  • Admin
    August 17th, 2006 at 11:06 am

    Pande,

    Home page navigation is planned for the next PressRow update, but if you’d like to add it in now, here’s what you’ll need to do.

    First, pull up your Main Index Template in the “Theme Editor,” which can be accessed via the “Presentation” link in your WP-Admin panel.

    Next, locate this line of code (line 27):

    <?php endwhile; ?>

    Underneath that line, insert this block of code:

    <div class="navigation">
   <div class="previous">
      <?php previous_posts_link('← Previous Entries') ?>
   </div>
   <div class="next">
      <?php next_posts_link('→ Next Entries') ?>
   </div>
</div>

    Save the template, and your problem should be solved. There is one minor issue that could arise, and this is probably mostly due to the fact that I haven’t tested the above solution myself…here it is:

    It’s possible that the “Next Entries” link will point to older posts (instead of “Previous Entries,” which would make way more sense). If you find that’s the case, then all you need to do is change the code to look like this:

    <div class="navigation">
   <div class="previous">
      <?php next_posts_link('→ Previous Entries') ?>
   </div>
   <div class="next">
      <?php previous_posts_link('← Next Entries') ?>
   </div>
</div>

    Cool? Let me know if it works, and which solution you used.

    Thanks!

  • Pande
    August 17th, 2006 at 11:48 am

    Thanks a lot.
    I really apreciate your answer, I will fix it tonight.

    I want you to know that your theme is the best I used since I started blogging in 2003. ;-)

  • Admin
    August 17th, 2006 at 11:55 am

    Careful, you’re gonna make me blush.

  • Pande
    August 17th, 2006 at 12:55 pm

    Hi, I don’t know why, but the next and previous links just takes me to the main page, I can see “http://www.pandeblog.net/page/3/” at the address bar but I’m always on home page.
    Do you know what’s wrong?
    Thanks.

  • Pande
    August 24th, 2006 at 5:17 pm

    It’s me again. Do you know what this could be?

  • Admin
    August 24th, 2006 at 8:59 pm

    Pande,

    Sorry for the delay! I saw your comment last week, but I forgot to come back here and address it.

    Anyway, I just looked over your site, and it looks as though you’ve removed those navigational links from the index.php page. If possible, please put them back up so I can troubleshoot. I’m confident that I can solve your problem, but it’s twice as good if I can see it in action!

    Hope to hear back from you soon!

  • larfus
    August 24th, 2006 at 10:31 pm

    I am having the same problem as Pande I left mine up so you can trouble shoot it. I know your busy so take a look at it when ever no hurry.

  • Admin
    August 24th, 2006 at 11:04 pm

    Larfus,

    Thanks for leaving the example up. I solved the problem, and in the process, I realized a couple of things about the theme that were more or less totally unnecessary. If you make the following changes, it’ll work for sure:

    First, open up your index.php file. Find the php line that says:

    <?php query_posts('showposts=3'); >

    and delete it. Kill it. Make sure you never see it again.

    Second, add the following block of code in the location described in this comment (you may have already done this):

    <div class="navigation">
   <div class="previous">
      <?php next_posts_link('Previous Entries') ?>
   </div>
   <div class="next">
      <?php previous_posts_link('Next Entries') ?>
   </div>
</div>

    Finally, if you want to control the number of posts that are displayed on the home page (for instance, I only display 4 here), you need to do the following:

    • Open up the WP-Admin panel
    • Go to “Options”
    • Go to “Reading”
    • The default setting is likely “Show at most 10 posts.” You can make that number whatever you like. Again, I use 4 for this test installation.

    That’s it! Honest! Oh, and just as an aside, the theme should have been constructed this way initially. I guess I was trying to force users into only displaying a little bit of content on the home page, but in doing so, I crippled some of WP’s core functionality. To make matters worse, I changed a function that can easily be controlled from the WP-Admin panel, and in effect, I basically played the role of “evil tyrant” over your blog’s display capabilities.

    So, for that mess, I apologize. :)

  • larfus
    August 24th, 2006 at 11:14 pm

    Bingo all is well and for something to be free like you offer you have great support. thanks

  • fiLi
    August 25th, 2006 at 5:51 pm

    Oh my… so it was that “query_posts” command all along?
    Well, thanks for clearing that up. I think the theme is just perfect now… ;)

    Thanks for a wonderful theme, I’m enjoying it alot.

  • Pande
    September 9th, 2006 at 4:42 pm

    Thanks a lot, I was out and didn’t read your answer.
    Is up there and working fine.

  • Pande
    November 14th, 2006 at 9:40 am

    Hi, it’s me again. I have some questions about a similar issue.
    When users search in Pandeblog some searches (with similar quantity of results) just shows 6 results , and in the others searches the “Next Post” tag appears.
    In both searches there’s similar quantity of results, but one is not giving users the ability of change pages looking for the rest of the search results….
    http://www.pandeblog.net/?s=anorexia
    http://www.pandeblog.net/?s=bulimia

    Can you help me?
    Thanks.

  • Pande
    November 15th, 2006 at 4:01 pm

    Another question. I’m sorry for being dumb.
    In the next and previous post above the single post: if you are browsing with IE the names of the posts aren’t in a good position. What can I do to fix that?
    http://www.pandeblog.net/opinion/2006/11/a-que-huele-tu-ciudad/
    Thanks.

  • rkblake
    December 24th, 2006 at 3:56 pm

    Love the theme have used it from the beginning…

    One issue: the “Jump to Comments” link at the top of each post was working fine until a few days ago.

    I can’t determine why that link stopped working. Any ideas??

    Anyone?…Bueller?…Bueller?…Bueller?

    blog addie…please help.

    http://themortgageinsider.net/blog/

    Any help will be rewarded with my deep admiration and reverence.

    Thanks in advance,
    Rob K. Blake

    PS: Great post on the “more” tag to increase depth of visit…thanks.

  • Klaus D. Wolfer » Blog Archive » How to put teasers on frontpage?
    January 4th, 2007 at 9:25 am

    […] Read here how to do this: Professional Posting Tips and scroll down to headline “Front Page Post Display”. […]

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