Creating a page
Learn how to begin the process of creating a page using the University of Rochester Core WordPress theme.
Getting started
To create a page, click on the “Pages” tab from the menu on the left. This shows a list of published and unpublished pages on the current site. Under “Pages” click “Add New.”
Page title
Enter the title of the new page where it says, “Add title”. This title will display at the top of the page.
Permalink
Once the title is entered, WordPress will generate a permalink. This is the URL which will be used to reach the page. The permalink can be edited by clicking “Edit” to the right of the current permalink.
General area
The next area is the general text area. This can be utilized to create simple web pages. If a page is going to be simply text, the text can be placed directly into this area. If additional functionality is required, the page content should be added in the component area later down the page.
Page attributes
On the right side of the page is a box called “Page Attributes.” Here, there are a few important options for the page.
Parent page
On the right side of the page, in a box called “Page Attributes,” is the option to choose a parent page. Parent pages are pages that are more important or above the current page in hierarchy. If the page is a top-level page and has no parent, you may leave it set to “(no parent.)”
Page template
Under “page attributes” in the top right side of the page is the option to choose a “template” for the page. The two options are “Full Width” or “Sidebar.” Here is some more information between the two.
Full width
The Full Width template, as the name implies, will allow the content on the page to take up the full width of the page. This option is what pages will default to and is generally considered the standard.
Sidebar
If a page requires additional navigation for organizational purposes the sidebar is a great option. The sidebar template is useful for a page which is nested deeply in a site due to the expanded navigation capabilities. Displaying a sidebar menu will allow us to display a navigation menu on the left side of the page.
The “Narrow Width Content” is the content that shows up next to the side bar. If you decide to display a sidebar menu, there a several ways you can choose what links show up on that menu.
Setting up a Sidebar Template
To start setting up a page with the sidebar template, select “sidebar” and then scroll down to the sidebar settings area. Like mentioned before, the “Narrow Width Content” is the content that shows up next to the side bar. Content can added to this area using components.
Click the “sidebar menu” dropdown under “sidebar navigation” the receive the option to display a sidebar or not. For the sidebar to be visible, choose “yes, display a sidebar.”
“Sidebar feed” is how to determine what items will go into the sidebar field. The site can automatically create the menu based off the parent page by choosing “automated based on parent.” The other option is to manually create the menu yourself by choosing “select menu.”
From there, “menu select” will give the option to choose a menu that’s already been created. An alternative option is adding items right there under “page links.” To add items, simply choose “add Row” for as many menu as desired.
Header
The “header” section is where you craft what the header of the site will look like. Click the expand button to show all the settings for the header.
Lead in
The lead in is an optional display area where we can add text that will display above the title on a single page. This is used to “lead into” the site title to create more flow with the text.
Display Title
The display title is where to add the main title of the page.
Subtitle
Underneath the main display title, is the option to add a subtitle. Text can be added in here, but make sure to keep this brief as most of the content of the page should be displayed later in the body of the page.
Call to action
Call to action creates a button to point users to additional resources or another page of. An example use case is a fund-raising page, where the call to action button would direct people to a donation page. To add a call to action, choose “select link” and the link pop up box will appear. Add any URL and add the text to be displayed in the button under “link text.”
The link pop up box also gives the option to search and select a page from the website site using the search field. This is simply an easy way to link to pages within the site. When everything is all set, click “add link” to add it.
Hero Images
The next part of header is the Hero Image. The hero area can display anywhere from one to three images at the top of the page. The images will shuffle at random order when the page loads. The recommended dimensions of the photos are 1680px with a 3:2 aspect ratio. Click “Add image” and the media library will open up with the option to choose or upload a photo.
“Hero Image placement” determines how the hero images displayed. The option is better having the text on the left with the image on the right or having the hero image be the full width of the hero area.
Background color
Last, choose what color the background will be. The options are gray or white.