Help Me Do What Brain Clark Does at Further.net

I am creating a site where I send out weekly newsletters. Previously I did this with Rainmaker using one of the Studio Press themes. Essentially, I am trying to do what Brian Clark has done at http://further.net. He has a category called Current and a category called Archives. He puts both of these categories in his menu. When he releases a new “newsletter” he puts it in the Current category and all other issues are put in the Archives category.

When you click on Current you see the most recent issue in its entirety (not as an excerpt). When you click on the Archives link, you see a list of previous issues/posts as excerpts (like a typical blog feed).

Assuming this makes sense to someone, is this possible with BB? Is there a better way?

  1. I can’t get my Current post to show the whole thing, while keeping my Archives as only excerpts. Ideas?

  2. http://d.pr/i/xBko/1pVQ8vet How do I get this Category heading/breadcrumb off the screen?

  3. How do I change the Read More link to a button?

That’s enough for now. :slight_smile: Again, please see http://futher.net to see a great example of what I am trying to do. If there is a better way to do it, please let me know that, too!

I really want to be able to do this with BB, but I’m having a tough time figuring it out so far.

Thanks!

Dan

Hey Dan,

I think this can be done with BB. You can start with 2 pages and categories. I wouldn’t really recommend using the same name since WP uses the category name as a permalink as well. Perhaps Current and Archives for the pages and Current Cat and Archives Cat for the categories. On the Current page, lay out a Posts module Feed layout and set it to show posts under the Current Cat category and make sure to set Content Type to Full Text. On the Archives page, a Posts module Feed layout set to show posts under the Archives Cat category.

All existing posts that you have, place them under the Archives Cat category except your newest post, that goes to the Current Cat category. Every time you make a new post, place it under the Current Cat category and transfer the previous one to the Archives Cat category. That’s what he’s doing I would assume except his site is custom coded.

There is a better way to do this, without Categories. Starting with 2 pages, Current and Archives. On the Current page, place a Posts module Feed layout with Content Type set to Full Text. Set the Posts per page to 1 and make sure to order it by Date - Descending. On the Archives page, same thing as above except the Content Type is set to Excerpt and offset to 1. That should be it! Every time you add a new post it will automatically be placed on the Current page and the old one will automatically be placed on the Archives page.

Regarding changing the read more link to a button, you’ll have to add custom CSS. :slight_smile:

Ben

First, THANK YOU! I have not been able to try it yet, but I can’t wait to dig in later.

Second, of course, his name is Brian, not Brain. LOL! Just had to acknowledge that one. My excuse is that I wrote that post long before I submitted it. When I came back to check on it later last night, I discovered I forgot to put in a Post Title and so it didn’t submit. :slight_smile: I quickly pecked out that one and obviously got it wrong.

Thanks again!

Hey Dan,

No worries! Let us know if you need anything further! :slight_smile:

Ben