Blogging Questions

[mjcace]

Hi! Thank you so much for providing this forum, especially for people like me who think they understand all of this until they have one of their own.

 

I have some questions I was hoping someone could answer. I have searched tutorials and did each thing they stated, but I'm still not having luck.

 

1. I recently switched from Blogger to WP/my own domain. I have never been able to import my Blogger posts to WP - it would get so far and I would get an error message. In the process, it wiped out my old Blogger URL, even though they were still in the Dashboard. I changed the Blogger URL, and I see the import messed up the posts (i.e. there are no longer any paragraphs in them).

 

However, I noticed in my site stats today that someone (no idea who, either!) is going through a ton of my Blogger posts today (even as we speak) - but they are actually on my domain. I hope I am making sense. Instead of being on theshizzlelife.blogspot.com, they are actually on http://theshizzlelife.com/2006/05/tt-22.html (example). These posts are on my domain, yet I can't get them onto my actual WP blog nor can anyone see them - is there a solution for that?

 

2. I would like to set up a recipe blog/site, and eventually a genealogy one as well, off of my main blog. These are subdomains, correct? I would have to install WP on each one?

 

3. I also wanted to put things like my blogroll, buttons (for webrings), etc...on a different page so that it didn't clutter up my site, and then put a link in my sidebar for someone to access it. Would this also be a subdomain?

 

4. I cannot edit themes in WP, except for the current one I have that someone made for me. It says, "If this file was writable you could edit it." When I tried to follow the directions on WP to allow me to change it, I am only able to change the file permission to 666 - I can't even change a file through the WP admin panel. Would anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

I am so sorry if these have been asked (I did search the forums for answers). We were out of power for 5 days due to a freak snowstorm last week, so I am behind and the one person I could ask for help is out of town now.

 

Thank you so much for any advice.

Edited October 20, 2006 by mjcace

[TCH-Thomas]

Welcome to the forum, mjcace.

 

While I can´t answer #1, here is the rest of them...

 

2. I would like to set up a recipe blog/site, and eventually a genealogy one as well, off of my main blog. These are subdomains, correct? I would have to install WP on each one?

If you want several blogs within one account, each separate blog must be in its own subfolder to begin with. If you want to make this subfolder a subdomain is your choice. subdomain.your-tch-domain.ext and your-tch-domain.ext/subfolder are basically the same thing. One thing to keep in mind when setting up a subdomain is to create the subdomain first, since it will automatically create the folder.

 

3. I also wanted to put things like my blogroll, buttons (for webrings), etc...on a different page so that it didn't clutter up my site. Would this also be a subdomain?

The blogroll, buttons should be easily inserted in to each blogs own sidebar etc, so no need for a subdomain/folder for that.

 

4. I cannot edit themes in WP, except for the current one I have that someone made for me. It says, "If this file was writable you could edit it." When I tried to follow the directions on WP to allow me to change it, I am only able to change the file permission to 666 - I can't even change a file through the WP admin panel.

To edit the theme through WP´s admin interface you will need to change the permission on the file which is not recommended for saftey reasons. A better way is to download the file to your own computer, make the changes and the reupload it.

[TCH-Bruce]

Welcome to the forums mjcace

 

Maybe this tutorial will help you get your blog imported to WP.

 

Or you can check here for more information.

[TCH-Bruce]

If you are converting to Wordpress 2.x this tutorial should work for you.

[mjcace]

Thanks for your quick responses!

 

I did try both tutorials, and later on, somehow I gave Blogger the ok to switch to Beta version (which I didn't remember until now), so now it really won't import it. It's so strange that the posts are on my site (and I can see them on there via Filezilla) but I can't see them in WP. I will just continue to leave the old blog where it was - seeing someone on my domain with an old post just made me rehash it all again.

 

4. I cannot edit themes in WP, except for the current one I have that someone made for me. It says, "If this file was writable you could edit it." When I tried to follow the directions on WP to allow me to change it, I am only able to change the file permission to 666 - I can't even change a file through the WP admin panel.

To edit the theme through WP´s admin interface you will need to change the permission on the file which is not recommended for saftey reasons. A better way is to download the file to your own computer, make the changes and the reuploa

 

That's exactly what I thinking I would have to do! I just wanted to be sure though.

[owatagal]

You can put blogrolls, rings, etc on their own page without going to a subdomain--I've done it, because I hate links in the sidebar (too cluttered for my taste).

 

Log in to WP's admin panel and click on "Write." Instead of writing a post, click on the new "Write Page" link. I think I called my links page "Interesting Links" (so original, I know). I put all the links in by hand--NOT using WP's blogroll feature. You would need to edit the template files a little bit to use the blogroll feature on a links page, but it should be easy enough (if you're comfortable editing template files, anyway). I just haven't had time yet.

 

To edit your links page, click on the "Manage" link and then the "Pages" link in the subnav. Update the info, and save the page.

 

My links page shows up in the same navigation group as my "About" and "Contact" page. No need for an extra subdomain or even for a separate file--you can edit it within WP just like any of your posts.