1) To remove category 7, you should just be able to do:
<?php wp_dropdown_categories('exclude=7&show_option_none=Select category'); ?>
2) It depends a bit on the theme you are using. You may have to edit the ‘archive.php’ file in your theme (or child theme). There will probably a call to the_excerpt() which you can either remove entirely (which will also change your tag, monthly, author archive pages) or filter it like so:
<?php
if(!is_category()) {the_excerpt();}
?>
You may need to edit some of the other markup around it as well depending on how you want it to display.
That worked well for #1.
I tried what you have for #2, and it is not exactly what I was looking for. Basically, if you choose a category in the dropdown on http://www.iwearyourshirt.com/blogs , “Day Journal” for example, you get a list of all the posts in that category in a paginated list (see here: http://iwearyourshirt.com/category/categories/day-journal ) This is exactly what I want on my site.
Also, here is the code for my archives.php , if that helps:
And the archive page (when you choose Daily T-Shirt Blog from the dropdown: http://billboardfamily.com/daily-t-shirt-blogs/
<?php include("header.php"); ?>
<!-- BEGIN content -->
<div id="content">
<?php $post = $posts[0]; // Hack. Set $post so that the_date() works. ?>
<?php /* If this is a category archive */ if (is_category()) { ?>
<h2 class="title">Archive for the <strong><?php single_cat_title(); ?></strong> Category</h2>
<?php /* If this is a tag archive */ } elseif( is_tag() ) { ?>
<h2 class="title">Posts Tagged <strong><?php single_tag_title(); ?></strong></h2>
<?php /* If this is a daily archive */ } elseif (is_day()) { ?>
<h2 class="title">Archive for <?php the_time('F jS, Y'); ?></h2>
<?php /* If this is a monthly archive */ } elseif (is_month()) { ?>
<h2 class="title">Archive for <?php the_time('F, Y'); ?></h2>
<?php /* If this is a yearly archive */ } elseif (is_year()) { ?>
<h2 class="title">Archive for <?php the_time('Y'); ?></h2>
<?php /* If this is an author archive */ } elseif (is_author()) { ?>
<h2 class="title">Author Archive</h2>
<?php /* If this is a paged archive */ } elseif (isset($_GET['paged']) && !empty($_GET['paged'])) { ?>
<h2 class="title">Blog Archives</h2>
<?php } ?>
<?php
if (have_posts()) :
while (have_posts()) : the_post();
?>
<!-- BEGIN post -->
<div class="post">
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php dp_attachment_image($post->ID, 'thumbnail', 'alt="' . $post->post_title . '"');
?></a>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
<p class="date"><?php the_time('F j, Y') ?> <span class="category"><?php the_category(', ') ?></span> <span
class="comments"><?php comments_popup_link('No Comments', '1 Comment', '% Comments'); ?></a></p>
</div>
<!-- END post -->
<?php endwhile; ?>
<p class="postnav">
<?php next_posts_link('« Older Entries'); ?>
<?php previous_posts_link('Newer Entries »'); ?>
</p>
<?php else : ?>
<div class="notfound">
<h2>Not Found</h2>
<p>Sorry, but you are looking for something that is not here.</p>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
<!-- END content -->
<?php get_sidebar(); get_footer(); ?>
Ok, If you want an unordered list of the post titles, that’s a bit more complex.
You might be best creating a separate category.php template in your theme directory where you can customise the layout in more detail.
Here’s a basic category.php file http://wordpress.pastebin.ca/1940373. I haven’t tested it and you will need to do some styling to get it to look exactly like the example you linked to.
