Make a "Home Page" for your blog
When you post a new message to your blog, it usually displays at the top, pushing previous postings down. However, it is possible to set your blog to always display one post like a "Home Page" that appears every time the blog is visited. For example, you might like your blog to always have a welcome message or picture displayed as the opening screen. Or, for a course blog, you may wish to have the opening screen always display your name, office number or other frequently needed information.
Here's how to do it:
You will need to do 3 things:
- create a category that will only have one item: the home page posting
- create the posting, including any pictures, that you would like to be the home page that "sticks" on your opening page
- edit your index.html template file to tell your blog that that posting, and only that posting, is the one to be used as the home page
1) Create the Category:
- login to your blog admin area (http://your-UVM-netid.blog.uvm.edu/mt/mt.cgi)
- click on the name of the blog or sub-blog for which you wish to create the home page
- in the menu at the left, choose "Categories"
- in the next window, find and click on "Create New Top Level Category"
- type in a category name (ex: Home, or Welcome). Remember if you typed it with upper or lower case letters--you will need to replicate that name exactly in a few moments
- click "Create Category"
2) Create the post (the "Home Page":
- in the menu at left, click on "New Entry" which opens your blog edit posting window
- before typing in your post, make sure you have a drop-down box named "Category"
If not, scroll down to the bottom of that window and look for a link named "Customize the display of this page." In the pop-up window, click "Custom" and choose the items you would like to have as part of your editing window. If you are not sure which ones you want, just click "All"
- you will be returned to your editing window and will now see many more options, including a "Category" drop-down box.
- in the Category box, choose the category you just made in Step 1 (ex: Home, or Welcome)
- In the Title box, ype in a Title
- in the Entry Body box, type in your home page text
- choose "Published" from the drop down box
- click Save
3) Tell the blog that your new home page posting is the only posting you want to appear each and every time someone visits your blog
- while still in your blog admin page, choose "Templates" from the menu at left
- in the list of files that appears, double click on "index.html"
- scroll through that window of code until you find this line:
<MTEntries>
- edit that line to include the category name. For example, if you had named your category "Home" the line should be edited to look like this:
<MTEntries category="Home">
If you had named your category "Welcome" it would look like this:
<MTEntries category="Welcome">
Make sure you put in the quote marks and use the exact case you used when you created the category (i.e. home is not the same as Home--make it exact!)
- click Save
4) Now, rebuild your blog
- click "Rebuild" on the menu at left. in the pop-up window, click "Rebuild the Site"
When it's done, View the Site. (You may have to hit your browsers Refresh button once you get to the site to see your new version.)
You should now have a posting that always appears as the opening post or "Home Page" on your blog.