Before we talk about categories, it is good to recognize the difference between a page, a post, and a portfolio in WordPress.

You should have created a page to serve as the landing page for your e-Portfolio, and that is just what a page is for; it’s a landing spot and is typically quite static.

You can create a hierarchy of pages using the ‘Page Attributes’ to assign ‘Parents’ to pages, and this can help you organize your site and your menus.

A post in WordPress is created using the exact same interface that you used to create your page, but there are a great many more ways that you can organize posts, and this is where the advantage of posts should become clear. Posts are what shows up in your default blog feed.

When you create a post, you have the opportunity to add the post to a particular category of posts, and/or you can tag your post with a keyword or several.

You cannot add categories or tags to pages.

A portfolio is a custom type of post. In most ways, portfolios are identical to posts, but the key is that they aren’t included in your blog feed. You can add custom categories, called ‘Project Types’, and tags, called ‘Project Tags’, to portfolios and include those in menus.

Portfolios are an ideal way to create, organize and display your e-Portfolio because of that flexibility.

First, however, you need to enable portfolios as a custom content type on WordPress.com.

Hover over ‘Settings’ and choose ‘Writing’, then scroll down to ‘Your Custom Content Types’ and toggle ‘Enable’ beside Portfolio Projects.

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We recommend that you use categories to structure your site.

We have created some possible site structures using categories in this tutorial site. To see those structures, hover your cursor over ‘Posts’ in the menu on the left side, and choose ‘Categories’.

If you want to have a blog that is separate from your e-Portfolio, You should build a site structure using portfolio project types.

We have created structures based on things that you have done (actions), jobs you have held (roles) and places you have been (places), but feel free to change these as you see fit.

Remember that these are only suggestions and you are free to use what you like and discard what you don’t. Try to think beyond typical resumé headings and get creative.

Take a few minutes, or days, or whatever, to work through what you think might be a good structure for your e-Portfolio.

Here are some links to some live portfolios that may assist you.

Colin Madland: www.merelearning.ca

Brianna McIlquham: www.bmcilquham.wordpress.com

Alana Hoare: www.whatmattersmostishowwellyouwalkthroughthefire.wordpress.com/  

Dexter Armstrong (CSELI Workstudy): https://dexterslabouratory.wordpress.com/about/

Katherine Ancheta (CSELI Engagement Ambassador): https://katherineancheta.wordpress.com/about-me/

Ashley Nordin (BEd Student): https://ashleynordin.wordpress.com/

Megan Harstad (BEd Student): https://meganharstad.wordpress.com/

Katie Youwe (LES Certificate Student – Graduated 2015): http://kty65.wix.com/ensu1000attru

Simone Grimard (Global Competency Certificate Student): http://simonegrimard.wix.com/sgrimard 

Once you have a structure of categories in place to help organize your e-Portfolio, you can create some menus. Go to your list of pages and choose ‘Tutorial Menus’.