Next we’ll customize your blog and recipe sections of the site. This includes styling the archive page (the “home page” for your blog or recipes”) and the single post template (how each individual blog/recipe appears).

Style The Blog Archive

You can rearrange how your blog archive page appears. Go to your blog page, then click Customize at the top of the page. Then navigate to Posts/Pages Layout → Archive Layout.

Under the General tab, you will see options to rerrange the layout, change the content style (boxed or unboxed), number of columns, and more. Under the Design tab you can style the visual elements of this page including background colors, link colors, title fonts, and more.

To modify the layout of an individual blog post, navigate through the Customizer to Posts/Pages Layout → Single Post Layout. Similarly, you’ll see General and Design tabs at the top to make adjustments as desired.

Sidebar Styling

The sidebar is the section on the right side of your blog with an image, bio, social links, and lead magnet. You can put whatever you want in the sidebar!

It is also an option to remove the sidebar entirely (you would do this by adjusting the Archive Layout and the Single Post Layout), but I highly recommend that you keep it. If someone randomly happens upon one of your posts via Google or elsewhere, the sidebar will immediately inform them who you are, what you do, and how to keep in touch.

Creating Blog Posts

To add a new post navigate to Posts → Add New Post. While your posts will mostly be text-based, you can also add images, videos, or any other element you desire.

Please review Create a post via WordPress.org for in-depth documentation.

Recipe Archive Setup

You might have noticed that the Recipe archive from the demo site isn’t included on your site. Recipes are a “Custom Post Type” and they do not import with the theme. Instead, you will need to add it in manually – but it’s just a few simple steps.

Create Custom Post Type – “Recipes”

From the Dashboard, navigate to CPT IU → Tools. Under Import Post Types, copy & paste in the following code. Hit Import.

{"recipes":{"name":"recipes","label":"Recipes","singular_label":"Recipe","description":"Explore the latest recipes in our collection!","public":"true","publicly_queryable":"true","show_ui":"true","show_in_nav_menus":"true","delete_with_user":"false","show_in_rest":"true","rest_base":"","rest_controller_class":"","rest_namespace":"","has_archive":"true","has_archive_string":"recipes","exclude_from_search":"false","capability_type":"post","hierarchical":"true","can_export":"true","rewrite":"true","rewrite_slug":"","rewrite_withfront":"true","query_var":"true","query_var_slug":"","menu_position":"","show_in_menu":"true","show_in_menu_string":"","menu_icon":null,"register_meta_box_cb":null,"supports":["title","editor","thumbnail","excerpt","author","page-attributes"],"taxonomies":["recipe_categories"],"labels":{"menu_name":"My Recipes","all_items":"All Recipes","add_new":"Add new","add_new_item":"Add new Recipe","edit_item":"Edit Recipe","new_item":"New Recipe","view_item":"View Recipe","view_items":"View Recipes","search_items":"Search Recipes","not_found":"No Recipes found","not_found_in_trash":"No Recipes found in trash","parent":"Parent Recipe:","featured_image":"Featured image for this Recipe","set_featured_image":"Set featured image for this Recipe","remove_featured_image":"Remove featured image for this Recipe","use_featured_image":"Use as featured image for this Recipe","archives":"Recipe archives","insert_into_item":"Insert into Recipe","uploaded_to_this_item":"Upload to this Recipe","filter_items_list":"Filter Recipes list","items_list_navigation":"Recipes list navigation","items_list":"Recipes list","attributes":"Recipes attributes","name_admin_bar":"Recipe","item_published":"Recipe published","item_published_privately":"Recipe published privately.","item_reverted_to_draft":"Recipe reverted to draft.","item_trashed":"Recipe trashed.","item_scheduled":"Recipe scheduled","item_updated":"Recipe updated.","parent_item_colon":"Parent Recipe:"},"custom_supports":"","enter_title_here":"Add Recipe"}}

Then click the tab that says Taxonomies. Under Import Taxonomies, copy & paste the following code, then hit Import.

{"recipe_categories":{"name":"recipe_categories","label":"Recipe Categories","singular_label":"Recipe Category","description":"","public":"true","publicly_queryable":"true","hierarchical":"true","show_ui":"true","show_in_menu":"true","show_in_nav_menus":"true","query_var":"true","query_var_slug":"","rewrite":"true","rewrite_slug":"","rewrite_withfront":"1","rewrite_hierarchical":"0","show_admin_column":"true","show_in_rest":"true","show_tagcloud":"false","sort":"false","show_in_quick_edit":"true","rest_base":"","rest_controller_class":"","rest_namespace":"","labels":{"menu_name":"Recipe Categories","all_items":"All Recipe Categories","edit_item":"Edit Recipe Category","view_item":"View Recipe Category","update_item":"Update Recipe Category name","add_new_item":"Add new Recipe Category","new_item_name":"New Recipe Category name","parent_item":"Parent Recipe Category","parent_item_colon":"Parent Recipe Category:","search_items":"Search Recipe Categories","popular_items":"Popular Recipe Categories","separate_items_with_commas":"Separate Recipe Categories with commas","add_or_remove_items":"Add or remove Recipe Categories","choose_from_most_used":"Choose from the most used Recipe Categories","not_found":"No Recipe Categories found","no_terms":"No Recipe Categories","items_list_navigation":"Recipe Categories list navigation","items_list":"Recipe Categories list","back_to_items":"Back to Recipe Categories","name_field_description":"The name is how it appears on your site.","parent_field_description":"Assign a parent term to create a hierarchy. The term Jazz, for example, would be the parent of Bebop and Big Band.","slug_field_description":"The slug is the URL-friendly version of the name. It is usually all lowercase and contains only letters, numbers, and hyphens.","desc_field_description":"The description is not prominent by default; however, some themes may show it."},"meta_box_cb":"","default_term":"Uncategorized","object_types":["recipes"]}}

You should now see an item that says My Recipes on your WordPress Dashboard.

Add a “Recipes” tab to the header navigation menu

You can also add a Recipes tab to your main navigation menu by going to Appearance → Menus → Add menu items. Under the tab that says Recipes, click View all, then add Recipe archives to your menu. Feel free to modify the name to simply read “Recipes” instead.

Import demo recipes

If you want to import my demo recipes to start, you can. Just download the file below (demo-recipes.xml). Then go to Tools → Import, then under WordPress, click Install Now. Then click Run Importer. On the page that appears click Choose File and upload demo-decipes.xml. Where it asks you to select the Import author, you can “assign posts to an existing user” and select yourself in the dropdown. Then Submit. Now if you navigate to My Recipes from the WordPress Dashboard you’ll see the 3 demo posts are now there.

Add your own recipes

To add your first recipe click My Recipes, then Add New Recipe, just like you would do for a new blog post.

Add Recipe Cards Into Posts

I recommend adding recipe cards in your to recipe posts, rather than just typing your recipes directly into the page. This is the format in which people are used to seeing recipes online.

The WP Recipe Maker plugin is the best way to make recipe cards! Download it from the WordPress plugin repository, then review their extensive documentation here. Below is short video overview of the process.

In the next section, we’ll look at how to style and customize features unique to the Honeycrisp child theme.