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1. montrealpalimpsest
   Member
   Nov 29, 2012, 1:06 AM

   Hello, I am relatively new to wordpress.com - apologies if the following is a stupid question. I selected Columnist as my theme, because it allows a front page that links to a number of different pages within the blog, presented as a grib of thumbnail images with snippet text. Here's a Columnist blog that's working:

   Mine looks quite different. I have posted two pages, but only one shows on the front page:

   Again, I am sorry if the answer is obvious, but I can't find it. I've been all over the dashboard, appearance, settings, and now this forum ... I see no way to make the pages I'm creating show up as they are supposed to on the front page of the blog. I am on a Macbook Pro, 10.6.8, using the newest version of Firefox.

   Thanks in advance for any advice!

   The blog I need help with is readingbanisterfletcher.wordpress.com.

2. montrealpalimpsest
   Member
   Nov 29, 2012, 1:09 AM

   Hi, me again, somehow the links I emplaced via the "link" button did not work in my last request for help. The blog that is working is at

   http://mjgette.com/

   And my home page - or what I hope will be my home page - for my blog is:

   http://readingbanisterfletcher.wordpress.com/

3. timethief
   Member
   Nov 29, 2012, 1:11 AM

   Here's the theme description link http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/the-columnist/

   Featured Images
   If you assign a feature image to one of your posts it will display differently depending on which template you are viewing. For instance: on the home page as well as all other pages that display multiple posts, your featured image will appear cropped at 180 pixels wide by 180 pixels tall. In cases where your original uploaded featured image is 610 pixles wide or wider, it will also appear at the very top of single posts and pages.

   Setting a featured image > http://en.support.wordpress.com/featured-images/#setting-a-featured-image

4. montrealpalimpsest
   Member
   Dec 2, 2012, 8:29 PM

   Thanks for your time, timethief! Ok, I didn't realize that larger-sized images could potentially screw up the format of this theme - which is how I'm understanding the information you've linked to your reply - so thanks for that pointer. However, when I removed all images from my blog's pages, the problem I'm concerned about did not go away.

   I am now wondering if the problem has to do with me not fully understanding how to work the Menus option within this theme. When I go to Menus, I see that my theme supports "one menu". I've created a "Home" menu and added my blog's three pages to that menu - but still, the way the Columnist is supposed to look - a grid of selectable items - is not happening. Perhaps changing the "template" would help but I don't see where to do this.

   Thanks again!

5. montrealpalimpsest
   Member
   Dec 2, 2012, 9:44 PM

   Followup:

   The answer to my question had nothing to do with images, or custom menus. According to WP support docs I had read, one of the first things you need to decide, when making a new blog, is whether you want a static front page, or an interface that shows your most recent posts. I chose Columnist because I wanted the former - fixed categories/selectable options on the front page of the blog. However, if you choose this option (found under "Settings - Reading" - "Front page displays") you disable this theme's key visual and functional trait: you will only see one page that you've created, not a screen/grid with all the categories/links to the pages you want visible.

   Sorry to taken up time on a busy forum, but as a new blogger this aspect of how to properly set up Columnist was COMPLETELY absent from the theme's demo, and from its "how-to" support version (neither of which I found super helpful, btw). General support documents are a bit misleading, on this point, for a newbie.

   In another thread to which Timethief also helpfully responded, s/he linked to a great support article about Custom Menus, which I agree is essential reading for new bloggers but also anyone struggling with the Columnist theme:

   http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/custom-menus/

   Good luck fellow Columnists! It's a beautiful format and hopefully more demos specifically geared to its structure and setup will become available. I'm sure I'll have more questions...

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