Title: ontplates's Replies | WordPress.org

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# ontplates

  [  ](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)

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 *   [Replies Created](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/replies/)
 *   [Reviews Written](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/reviews/)
 *   [Topics Replied To](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/replied-to/)
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 *   [Favorites](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/favorites/)

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## Forum Replies Created

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

 *   Forum: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
   
   In reply to: [Me only: ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT when updating](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/me-only-err_connection_timed_out-when-updating/)
 *  Thread Starter [ontplates](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)
 * (@ontplatescom)
 * [5 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/me-only-err_connection_timed_out-when-updating/#post-13684512)
 * Thank you for your insightful reply! I’ll remedy this by reducing the number 
   of simultaneous loads when doing mass updates. Glad to know nothing is broken.
   🙂
 *   Forum: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
   
   In reply to: [Contact form icons disappear after switch to permanent URL from temp](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/contact-form-icons-disappear-after-switch-to-permanent-url-from-temp/)
 *  Thread Starter [ontplates](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)
 * (@ontplatescom)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/contact-form-icons-disappear-after-switch-to-permanent-url-from-temp/#post-5504893)
 * Didn’t work. I’ll have to talk to my theme provider– I bet something has been
   that changed that identifies the location of the icons. Thanks anyway.
 *   Forum: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
   
   In reply to: [Contact form icons disappear after switch to permanent URL from temp](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/contact-form-icons-disappear-after-switch-to-permanent-url-from-temp/)
 *  Thread Starter [ontplates](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)
 * (@ontplatescom)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/contact-form-icons-disappear-after-switch-to-permanent-url-from-temp/#post-5504720)
 * Similarly, I have just noticed that the little chevron icons that pop up on either
   side of my sliders (no matter the style of chevron or the type of slider) are
   gone, too.
 *   Forum: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
   
   In reply to: [Lost, lost, lost!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lost-lost-lost/)
 *  Thread Starter [ontplates](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)
 * (@ontplatescom)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lost-lost-lost/#post-5313601)
 * I have my site up and running, through trial-error, forums, theme support, and
   buying a WordPress book. Thanks all.
 *   Forum: [Plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/)
    In
   reply to: [[SFN Easy FAQ Manager] No FAQs appear! Is there a conflict?](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/no-faqs-appear-is-there-a-conflict/)
 *  Thread Starter [ontplates](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)
 * (@ontplatescom)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/no-faqs-appear-is-there-a-conflict/#post-5368401)
 * I never got any response to this query. I gave up and settled with non-collapsible
   FAQs.
 *   Forum: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
   
   In reply to: [Lost, lost, lost!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lost-lost-lost/)
 *  Thread Starter [ontplates](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)
 * (@ontplatescom)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lost-lost-lost/#post-5313442)
 * Thanks to RossMitchell– and I have more questions.
    1. When I use the “Post” option in my dashboard, that takes me to an editor that
       I presume is WordPress 4.0. It’s well suited for adding blog-style posts. But
       what I would want to do is be able to put sale stock there similar to my present
       site. In my mind, I envisioned a sort of template where I could drag and drop
       the various items, with each having their description embedded. Maybe there’s
       a database section or portfolio section that must first be populated with items.
       However, I have no idea whether that’s a WordPress thing where I have to find
       something in my dashboard, or if there would be some sort of “portfolio mode”
       in my theme that I would activate and then add items that way. Obviously, I 
       don’t expect you to know the intricacies of my theme – but if that’s what I 
       want to do, should I be fiddling with WordPress, or looking within my theme?
       I’m not sure where one ends and the other starts.
    2. I know nothing about what a child theme is, aside from that I should use one
       when I finally figure out how to design my site. I saw in a wiki somewhere that
       they get installed as subdirectories from the parent theme. Do I have to buy
       yet another theme to make a child theme? Or do I somehow install Affle again
       in a subdirectory? What should be my first step to getting a child theme?
    3. What’s a caching mechanism? Why do I need one?
    4. I used WordPress 4.0 editor to make a couple of experimental “post” pages. I
       can only see these when I’m in the editor and click the “preview” button. Where
       can I view an index of what posts I’ve made?
    5. After making the posts I mention in my previous question: When I go back to 
       my embryonic site on WordPress, I still just have the Sample Page. I presume
       that I would need a menu to link to these posts (which are not static .html 
       files, as the URL ends with something like ?p=22 which means the post page I’m
       seeing is generated on the fly somehow. I’ve seen the menu widget, but I don’t
       understand how to configure it. Mine says “frequently asked questions” and goes
       nowhere because I don’t understand how to point the menu to a target. In HTML,
       I can do A HREF tags in my sleep. If I could do this, I might be able to hammer
       out a “terms & conditions” page or a “FAQ” page and learn to get my balance 
       on WordPress.
    6. Thanks a bunch for your help so far.
    7. Jon
 *   Forum: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
   
   In reply to: [Lost, lost, lost!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lost-lost-lost/)
 *  Thread Starter [ontplates](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)
 * (@ontplatescom)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lost-lost-lost/#post-5313432)
 * Sorry– you have replied to my thread where I have even less experience than you,
   and I haven’t the foggiest notion of how to even get my WordPress website started.
   I suggest you begin a new thread on [https://wordpress.org/support/](https://wordpress.org/support/)
   with a more specific subject line. Although if it were me, I’d be writing my 
   text on a word processor and then copy-paste the completed text into the blog
   when done. Best of luck.
 *   Forum: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
   
