A number of the Genesis child themes come with a built in Portfolio. Today, I’ll be showing you how to set up your portfolio. These instructions have been written with the Modern Blogger Pro and Jane Pretty Darn Cute Design themes in mind, but most portfolios are set up in the same manner.
The Portfolio is a “custom post type”, which means that it is neither a regular blog post, or a regular page.
To get started, the first thing you will need to do is to save your Permalinks. Go to Dashboard > Settings > Permalinks > Select the Permalink for “Post Name”. Save Changes. You don’t actually have to make any changes, just the task of saving the changes will provide the initial set-up needed for the portfolio, but I prefer to use the Post Name, so that the name looks right in my menu bar.
Once your permalinks have been saved, you will need to regenerate your thumbnails. If you don’t already have the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin installed, go ahead and install and activate that (Dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Regenerate Thumbnails > Install > Activate). Then, go to Dashboard > Tools > Regenerate Thumbnails.
Now you are ready to create your first Portfolio Post. In your Dashboard, go to Portfolio > Add New. Give your page a name. Write your content, add your media, and your featured image. Save. Note: Adding the Featured Image is important! This is what will show on your main Portfolio page!
When you have created enough portfolio posts, and are ready to add your Portfolio to your Menu, go to Appearance > Menus > Links > add your Portfolio’s URL (in format of http://www.yoururl.com/portfolio). Type in the name in the Link Text Box > Add to Menu > Save Menu.
Both Modern Blogger and Jane give you the opportunity to add a “portfolio blurb” above your portfolio. You don’t have to use this widget area. If you don’t use it, it will be as if there is no widget space there.
On my site, I announce that all the sites I build are on the Genesis framework, and I have a banner ad. for the StudioPress themes. You can add anything you like into this widget.
To add your own Portfolio “Blurb”, go to Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets > Portfolio Blurb. Drag a text widget to the Blurb widget, add your content and save.
If you’ve already installed the theme, and just want assistance with making tweaks? I’m available to do that, too!
Just ask here: (talk to Susan!)
I recently installed the Modern Blogger Pro theme for my new blog site. I am trying to set up a homepage with an image rotator that spans the width of the page and three square content areas underneath it that link to pages containing my blog posts separated by categories. I am having trouble figuring out how to set it up this way. Would the portfolio be a good way for me to set this up? Thanks!
Amy – I haven’t used the Portfolio Page as a static home page (still trying to figure out how to do that), but that might be a good idea, especially as the Portfolio Page has the “Portfolio blurb” widget area, which you could use for a slider.
Amy – I’m not sure if this is the ideal solution, but it works…
Create a page called “Portfolio”. Edit the page, and set the “Custom Redirect URL” to be your site’s Portfolio URL (for example, this site’s Portfolio page is reached by typing in graphicallydesigning.com/portfolio