Creating a Blog Page / Listing Page

In order to make a Blog style page or a listing page, you must first make a Section and Category in which to place the articles you would like grouped together.

Create a Section

1. Go to “Content” > “Section Manager”
2. In the upper right hand corner, click the green plus labeled “New”
3. Enter Title and Title Alias (Title Alias is only seen by you on the back end)
4. Look at field titled “Published” > Click “Yes”
5. If you wish to enter a description of your section for your users to read, enter  text into the field labeled “Description”
6. In right hand corner, click the floppy disc icon to “Save”

Create a Category

1. Go to “Content”> “Category Manager”
2. In the upper right hand corner, click “New”
3. Enter Title and Title Alias
4. Next to field labeled “Section”, Click box and Click on the title of the section you just created
5. Add a description of your category in the Description field if you wish
6. In right hand corner, click “Save”

Create a Category Blog Layout Menu Item

1. Decide on which menu you’d like the new content to appear. For example: topmenu; usermenu; mainmenu
2. Go to “Menus” > “Main Menu” (or whichever other menu)
3. In the upper right hand corner, click “New”
4. Click “Articles”
5. Under Category, Click “Category Blog Layout”
6. Enter Title (this is what will show up on the navigation on the front end)
7. Assign the Parent Item. Do you want it to fall under one of the other menu  items or do you want it to be a ‘Top’ level or primary navigation item?
8. Look at field titled “Published” > Click “Yes”
9. In the box to the right labeled “Parameters (Basic)”, select the category you  just created
10. Decide how many Leading Items, Intro Paragraphs, Columns, and Links you  would like to show
11. Click the green check above to “Apply”
12. To preview the page, copy the URL in the box labeled “Link”. It will start  with “index.php”. Open a new browser window with your homepage  (http://www.yourdomain.org/) and paste this URL string after the last ‘/’ to  preview the page. It will look something like  this: http://www.yourdomain.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id =32&Itemid=61
13. If everything looks correct, click “Save”

(For more information about customizing these pages via the menu settings check out: http://support.picnet.net/entries/339924-Add-a-Link-to-a-Category-Blog-Layout)

Add Articles to your Category

1. Go to “Content” > “Article Manager”
2. Click on the article you would like to add to the blog
3. Below the title, there is a box titled “Section”
4. Select the section you created earlier
5. To the right, select the category you created earlier
6. Add desired content to the article
7. Add a read more below the text you would like to be used on the listing page as the intro-text
8. Click “Save”