   In reply to: [Lost, lost, lost!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lost-lost-lost/)
 *  Thread Starter [ontplates](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)
 * (@ontplatescom)
 * [11 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lost-lost-lost/#post-5313384)
 * “Lost lost lost” is the only possible subject. As I mentioned, I had no idea 
   if this forum was even appropriate. It got your attention, no?
 * I will read the guide mentioned by WebPrezence.
 * I sell enough to keep my geeky hobbies self-funding (a labour of love), but e-
   commerce on the site is beyond what I wish to do at this time. I take cheques/
   MOs in the mail and use PayPal. I want to just rebuild my present site using 
   WordPress, then do tweaks to it once I’ve learned more.
 * Here is my site as it presently exists, done with raw HTML and text editors:
   
   [ontplates.com](http://ontplates.com) the site lives on my ISP with a GoDaddy
   domain redirect. I lost my image server, so I’ve been limping along paying photobucket
   to host the images, which I dislike.
 * Here is my temporary location using WordPress, where I can’t figure out anything:
   
   [http://69.195.124.189/~ontplate/](http://69.195.124.189/~ontplate/)
 * WordPress seems to be more for blogs. I’m not a blog, so I don’t intend to use
   its “new post” items, and as I mentioned a sec ago, I don’t want e-commerce options
   presently. I would like to begin by designing it like a portfolio where the items
   are searchable and I can search for subcategories (e.g. items from 1960-1970).
   It would be even better if I could easily mark when things sell without removing
   them from the site.
 * So, I know what I want the end product to look like and how I want it to work,
   and in the past I’ve been autonomous enough to just carry it out on my own. But
   here? OMG. There are 958 different options when I flip through my theme’s options.
   Some questions that boggle me now:
    1. Is a plugin the same as a widget?
    2. Is there a WYSIWYG editor you would suggest that would work with my theme rather
       than selecting an endless series of dropdowns and checking boxes? When I select
       something, I’ve been re-loading my temporary site to see what I did– hence the
       odd remarks I’ve made all over the one page I’ve altered.
    3. From where am I supposed to do the actual “designing” of my site? I see my theme
       options on my dashboard (where 95% of the options seem to be), but I also see
       portfolio options there, and if I go to “themes” on my dashboard, I can click
       a “customize” button on my theme (Affle) which allows me to change a few other
       things. Too many spots to find options to change things. And now I think I have
       to get a plugin with a WYSIWYG editor. Hence the “lost” subject line.
    4. I tried using the “portfolio” thingy on my dashboard and uploaded an image with
       a caption. But I don’t know if, in so doing, it created a an updatable portfolio
       page, or if it’s just a place where portfolio images are stored and fed into
       auto-generated page when called up– and I can’t figure out how to link a portfolio
       from my menu or somehow join the two so I can click from one to the other, or
       just have a portfolio style layout visible from my front page like the live 
       demo of my Affle theme.
    5. I think Affle is a child theme. What’s a parent theme? Must I get one of those,
       too?
    6. I saw the live demo for my theme and I thought, “yep, that’s the structure and
       the look.” But I can’t figure out how to get a portfolio-esque set of content,
       divided in columns, to appear on my main site, because it’s starting me off 
       with a single column page with sample text on it. I sell to a lot of elder folks,
       and the fewer clicks they make when they visit my site, the better, so that’s
       why I want to try and show a portfolio of items up front.
 * I would be grateful for recommendations, or other resources to see to school 
   myself before perform more of a hack-job on my new site.
 *   Forum: [Themes and Templates](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/themes-and-templates/)
   
   In reply to: [Removing header image from Affle theme](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/removing-header-image-from-affle-theme/)
 *  [ontplates](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ontplatescom/)
 * (@ontplatescom)
 * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/removing-header-image-from-affle-theme/#post-5274314)
 * I downloaded the same purchased theme. My present site uses manually programmed
   HTML done in a text editor, with lots of tables and graphics, and I know how 
   to FTP, but this world of themes and widgets and WordPress is new to me. I’m 
   so far mystified by how to design a site using Affle… The description said “drag
   and drop” but I’m not seeing it. I have, however, discovered how to kill the 
   Affle header image and replace it with my own. It’s the only constructive thing
   I’ve managed to do so far. Perhaps we can assist each other as we figure things
   out.
 * Find your way to your WordPress Dashboard. Near the bottom left, in the black
   menu column, is “Buzzo Options” (I guess Buzzo is the name of the designer). 
   From there, you will be slid into “Global Options” which is the first of many
   subcategories of options from which to choose. Scroll down until “Global Options”
   ends and you see the rest of the subcategories. Find and click on “Header and
   Footer”. For some reason, I have to scroll
    **up** to see this, but you’ll find
   four “upload file” buttons which are all under the “Logo” section.
 * I tried to upload my own logo, but something didn’t take and the affle logo remained
   when I reloaded my site page. There was no error message. Since I’ve always used
   FTP for my old site in the past, I tried FTPing my logo to the location on my
   site that ends in:
    wp-content/themes/affle/img/logo.jpg …where I just overwrote
   what was there with my own logo that was called logo.jpg. Now my logo appears
   there, although it’s reduced to a smaller size than I would like, so now I have
   to figure out how to tell the theme to reduce the logo size to a lesser extent.
   And I have to figure out how to do everything else.
 * My old site at [http://www3.sympatico.ca/upton/ontplates/](http://www3.sympatico.ca/upton/ontplates/)
   just uses a domain redirect from another domain company to my ISP– a setup that
   I plan to dump in favour of using BlueHost (the temporary location of my new 
   site while I attempt to build it is here: [http://69.195.124.189/~ontplate/](http://69.195.124.189/~ontplate/)
 * Aside from updating the graphics a bit, I want to keep the layout of my site 
   substantially the same. I bought Affle because its column-based format sort of
   matches what I have now, plus I want a mobile-compatible site, better search 
   engine visibility, etc. But the learning curve for me is very steep, and the 
   user interface is not intuitive.
 * Hope this logo trick helps.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)