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1. foreverpeople
   Member
   Jun 4, 2012, 8:39 PM

   Hi,
   I feel I am just missing something here???

   I just read this part that is a feature in oxygen because I want the awesome photo slider, but I cannot seem to figure out how to make my already locked in home page into a showcase page??

   Can someone please help me?

   Here are the instructions on the Oxygen page for how they say to do it:

   "Showcase page template
   When you first activate Oxygen, you’ll see your posts in a traditional blog format but if you’d like to showcase your content in an online magazine-like fashion, then you can use the Showcase Page template.

   The Showcase Page template offers a featured slider for Sticky Posts. To use the template, create or edit a page, and assign it to the Showcase Page template from the Page Attributes module. If you’d like use the Showcase Page template on your front page, go to Settings → Reading and set the Front page option to Static Page. Select the page you just assigned the Showcase Page template to as your front page and then choose another page to serve as your blog page."

   My question is, I do not want to create another home page. I cannot. And I cannot edit my home page. So how do I do this?

   Thanks!

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

2. timethief
   Member
   Jun 4, 2012, 8:43 PM

   If you do not wish to create a static front page and another one for your posts then you have to (1) use the theme as is or (2) switch to using another theme. We cannot edit templates or themes on free hosted wordpress.com blogs.

   If you do decide to keep the Oxugen theme then see here > http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-do-i-activate-the-slider-in-the-oxygen-theme?replies=5

3. foreverpeople
   Member
   Jun 4, 2012, 8:47 PM

   Thank you, I had just read that thread. My thing is though, do I have to make another "home page? and set it to static? Because I went to set the page to static, but home page isn't an option...

   I want my main page with all my menus and featured content just to be static like my home page is now, just with the slider.

   Thanks for your patience, I clearly am missing something simple here.

4. timethief
   Member
   Jun 4, 2012, 8:52 PM

   The slider will only appear on the front page of the blog if and only if you do as instructed and create a static front page. It will not appear unless you do that. There are no other options.

   My thing is though, do I have to make another "home page? and set it to static?

   Pages are static and are for content that rarely changes. They sit outside of the blog structure and you cannot post to multiple pages in any blog. There is only one main page for posts in a blog and all posts will display on the main blog page. There is no way to exclude posts from the main posts (blog) page.
   http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/
   http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/
   http://en.support.wordpress.com/post-vs-page/

   The front page of the blog by default will display your posts (not pages) in reverse chronological order, with the most recently published post on top. If you do not want all the posts to show on the front page, then you can create a static front page “Welcome” for your site and a “Blog” page for posts.
   Choice 1 static front page
   Choice 2 running page for all posts on front page
   Which do you choose? It’s one or the other.
   If you choose a static front page then you have to create two pages as I said above. After you do that you go to > Settings > Reading and make the designation change and click “save changes”.
   http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/front-page/

   Though there is only one dynamic page in a blog for posts and we cannot post to more than that one page, we can create the appearance that we have posted to more than one page. We organize posts by assigning categories to them. You can either put the categories widget into the sidebar, or you can create a custom menu and add the categories pages that are autmatically generated by the software into the custom menu.

   http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/categories/
   http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/categories-widget/

   http://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/
   http://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/#adding-category-pages-to-your-menu

   A custom menu allows you to display Categories with drop-downs to sub-categories in tabs along the horizontal navigation where normally only Pages tabs are displayed. If you wish you can also include Pages with drop-downs to sub-pages and/or Tags pages and/or Custom Links in your custom menu as well. You are in charge of what appears in a custom menu. You choose the order in which to display any and/or all the foregoing in your custom menu. You choose which to display and which to hide.

   Here’s a link to a custom menu walkthrough > http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2011/08/11/wordpress-com-custom-menu-walk-through/

   There are many common errors, misunderstanding and misconceptions when creating custom menus and you can read about them here > http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/custom-menus/

5. foreverpeople
   Member
   Jun 4, 2012, 8:57 PM

   ok, got it. thank you. This is my first time to wordpress and their format. I didn't assume that the first thing you start with is considered a blog and not a "page."

   Do you know how to get the cloud tags to make some of them larger font than others?

6. timethief
   Member
   Jun 4, 2012, 9:56 PM

   Hi again,
   Many bloggers need to learn the differences between Pages and Posts not only from the technical point of view but also from the SEO point of view too. If you are up for it you can read more here to develop a deeper insight by reading this > http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2010/05/12/better-blogging-at-wordpress-com-pages-and-posts/

   The Cloud Tag widget is not customizable. It will display the most used 45 (maximum) Tags that you assign to posts automatically if you install it. The Categories Cloud widget font sizes are customizable (no maximum).

   There's a tutorial prepared by Staff linked to on the bottom of you Admin page http://learn.wordpress.com. Happy blogging!

7. rokeby
   Member
   Jun 5, 2012, 9:08 AM

   I wanted to use this theme for my photo album but chose "Ideation and Intent". I posted a problem with that theme several days ago and got no response. Should I abandon the theme and move over to "Oxygen" which appears to be more popular and gets a quicker response to posted problems?

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