Getting a bit confused

Hi

I’m trying to create an author.php which is linked to by clicking on the author’s name on the entry. Currently I am using:


by <a href="/weblog/index.php?author=<?php the_author_ID(); ?>"><?php the_author_nickname(); ?></a>


..to link to the page – but it uses the “messy” permalinks and I would like it to display something like /weblog/authors/Nicky (there’s 2 other authors as well but they only post on rare occasions)

Also the page it links to displays the posts that the author has done, which is fine but I would like it to display some of their profile information as well. I understand I need to create an author.php to do this? Or will the code I quoted above still only produce a page with a list of entries, and if so, what code should I use [on index.php] instead?

I’m trying to understand https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Author_Templates but it’s not sinking in for whatever reason. I hope I haven’t managed to confuse everyone else with my questions, I’m not so good at phrasing myself when I have lots!

My blog: https://www.virtuallynicky.co.uk/weblog (if that helps at all)