ktarbox
Member
Whats the trick to getting the hightlighted posts to show on the main page? The only area they are currently showing is if you view the 'Features' page.
I have posted 3 articles within the 'features' section, but wasn't sure if they should also be linked to a category? I have tried both ways, but neither choice allows the rotating features section to appear on the main page.
Hi Ktar - I'll be doing a screencast showing how to set up Caribou very soon, which will help I'm sure...
Anyway, the way to get a main page with a highlights section is to do the following:
Create a new page (call it Home, or similar) and select the page template (further down) of Section Layout. From what you say you've already created a Features section and presumably have used standard WP functionality to make it your home page.
You'll then need to go to Manage Categories and for each category select which section it's to appear in.
Once that's done, you will have a standard layout, rather like at the Caribou Xbox Games Demo Page.
To make use of the highlight slider element, you just need to start selecting articles to appear in there - so if I wanted to highlight Call of Duty, I'd go and edit the page then scroll to the bottom where you can select which section you want to highlight the feature in - the section doesn't have to match the post's category. The highlight section will show three post excerpts (very quick and easy change to the php code if you want a different number) in a slider. You may also wish to select an image that represents the post for use in these areas.
I think the sooner I get the screencast done, the better - it's a powerful theme, but there's an initial learning curve. However, once you get into it it's very easy - I converted my personal site to it in far less time than I expected - the only problem is that a lot of my blog is very old, and WP doesn't regenerate thumbnails and medium image resizes for old items unless you export and import to an empty install - and then you lose other stuff :o(
I'll move this thread to the Caribou support section once you've responded, so I know you've read it and don't think it's disappeared!
ktarbox
Member
Hi clopinettes - thanks for responding.
To clear up further...
Since I do have a 'Features' page already set up, do I still need to <i>"Create a new page (call it Home, or similar) and select the page template (further down) of Section Layout."</i>
<i>presumably have used standard WP functionality to make it your home page."</i> Can you explain further on this? How?
I really think a screencast as you mention will be VERY helpful! I learn best by watching how things are done! LOL
I'm hoping to make some time over the weekend to at least plan out the screencast so we can deliver it in the coming week. It's a powerful theme, and actually once you understand it we've found it's very very easy to use, and fast to configure too. But there is that learning curve.
But in the meantime.... :o)
If you have a page (not post) with a page template of Section Layout then you perhaps want it on the front page. To that end you must go to Settings | Reading and then you'll see an option called Front Page Displays. You can set this so that the front page of your site, instead of being a standard blog view, points to a page. Given the power of page templates this then means that you can set your section page as being the front page.
You can then select a Posts page, but with Caribou that's not strictly necessary. In fact, by default the Caribou view is very much that of a standard blog - and that's a bit boring really ;o)
If you can tell me your URL I can see more closely what you're trying to achieve and perhaps help more. Off to bed now so will take a look in the morning.
You'll note that on the main site there's now a category called Screencasts.
The relevant links for this post are:
http://spectacu.la/screencast-defining-a-home-page-in-caribou/
http://spectacu.la/screencast-creating-sections-in-caribou/
gaveguido
Member
The highlights on the site works perfectly, but I do have an additional question. How can I get an image in the Highlights-slider? I've tried a custom field named spectaculahighlight-image-url with the image URL as the value, but that doesn't seem to work. Are there any restrictions to the size of the image?
Hi - it should work fine. If you're not getting the first image selected automatically, you may need to find the Preview Image Picker Plugin drop-down and select your image there. This plugin is a part of the newer versions of Caribou.
You also need to make sure you're running WP 2.7 or above.
If you post a URL we might be able to help a little more.
gaveguido
Member
I work with both WP 2.8.2 and the latest theme-version, so that couldn't be the cause. My host uses PHP4 for .php-files and PHP5 for .php5-files. I forgot to set up the default handler for .php-files to PHP5, but now it works fine. So PHP5 is required (and needs to be active). Thanks for your help anyway!
Ah - that's interesting... I didn't realise there was anything PHP5 specific in that code.
It's a little tricky - most servers these days run PHP5 (and so they should - PHP4 is ancient and no longer supported) and that's what we build and test with. We try not to use any PHP5 features, but it's often hard to cover all bases when you're a small team.
Glad you sorted it out anyway :-)
gaveguido
Member
Is there a way to remove the date from the slider-links? I've been searching through sectiontemplate.php, but I couldn't find the thing to remove in /* Scroller section */
Untested, but stripping out
<div><?php echo $highlightTitle[3]." ".$highlightTitle[2]?></div>
from line 65 should do the trick.
Incidentally - it can help if you start a new thread when you have a new question, even if it's a related topic, as it makes it easier for others to find the post.
Dave.
gaveguido
Member
That did the trick. Thanks again! I'll start a new topic next time.
Guido
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