How do I get blog posts to appear within CMS?

Question

I'm working with a WordPress CMS website that was set up without a blog. I want the site to continue to function as it has, with mostly static pages, including the home page. I want a page called "Blog" to function as a blog.

Now I've been asked to add a blog, and what I expected would be extremely easy isn't turning out that way.

This is what I've tried:

1. Added a page called "Blog" and published it.
2. Under Settings >> Reading, set the Posts page to Blog. (A Static Page is selected, with Front Page set to "Home".)
3. Added Blog to the main navigation in the Theme Options.
4. Created 2 posts.

When I view the Blog page, two messages appear instead of the two blog posts:

Please go to Admin Panel > Settings > Reading and setup "Front page displays" option

Another detail that may be relevant is there are only 2 page templates: Default Template and Archives. If I select Archives as the template for Blog, I get an archive menu that links to the 2 posts I set up.

Should I have a Blog Template as well? How can I add one? What else should I look at?

Answer 1

So, everything seems to be set up correctly. The setting in your step 2 is everything that needs to be done. I won't be able to help you without seeing how the theme's template files are structured.

The way it usually works when you apply the setting in your step 2 is that WordPress looks for a template called front-page.php, if it doesn't exist then WordPress uses index.php.

Now, one of these templates must use the regular post loop, that is

if ( have_posts() ) :
while ( have_posts() ) :
the_post()

I assume that this loop is not present in your index.php or front-page.php files, and this is why your posts are not showing.

Answer 2

Pogoking's answer helped point me in the right direction, but didn't solve the problem. This is what I ended up doing.

I created a new template within the customized theme we are using and edited the blog page to use the new template.

.../html/wp-content/themes/[custom theme name]/blogposts.php

I added the loop to the new template along with a query with a few parameters. I'm sure I'll modify the template substantially, but it works for now. All blog posts are displayed as I want them to.

Here is my code:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Blog Template
*/
?>
<?php get_header(); ?>

    <?php  
    $args = array(
                   'post_type' => 'post',
                   'posts_per_page' => 10,
                   'paged' => ( get_query_var('paged') ? get_query_var('paged') : 1),
                   );

    query_posts($args);  
    if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>  
    <div id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class(); ?>> 
    <h2><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"
        title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
     </h2>
    <small>By <?php the_author_posts_link() ?>  | Published: <?php the_date() ?></small>
    <div class="thecontent">
    <br />
    <?php the_content(); ?>
    </div>
    <br />
    <hr>
    <br />
    <?php endwhile; else: ?>  
    // Our Blog will be online soon. Stay tuned... //
    <?php endif; ?> 
    <div class="navigation">
      <div class="alignleft"><?php previous_posts_link('&laquo; Previous') ?></div>
      <div class="alignright"><?php next_posts_link('More &raquo;') ?></div>
    </div>
    <?php
wp_reset_query();  // Restore global post data
?>
    <?php get_sidebar(); ?>

<?php get_footer(); ?>