Help creating a category archive (or child page archive)

Using either the child pages or a category should work. The code for the template would be almost identical. For the child page approach, your query should be similar to this:

$paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
$args = array(
   'posts_per_page' => 10,
   'paged' => $paged,
   'caller_get_posts' => 1,
   'post_type' => 'page',
   'post_parent' =>  45,  // The ID of the parent page
   'orderby' => 'title',
   'order' => 'ASC'
);
query_posts($args);

$paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
$args = array(
   'posts_per_page' => 10,
   'paged' => $paged,
   'caller_get_posts' => 1,
   'cat' => 65, // The category id for collaborator
   'orderby' => 'title',
   'order' => 'ASC'
);
query_posts($args);

Otherwise the code should be the same for the loop.

The code is for the template used by the parent page. It shows all the children on the parent page.

The parent page will be in your menu and when someone clicks on it, it will bring up the screen with the children.

Please don’t apologize – everyone has to start from the beginning to learn.

Make a copy of page.php. Name it collaborators.php. Then make it into a custom template by replacing this:

<?php
/**
 * The template for displaying all pages.
 *
 * This is the template that displays all pages by default.
 * Please note that this is the WordPress construct of pages
 * and that other 'pages' on your WordPress site will use a
 * different template.
 *
 * @package WordPress
 * @subpackage Twenty_Ten
 * @since Twenty Ten 1.0
 */

with this:

<?php
/**
Template Name: Collaborators
*/

Then, insert this code for the query just before the line that starts with <?php if ( have_posts() ):

<?php
$paged = (get_query_var('paged')) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1;
$args = array(
   'posts_per_page' => 10,
   'paged' => $paged,
   'caller_get_posts' => 1,
   'post_type' => 'page',
   'post_parent' =>  $post->ID,  // The ID of the parent page
   'orderby' => 'title',
   'order' => 'ASC'
);
query_posts($args);
?>

You will also need to replace the line <?php the_content(); ?> with whatever you want to show for each collaborator.

Save the file, create a Page for Collaborators and assign it this new template. Put your new page in your menu and take it for a test.

EDIT: I should also mention that it would be best if you created a child theme instead of modifying Twenty Ten itself. If you don’t, all your changes will be lost the nest time TT is updated. Here is a tutorial on creating a Child theme.

Lots of questions in one post, but I’ll try to answer without being too long-winded.

First, about the updates. Anything in your theme folder is liable to be lost on an update. The actual content of pages added through the Admin panel go to the database. Those will not be touched. Any .php files you add to the theme folder will go.

Second, the code I provided will display the children of the calling page. So it can be used for any parent page and will display the children of that page.

Third, I am not quite sure I understand the question, but here is what I think you wanted to know. If you add more children to a parent page, they will automatically show up on the page. They will not be at the bottom since children are sorted in order by title.

Hope that helps.