ronchicago

if you don’t want “category” in your “pretty” links then try this structure =

/%year%/%postname%/%post_id%/ ( domain.com/2009/post-slug/1843 for example )

did you copy the new .htaccess code that appeared and paste in htaccess ?

note: your mod_rewrite on your server needs to be ” on “

should work…

the solution may depend on your theme. for my theme, if all the info was on every page,

1) i would build something to accommodate the info under my masthead in header.php. the structure would be div=class that is as wide as my masthead.

2) in functions.php then register a new “Sidebar_horizontal” so you could utilize the widget feature for more recent/popular etc.

3) in admin > appearance > widgets select your “new” sidebar-horizontal from the sidebar drop menu

4) add otto’s exec-php plugin = http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/php-code-widget/ where you can put in html, php, images, etc.

the above is the ” concept ” i’d try first to take advantage of the widgets.

a good link to get you started for layout = http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Layout_and_Design

for moving things around = http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Advanced_Topics

knowing where the search menu is helps…

1) in the masthead = file = header.php
2) in a sidebar = file = sidebar.php ( if you have such a file )

where do you “see” your search menu?

without a plugin, most will say it is complicated. you can find functions by searching codex for get wp_list_pages and wp_list_categories but there is also the css styling.

google has quite a few selections that you might have overlooked = Google results for WORDPRESS PLUGIN DROPDOWN MENU

what does your admin say > settings > reading > Blog pages show at most

see if your answer lies here = http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_list_categories