Creating WordPress "Channels" (Newbie)

[geosite]

I just installed WordPress for the first time. I installed it in the main directory of one of my domains. I had earlier deleted the home page to fix a problem. After I installed WordPRess, I was about to republish the site's home page when I discovered that WordPress had created a new home page for me.

This is what I would like to do...

1) Replace the WordPress home page with my original home page. (Or could I simply modify the WordPress home page, styling it after my original home page and retaining any WordPress features I want to hang onto?)

2) Create three new sections...

MySite/World

MySite/Topics

MySite/News

I would then use WordPress to create content for all three sections, with the URL's looking like this:

MySite/World/Arizona
MySite/World/Japan

MySite/Topics/Economics
MySite/Topics/History

MySite/News/10-02-09 (or however WordPress inserts a post's publication date)

* * * * *

Can I create static pages at MySite/World and MySite/Topics, then begin creating WordPress posts and modifying each post's URL so that it displays in one section or the other? And can I set it up so that certain WordPress features appear on pages in one section but not the other, either on the section's home page or on each post's page?

For example, I might want to include a Search function on MySite/World and MySite/Topics but include Archives and Blogroll functions only on MySite/Topics.

Sorry for all the questions. I've been doing some research but finally decided the best way to proceed is to just jump in and figure things out as I go along.

Thanks.

[geosite]

I figured out how to create categories. I created the following categories...

World
Topics
Blog

But I haven't yet figured out how to create "pretty permalinks." For example, a post that appears at http://MySite/?p=6 should appear at http://MySite/World/Spain.

I thought I had made the correct setting and checked the category World while making my post, but it had no effect. I want posts in the Blog section to look like this:

MySite/Blog/08/02/2009 (or however WordPress displays dates).

I'm using WordPress 2.7. Can anyone show me how to set up permalinks, preferably so that they automatically display when I check a certain category while making a post?

Thanks.

[kohoutek]

I figured out how to create categories. I created the following categories...

World
Topics
Blog

But I haven't yet figured out how to create "pretty permalinks." For example, a post that appears at http://MySite/?p=6 should appear at http://MySite/World/Spain.

I thought I had made the correct setting and checked the category World while making my post, but it had no effect. I want posts in the Blog section to look like this:

MySite/Blog/08/02/2009 (or however WordPress displays dates).

I'm using WordPress 2.7. Can anyone show me how to set up permalinks, preferably so that they automatically display when I check a certain category while making a post?

Thanks.

WordPress has very good documentation on how to do this, so I'll just provide the link. Define how you want your URLs to display by going to Settings/Permalinks and setting your preferred display option. %postname% is probably what you're looking to have displayed. Create a htaccess file or have WordPress automatically create it for you.

[geosite]

WordPress has very good documentation on how to do this, so I'll just provide the link. Define how you want your URLs to display by going to Settings/Permalinks and setting your preferred display option. %postname% is probably what you're looking to have displayed. Create a htaccess file or have WordPress automatically create it for you.

Thanks, I've seen that page. After changing my setting to %category%/%postname%, my post URL's are now displaying at MySite/world/spain. However, the posts themselves aren't displaying.

[Edit: I just solved that problem.]

Also, I just discovered that WordPress favors lower-case links. That's going to create a problem for me, as the websites I want to convert to WordPress include capital letters in their URL's, like this:

MySite/World/Spain

Does anyone know how to modify WordPress' settings so that %postname% includes any capitals in the post title?

Thanks.