Advanced project subsite
Advanced project subsites (see example here) allow you to create a custom menu that links to multiple project pages (which—in addition to your landing page—display fixed content, e.g., a map or annotated bibliography) and related posts (which represent time-based content, i.e., the process of doing your project). You’ll do the four steps from the basic project page, but since you’ll have a custom menu to assist navigation, your landing page can be simpler. Here are the additional steps:
- Start a new custom menu for your project. To do this, navigate to Appearance > Menus and create a new menu. Here are the items to add to this menu:
- Your project landing page defined above. (Look under Pages to the left of the menus setup window and click to add it.)
- A link to all project-related posts. (Look under Categories to the left of the menus setup window and click to add it.)
- Links to all additional project-related pages you create. You’ll need to come back to this menu and add these links when you’ve added new project-related pages.
- There are two options for where you’ll place this menu: a sidebar widget (e.g., on the right side of your pages), or a secondary menu (which some but not all themes support). The latter option is easy: simply (a) activate Genesis Simple Menus plugin on your site, then (b) on each related page, enable this secondary menu on the edit page metabox at right.
- If you are doing the sidebar widget option, there are a few more steps. First, (a) activate Genesis Simple Sidebars plugin, then (b) create a special project sidebar that you’ll attach to your additional project pages and your project posts. To do this, navigate to Genesis > Simple Sidebars. Make a new project sidebar; in the ID field, type a simple and unique identifier. Then, add a short description and click Add New Sidebar.
- Once you have a special project sidebar, go to Posts > Categories and click to edit your category. Go down to Sidebar Options, and select your project sidebar. This way, when viewers look at your project-related post category archive (the summary of all project posts), the sidebar will show up on this page.
- Note: this special sidebar will need to be manually applied to each project-related page and post, as you’ll see below. There are automatic options you could consider using either the Widget Ninja plugin or the Jetpack Widget Visibility module; contact us for assistance.
- Now, you’ll add your custom menu, and other desired widgets, to your project sidebar. Navigate to Appearances > Widgets. Add the Custom Menu widget to your newly defined sidebar region, then title the widget area and select the menu you just created.
- Feel free to add other widgets that may be pertinent to your project (e.g., RSS feeds or a map of geotagged posts). Remember, these widgets will show up with your custom menu alongside each and every project-related page or post.
- As you create project-related pages and posts, remember to do the following:
- When you are editing the page/post, go to the Sidebar Selection metabox toward the bottom right and select your special project sidebar.
- Add each new page to your custom menu.
- You may also edit your project post category and specify the sidebar you want to apply to all related posts.
For some examples of project subsites, see the Effective Subsites page.
Working with a group
- If you are working on a group project with other students who also have their own DS sites, you will first need to choose one of your sites to house the project and related posts. This site will follow the basic or advanced project option above.
- Each group member will then add a link menu item to the project landing page on their own site. This way, all group members can display the project from a link on their site. You can also add a link post to any post you do on the project site: just activate the Page Links To plugin and enter the URL of the post in the Page Links To metabox.
- If you all want to add text etc. to the project site, the owner of the site will need to add other group members as users. To do this go to Users > Add New, then Add Existing User and fill in their username, giving them Author role. Now everyone in the group will have access to the site and be able to add posts, but they will not have full administrative access to the site. (If you want your partners to add/edit pages as well, change their role to Editor.)
Course Subsites
When documenting a course you have taken you may want to create a subsite so as to divide the course into its essential elements and give specific attention to each part in the form of a page. For instance, a course subsite menu might include things like projects and papers, field trips, theories, literature, skills, etc, as well as a course post archive. To do this, you will follow the same steps as above.