Wordpress - How to add a blog template to a page using a blank theme

Question

I'm loading a front-end site onto Wordpress using html5 blank child theme. The client has asked me to add a blog page to the site. I've created the page and added it to the header.php.

I'm not sure why but my page, regardless of whether I update it or not, has this comment showing all the time -

I'v tried searching on google but I can't find anything to suggest why this comment stays here all the time. How do I build the blog template - is there a .php file in the parent theme that I have to replicate? Or do I use a plugin? It doesn't need to be anything more than a bog standard wordpress blog page so they can add some posts from time to time.

Here's what I have in my header -

header.php

<header>
        <nav>
            <a href="<?php the_permalink(4); ?>#particle-slider">Home</a>
            <a href="#what">What we do</a>
            <a href="#who">Who we are</a>
            <a href="#partners">Who we work with</a>
            <a href="#contact">Say hello</a>
            <a href="<?php the_permalink(70); ?>">Blog</a>
        </nav>
    <!-- script type="text/javascript"></script -->
    </header>

I've looked at Appearances>Menu but the menu is not letting me update for some reason. Is there a hidden error somewhere I'm missing? An assistance appreciated.

There are a whole lot of things wrong here. You need to see the codex mate. — shazyriver
@shazyriver Thanks. Can you at least give me a clue? You've basically stated what I already know. — Mike.Whitehead
Template hierarchy developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-hierarchy — shazyriver
Using wordpress menu developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_nav_menu — shazyriver

jason_yingling jason_yingling · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-19T15:05:46

The "You are currently editing the page that shows your latest posts." message comes from having that particular page set as your "Posts page" in the Settings > Reading edit screen.

In that case your theme's index.php file will be used for displaying that page (or home.php). More on that in the codex. https://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_Reading_Screen

And as @shazyriver pointed out you should familiarize yourself with the WordPress Navigation Menus codex https://codex.wordpress.org/Navigation_Menus and the Template Hierarchy.

Wordpress - How to add a blog template to a page using a blank theme

1 Answers