This article takes you through the steps required to set up your built-in CCK Blog.
All CCK website themes come with a built-in blog. You can view your blog by opening your Pages & Popups menu on the left-hand side of your builder screen:
Main Blog Settings
When you open your blog by clicking on your blog page, you should see a page with a few sample blog posts:
You can access your blog's layout settings pop-up menu by clicking on the black Settings button on the right-hand side of the screen:
Blog Layout Options
Layout - When you click on the dropdown list under the Layout heading, you will see that there are a variety of blog layout options available to you:
To preview each option, select a layout option and click the save button at the bottom of the pop-up window. Back on your main blog page, click the preview button on the left side of the page as shown below:
Here are some examples of the different layout options:
Blog with Sidebar
Large Image, no Sidebar
Medium Image, with Sidebar
Navigation - By clicking on the dropdown list under the Navigation heading, you can choose between two different ways your viewers can navigate your blog posts:
Add share buttons - This setting adds social sharing buttons below each blog post on your main blog page:
💡 TIPS:
This option does not add social sharing buttons below individual blog posts. You can enable blog post social sharing buttons for each blog post inside the specific blog post's settings menu.
Enable Disqus Comments - this setting allows your readers to leave comments below your blog posts through the free comment tool, Disqus. Click here to learn how to set up a free Disqus account. Add your Disqus shortname in the field shown below:
Send notifications on new comments - enable this option to be notified via email every time someone leaves a comment below one of your blog posts by adding your notification email address in the available field.
Blog Post Settings
Open a blog post to locate the blog post settings gear at the top of each blog post:
The available settings can be seen below. Select a setting and click on the Update button at the top of the blog post to preview your changes. You can preview your blog updates by selecting the eye icon on the left side of your screen.
Show Sidebar - this setting shows a sidebar on the right side of all of your blog posts:
Show Header - if you select this option, your blog header will be shown on this specific blog post. Please remember that the settings you enabled on the main blog header settings will override the settings you selected here.
Expanded featured image/gallery - this setting adds a gallery or featured image at the top of that specific blog post. It does not add this gallery/featured image at the top of all blog posts.
Enable Comments - disabling this option removes comments from the specific blog post you are editing.
Comments Approval - this option will avoid any comments being posted without your approval.
Add Share Buttons - this option adds social sharing buttons below the specific blog post.
Tags & Categories - tags and categories allow you to organize your blog posts. Categories are the main "umbrella" your blog posts can be classified under, with tags used as subcategories.
Post URL - you are able to update the specific URL of each blog post here.
Post Author - add or remove the name of the blog author here.
Post Date - add the publish date here. A future date will allow your blog post to be scheduled to go out at a future time and date.
View Comments - this button allows you to view all comments left below a specific blog post.
Blog Post Headers
At the top of each blog post, you have the option to show an image, a gallery, a video, a quote or have nothing shown.
Image - The size of your uploaded image will be the exact size of the image shown on your blog post. You cannot resize this image. To change the size of this image, you have to upload a pre-sized blog image with the correct header dimensions. If you are using Canva, you can find blog post header templates there.
Image Size - we recommend a banner or rectangular image for your blog header. The dimensions of 1,000px x 300px work best for banner images, and 1,920px x 1,080px work for rectangular images.
Blog Fonts
Your blog title font can be updated by CSS. If you need help with this, please log a ticket with the CCK Support team, and we can do this for you. Your blog Summary text and paragraph text fonts can be updated as you type your blog post.
Add Your Blog to Your Website Menu
Your blog can be added to your main website menu by hovering over your main website menu, selecting Edit Menu and clicking on Add Menu Item. Next, you can scroll down to your blog page and select this to add it to your main menu.
