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Misty Lake parent/child page display

  1. bethimpson
    Member

    My weblog is http://bethimpson.wordpress.com.

    I use Misty Look for this course website because when I create "child" pages the links to these appear on the "parent" page. This is vital for ease of navigation for my students.

    When I tried the preview for Misty Lake, this feature appears to be removed; and I understand that if I change from Misty Look I won't be able to return to it (it's being replaced by Misty Lake). The only other themes that support the parent/child page display that I want are not really professional looking enough for my needs.

    Will I be able to stay with Misty Look as long as I don't ever try out another theme? If not, can anyone suggest options for me? (I don't care for the drop-down menu only because it's much harder to navigate with multiple layers of pages.) Thanks.

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

  2. timethief
    Member

    Very few themes have that feature and as you have noted Misty Lake does not have it. See > Child pages: links displayed on parent or as dropdowns > http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/parent-page-links-to-child/

  3. timethief
    Member

    The only other themes that support the parent/child page display that I want are not really professional looking enough for my needs.

    This is my feedback [opinion] as a longtime blogger. Using colored fonts in your posts does not create a "professional appearance". That kind of appearance is normally only found on children's blogs, personal blogs and on blogs where the blogger is flogging merchandise or featuring advertising.

  4. justpi
    Member

    I understand that if I change from Misty Look I won't be able to return to it (it's being replaced by Misty Lake).

    That's not correct. When a theme becomes "retired" (that's what WP calls the themes that are replaced by newer ones), it will no longer be available in blogs created after this change but it remains available in older blogs. And Misty Look has always been one of the most popular wordpress.com themes, so it's highly unlikely that it will be completely removed in the near future.

  5. justpi
    Member

    And if you switch to a theme that doesn't automatically display links to child pages on the parent page, you can create such links yourself.

  6. bethimpson
    Member

    Thanks for your response.

    I just wanted to be sure that Misty Lake did not have the feature I need, and wondered if Misty Look is going to disappear entirely. Will those of us who use it have to give it up at some point?

    Also, I merely mean professional in the sense of the theme itself not being "cutesy," like the Brand New Day theme is. Only my students access this weblog, and I am aware the front page is personalized. The pages that hold the actual course guidelines only use color to flag vital information, such as due dates.

  7. timethief
    Member

    As justpi said above: " you can create such links yourself."
    This is guide for creating links in blog posts and pages and it does sound like you are following it.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/links/
    This is the general link model:
    <a href="URL HERE">Highlighted anchor text here</a>
    This is the visual result but as it's just an example it's not actually linked to a page:
    Highlighted anchor text here

    Enter the anchor text you want to link to first.
    Then use your mouse to highlight that anchor text.
    Next click the chain icon in the Visual editor and proceed to create the link.

  8. bethimpson
    Member

    Justpi -- thank you.

    Yes, I know I can manually put the links on the pages. This would be a very onerous job at this point with all the pages and layers of pages I've already created.

  9. bethimpson
    Member

    Timethief -- you are very helpful, thanks. Misty Look does this automatically; that's a main reason I chose it in the first place. I've been disappointed that almost no other themes do this, as at this point I've got so many pages it would take forever to add every individual link. However, apparently there isn't much demand for this feature; so I'm really glad to have this good-looking theme that does, because it makes it much easier for me to add pages for assignments at a moment's notice.

  10. timethief
    Member

    It's a workaround but you can copy and paste all the content on the pages you have now into new pages. Then when you can chnage themes and those "new" copy and paste content pages, which are not automatically generated by the software will still have the links to sub-pages on them.

  11. justpi
    Member

    @TT: The automatically generated links to the subpages are not part of the regular content of a parent page. You can only copy them from the sourcecode of the page. And again this wouldn't solve bethimpson's problem, since she'd like to be able to keep creating new pages and subpages.

  12. timethief
    Member

    @justpi
    Hi there,
    I do know that but I thought I'd share it anyway as I used Misty Look eons ago and did exactly what I described when I changed themes way back when.

