I'd suggest going back to using excerpts, and if you're using WordPress for your blog - make SURE you're taking advantage of the "Excerpt" field below the Write box - if you don't use that field then your RSS feed excerpt as well as the WordPress excerpt function (usually used on archive pages and some home pages that show an excerpt from recent posts) will show the first paragraph or so of your post, BUT if you DO use the excerpt field, then what you put in there is used instead - use it to craft a really good 'teaser' that will make people want to read the full post, OR just be sure your first paragraph is very compelling so folks will want to read more.

Recently a friend questioned why I had the whole post in my feed. She argued that because she could read the whole post in the email, she didn't need to visit my site anymore. One less visitor to my site.

I like to know which schools of though there are on this subject - pros & cons etc. Do I leave my feed showing the complete post, or do I change it back to an excerpt?

Thanks,
Maria

Maria

There are a couple of ways you can do what you'd like, and the easiest way I can think of would be to just modify your "About Me" page to include your disclaimer at the bottom...if you go that route, I'd use some styling to offset it visually (like perhaps a horizontal rule separating it, or making the font smaller and/or a different color)....

Another easy way would be to add a static Page for miscellaneous stuff like this disclaimer and just name it "Stuff" or "Legal" or whatever you feel is appropriate - put the disclaimer there and anything else people need to know that isn't already covered on other pages, and then it can go in your top menu without much distraction.

OR if you really want it in your footer, but not in your main navigation bar at the top, you can do that with a couple of tweaks to your theme....

Here is how to do it, but be sure to backup your theme files first (download to your computer using FTP) and if you're not comfortable doing this, ask the theme developer to help - often they will make minor modifications like this for you.

1. Create the new Page with your disclaimer info on it;

2. From your list of all Pages (Pages > Edit) HOVER over the one you just created, and in your browser's status bar way at the bottom it will tell you the post ID for that page (in the WP database all pages and posts are just called posts and have an ID number) - it will look like this: http://www.mariastaal.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post= with the number following post= (jot that number down)

3. After backing up your theme files, go to Appearance > Editor

4. In the menu on the far right that lists your theme's files, look for one named "Header" header.php and click on it

5. In the large white box where you see the code for the header, scroll down a bit until you find this:

~<?php wp_list_pages(): ?>~

There may be some parameters already in between the parenthesis, such as 'title_li='...you want to go to the end and before the closing single-quote mark add: &exclude= followed by the page ID, so for example if it is page id 312, then it would read &exclude=312')

If there is nothing already in between the parentheses, then just type 'exclude=312' so it should now look like this:

~<?php wp_list_pages('exclude=312'): ?>~

That will keep the new page from appearing in your top navigation.

But to add it to your FOOTER you will need to modify your footer.php file as well.

Unless you want to list all or other pages there, the easiest thing to do is add the link to the disclaimer page right after your copyright......so click on footer.php and look where your copyright code it, and after it type in a link to your new page (using HTML) - I would put that html here but our forum keeps changing it to a link so you can't see the HTML - I can email that to you if you need it....

I hope this is helpful......post back more questions if you get stuck anywhere!

Now I am looking for a place to put it on my site.
I don't want to put it in the main navigation bar, as that seems too off-putting.
I was hoping make it into a static page and to put it as a link at the bottom of my site, but my theme doesn't support that sort of things easily.

Now I am thinking of puting it as a static page in my navigation bar, but only as a dropdown.

Is this a good idea, and under which tab should I put it? None of them really seem suitable for it.

Or are there any other ways of sneaking it in?

http://www.mariastaal.com

Thanks,
Maria