I have a design client who wants me to remove Atahualpa and install Thesis because of one feature that she wants. Please help! How can I configure the home page center column to display one full post (the most recent) followed by two columns of excerpts? I've searched the forum and am at a loss to find that someone has figured out how to do this. I appreciate any guidance.

The layout:

1 - full post
2 - excerpt 3 - excerpt
4 - excerpt 5 - excerpt

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, when I set the rest of the posts (e.g., 2 - 10) to display as excerpts, they are in a single column, the same width as the full post. My client wants the excerpts in two columns (each 50% the width of the full post). An example of how Thesis displays this is at: http://www.artbizblog.com

Do you have any advice on how to accomplish this? Many thanks!

one of the links STB point to is this HOWTO: "JUGGLEDAD's two columm posts" PAGE template with posts above the columns

STB, sorry to have overlooked those links. I thought they were part of your signature.

Juggledad, I have tried to follow your instructions -- they make sense -- but am getting this error:

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home3/chriscor/public_html/play/wp-content/themes/atahualpa364/template_two_columns_posts.php on line 22

I have the theme in place, a page created, in your template file there was already the custom field:

$my_custom_field = $custom_fields['posts_above_the_column'];
$posts_above_the_column = 2;

Lines 19 - 20. I changed the 0 to 2. I added the CSS insert.

For now, I am testing on one of my test sites. http://www.whitewingdesign.com/play/ running Atahualpa 3.6.4.

What am I doing wrong?

which version of the file did you download?

I apologize for the delay in replying!

I downloaded template_two_columns_posts36.zip, extracted it and uploaded the template file to the Atahualpa364 folder.

And what version of Atahualpa are you running?

Yes, running 3.6.4 on WordPress 3.1.

did you add the custom field to the page? You don't edit the template, you edit the page that you assign the template to and add the custom field there. That way you could have page 'A' with two posts above the split column and page 'B' with three, just by setting the value for the custom field to a new number.

There is not an "add a custom field" form on the page... I've seen it on older versions of Atahualpa but it is not on this installation (3.6.4). I appreciate your patience as I know I am sounding dense... how do I enable it so that it is visible on the page with this custom template?

STB, thanks!

I am making great progress ~ I now have a page with the two full posts followed by excerpts positioned in two columns beneath the top two posts. I say Eureka!

The center column is now too wide and overlaps the sidebar. Is that an adjustment I can make in the template file? or elsewhere?

You are so kind to help me with this -- I will be excited to tell my client she doesn't have to use Thesis.

I just realized that the posts in the two columns are not excerpts but full posts. Also part of the page width issue dealt with the images that were showing up in the full posts/two columns. I've removed the images to focus on the excerpt issue. I have Only Excerpts enabled for all the options in ATO> Style Excerpts. I'm going to start over with a fresh WordPress and Atahualpa install instead of using my test site.

One point of confusion: to use the two column theme as a home page, the instructions say to edit line 17 in the template to change $posts_above_the_column = 0; to reflect the # I want. Is this instruction valid for the two_column_posts36 template? When I change it, it then displays an error message.

1) make a copy of the template and call it 'home.php'

you have to have two copies of it, one so you can select it as the page template and a second IF you use the page as the 'Front Page' - the second copy is named 'home.php' and has the edits directly to it.

Wether you see excerpts or not is determined by your settings on the 'Configure EXCERPTS' section of Atahualpa. Then number of posts displayed is determined by the dashboard->settings->reading option of WordPress.

I have two copies of the file: home.php and template_two_columns_post.php in my theme folder. I did a new installation of WP and Atahualpa 3.6.4. When I change the Settings> Reading to Your Latest Posts, I get this error message where the single "full posts" should be at the top:

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home3/chriscor/public_html/atahualpa/wp-content/themes/atahualpa364/home.php on line 22

Beneath it are two columns of full posts even though I have every setting in ATO> Configure Excerpts set to Only Excerpts for every option.

With home.php in place, I get the error message I mentioned above when I go to http://www.whitewingdesign.com/atahualpa/

If I go to the page I created: http://www.whitewingdesign.com/atahualpa/?page_id=4 using the Two_Columns_Post template, it correctly shows the full top post but still displays full posts beneath it.

If I removed the two_columns_post the front page displays correctly as all excerpts which seems to indicate that the basic Atahualpa theme is correctly affecting the display of excerpts?

JUGGLEDAD, I just tried to use your link for
HOWTO: "JUGGLEDAD's two columm posts" PAGE template with posts above the columns
and I was denied access. Is the advice in this link outdated? I am seeking a very similar layout-- full-width excerpt over two columnns of excerpts.

Access to the Gold forum is available to members who have donated $20 or more.

Shoot. When I finish this website, and get paid, if it's still in Atahualpa I will definitely donate.

If anyone's still looking,
I ended up using this technique to get the posts into the intended column layout for my homepage:

http://perishablepress.com/press/200...ith-wordpress/

This instruction is for three side-by-side columns I believe, but you can substitute the css to make it one full-wide over two 1/2-size columns. Also, you should probably switch out the php in the example for the <?php bfa.... phrases that exist in atahualpa.