  13. justpi
    Member

    If you know that, then you didn't describe it correctly: for the average user, "content" doesn't mean sourcecode.

  14. bethimpson
    Member

    Thanks again, timethief and justpi --if I did decide to change themes, at least that would give me a way to save what I have already.

  15. timethief
    Member

    Agreed. I'm imperfect and many of my comments reflect that. Thank goodness we have you to correct me.

  16. timethief
    Member

    @bethimpson
    Even after I changed to another theme early in the morning I would switch back to MistyLook when I created a new sub-page. Then The automatically generated links to the sub-pages that were not part of the regular content of a parent page on the themes I was using were available. I copied and pasted the source code generated as I explained very poorly above. It took only a few minutes to do that and then I switched back to the new theme I was using.
    ... rinky - dink, yeah, I know but it worked for me.

  17. bethimpson
    Member

    Thanks, timethief.

  18. timethief
    Member

    You're welcome Beth and happy holidays to you.

  19. bethimpson
    Member

    Merry Christmas!

  20. michiecat
    Staff

    Hi there. We've added the option to display a page's sub-pages in Misty Lake.

    You can enable this option under the "Theme Options" tab in the Customizer.

    If you have any questions, please let us know.

  21. bethimpson
    Member

    Thank you, thank you! I will check it out as soon as I can and see if I need any help with it.

  22. bethimpson
    Member

    I just tried this out at a different wordpress weblog I have: http://alaiyo52.wordpress.com. (I don't dare experiment with my course website right before classes start!)

    When I create a child page to go under the About page, it does show this child page on a drop-down menu from the list above the photo. However, it does not put the link automatically on the About page itself, so that when I suppress it from showing in the sidebar (I would have a sidebar over a hundred lines long in my course website if I didn't do this), there is no way to see it except from the drop-down menu. That would be fine for some purposes, but I find it hard to navigate a drop-down menu with a lengthy list of links and with second and sometimes even third layers, as I have at the course website.

    Not having to put the links manually on the parent pages is one of the strongest reasons I use Misty Look, and I certainly don't want to go back to do this with the well over 100 pages I already have.

    Thanks. As long as I can just keep Misty Look, I'll be fine.

  23. cainm
    Staff

    As Michelle noted, you'll need to enable the subpage listing feature under the "Theme Options" tab in the Customizer.

    Once you've checked the option and saved your changes, subpages will automatically begin to appear under the content area on a parent page.

  24. timethief
    Member

    @cainbm
    I don't find it here > Theme Options and I don't have nor do I want to purchase a custom design upgrade.

    Will you please clarify if this feature is available only to those who have purchase a custom design upgrade or not?

  25. bethimpson
    Member

    Cainm: Found it! Thank you so much for your patience!

    Timethief : When you hover over the name of your weblog at the top right, in the drop-down menu which has the link to the dashboard -- a little further down in that menu is the choice "customize".

  26. cainm
    Staff

    @bethimpson: glad you were able to find it. Let me know if you run into any issues.

    @timethief: let me know if you're still unable to access the "Theme Options" section within the customizer.

  27. bethimpson
    Member

    Cainm: It looks like it does exactly what I want.

    Timethief: I meant, of course, the name of your weblog in the upper left corner, not right. I need to get back to work so I am forced to actually think rationally again! (It's not under "custom design" farther down the page under "themes" -- which is where I first looked also.)

  28. timethief
    Member

    @cainm @bethimpson
    I found it. :) I'm a long timer here and I don't usually use the customizer when changing themes so that's why I missed it.

  29. cainm
    Staff

    @timethief: No worries. Very familiar with and thankful for your help on the forums.

    It should be noted that going forward, the theme team will be making an effort to transition away from traditional theme option pages, in favor of theme option sections within the customizer.

  30. timethief
    Member

    @cainm
    Okay, though I'm resistant to change - noted. ;)

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