A long, long time ago, Apple discontinued iWeb. I kept using it for many years, even though it was no longer supported. The blog function was just so easy: duplicate a post, change the text and image, and you’re done. The blog homepage would automatically display the picture and the first lines of text at the top of the list, with the date — a bit like the Notes app.
Is there a way to get this kind of functionality in a Sitely site? Plug-in? I think Sitely is the best app for webdesign, but the current blog solution feels way too involved for me.
Yes, this is absolutely doable with Sitely, and it’s actually very simple.
– To display only part of the text on the blog index page, click the button (visible at the top of the editor when working on blog pages), then select “Customize Index/RSS Summary.” This lets you write a custom summary that will appear in the article list, along with the image, date, and first few lines of text. You can switch back and forth between the full article and the summary view anytime by clicking that button again.
– Once your first post is laid out (including its summary), you can easily duplicate it by clicking the button at the bottom left, under the list of pages. This will create a copy of the page — then you just need to change the text, images, and title.
Thanks Allan. I tried it before - a few years ago - and discovered it was a lot of work to set up and for some reason the result didn’t work consistently, so I’m skeptical. I hoped there was some sort of simple plug-in, but it seems I have to try again.
I am trying this now. What I really want is a glimpse of the blog-index on my home page: just the three most recent posts. Clicking on one should open the index or the post itself. Is that possible in Sitely itself? Or are there workarounds?
This is something that should be coming, but unfortunately that feature isn’t available yet. However, there are two possible solutions:
Turn your “blog index” into your “blog index AND homepage”: By doing this, the blog index becomes your site’s homepage, with the widget directly on it.
Use an external tool: Sitely creates an RSS feed that lists your blog posts. You can use services that fetch and display that feed on your site using code. For example: RSS.app. Just customize the feed display, copy the code, and paste it into your homepage.
To get the link to your RSS feed, go to the “Page” tab and click on the button — this will copy the feed link to your clipboard.
(visible at the top of the editor when working on blog pages), then select “Customize Index/RSS Summary.” This lets you write a custom summary that will appear in the article list, along with the image, date, and first few lines of text. You can switch back and forth between the full article and the summary view anytime by clicking that button again.
at the bottom left, under the list of pages. This will create a copy of the page — then you just need to change the text, images, and title.
— this will copy the feed link to your clipboard.