I really just want to add a side menu with the most recent 5 or so blog posts and a categories menu below that news. I believe this is a default option for wordpress but it seems to not work with Specular. Please advise.
Can you be more specific please? Which wordpress default option are you referring to? You can use the Extra Side Navigation to create this. Just go to General options > Layout > Extra Side Navigation, set it ON. Then go to your Appearance > Widgets, and add the “Recent Post” and “Categories” widgets to it.
