Post appearances

You’re after the <?php the_excerpt() ?> tag. You can see it used here:

<h3><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
<?php the_excerpt() ?>
<div class="details">
<?php the_time('F j, Y'); ?> at <?php the_time('g:i a'); ?> | <?php comments_popup_link('no comments;', '1 comment', '% comments'); ?> |<br />
<?php the_category(', ') ?><br /><span class="read-on"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">read on</a></span>

Go through your templates and just add the tag in where it normally says <?php the_content(); ?>

You can find a whole heap of useful tags here:
https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Template_Tags

flick07 — i hate to ask but I need to as I am learning – quicly — but learning — where will I actually find these template files to edit. I see in my dream weaver directory the wp-admin, content and incudes foldereach having several ph files in them

Am i looking for a particular std group of template files to change?

Don’t apologise – no-one downloaded WP and knew what to do instantly. I’m still learning too.

Depending on what template you’re using, that’s the one you need to edit.

First, check which templates you’re using:
In WP, goto Presentation. On that page it’ll say “Current Theme” (that’s the one we want to edit)

In Dreamweaver, find the folder that holds those particular template files. It should look like this:

wp-content > themes > (your template folder)

The two default themes for WP are Classic and Default.
You’ll probably only want to edit the Main Index template, as it sounds like you just want to edit the front page of your website.

Since you’re editing your original template files, make sure you back them up first (just copy the directory and save it I guess), just in case you accidentally make changes that you didn’t intend.