Adding 'Older posts' to Hybrid News

[Ipstenu]

FYI, I tried to send this as a comment but it hung. Dunno why.

I saw your twitter comments and, as a user of the same theme, I can tell you that it's not too hard to add in refs to older posts to your front-page. The trick is that you can only link to 'older posts by category' since, as Justin mentioned, the front-page doesn't paginate. At all.

To get an idea of the wacky I've done, go to http://jorjafox.net

Now on that page, yes, it's a splash with the 5 most recent posts in rotation, and a bit about the site with 'cool features'. (and needs a better 'More News' link below the slider, but I've been slacking). The front-page.php has had the bottom part stripped and replaced with 'What this site offers'. I don't believe in above/below the fold, but I do think that the first thing people should see needs to pull them in. In my case, information about my subject

I took the bottom half (excerpts etc) and moved it to a new template I called news.php to make the NEXT page: http://jorjafox.net/news

Now that has, below each section, a simple 'Older Posts' link.

Here's the basic code I tweaked on the News page:

For the excerpts section, find:

    <?php endwhile; wp_reset_query(); ?>

And replace with:

        <?php endwhile;
    $cat_excerpt = $news_settings['excerpt_category'];
    $category_link = get_category_link( $cat_excerpt );
    ?>
    <p><a href="<?php echo $category_link; ?>page/2/" title="<?php echo $cat_excerpt->name; ?>">&laquo; Older Posts</a></p>
    <?php wp_reset_query(); ?>

For the headlines section, find:

<ul>
    <?php foreach($headlines as $post) : $do_not_duplicate[] = $post->ID; ?>
    <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>

And replace with:

<ul>
    <?php foreach($headlines as $post) : $do_not_duplicate[] = $post->ID; ?>
    <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
    <li><br /><a href="<? echo get_category_link($category); ?>page/2" title="<?php echo $cat->name; ?>">&laquo; Older Posts</a></li>
</ul>

Now, all that said, you can see I'm pointing to the category's page 2. You could probably make a 'latest posts' template (rip the standard hybrid one, for example) and link to that to see older posts. In my case, I find people want to read more about the subject by category, but I've got a lot of years of metrics. It's an audience based tweak, that one.

Still, it's a starting point for you to kick around Hope it helps some! If you need a hand, I'm happy to help out.

The code's also up here: http://wordpress.pastebin.com/3pxvBHD1

[andrea_r]

Was this meant to be a PM? :)

[Jeffro]

Thanks for the tips but I've been keeping an eye out for other themes that provide a featured content box while having a blog layout. I can control excerpt presentation via a plugin so no worries about that. I wish PigNews would be released already but it's got a ways to go yet.

[Ipstenu]

Nah, I meant to post. Actually I tried the contact form but it ate and then I said, you know, I bet other people use this too!