Getting Started on WordPress
Update on Jan, 4 2008: I’ve now deemed this information super duper old. For the most part it’s still valid but it definitely needs to be freshened up. It still has references to when I freelanced for clients so if you find some of that in there ignore it.
Welcome to the world of WordPress, your site is up and now your ready to rock! All you need now is the “know-how” to adminstrate your own site.
First I would like to disclaim that, this by no means is a comprehensive instruction on the the many uses of WordPress. In fact it’s a very basic getting started guide. At the end of this little tutorial I will list links of resources where you can find much more detailed instruction on WP. Alright disclaimer over.
I recommend you open a new window (or new tab for my fellow Firefoxers) while you are reading this page so you can flip back in forth between this page and your site.
Here we go:
First you will need to login to the dashboard of WP. Look on the homepage of your site, do you see anything that says, “login?” If so, click on it and it will automatically take you to a prompt that asks for your user name and password.
If you do not see a login button then type: wp-admin after the backslash of your domain name. For example on this site it would look like: http://nbscribblerco.com/wp-admin/ This again will prompt you for your user name and password.
Second:
Now you are on the dashboard, congrats!
The dashboard is comprised of 9 different categories at the top: these are the words that read: Dashboard, Write, Manage, Links etc.
The main ones you will be using to develop and manage your content is: Write and Manage. Let’s begin with Write.
Write:
When you click on this button it will automatically take you to write a post page. You know this because a.) it says write post at top and b.) b/c write post is highlighted. Now the question is do you know what the difference between a post and a page is?
A post is really the blog or more simply a blog entry. For example on this site anything that is written on my homepage is a post. This entry however, has been written on a page. Basically anything you can navigate to has been written on a page.
On to the logistics of a write post/page. Both of these writing interfaces will look the same. They will have a field box where you can enter a title and a box for content. On this page my title is Getting Started on WordPress and the content is what you are reading. Both of these fields are automatically formatted. On top of the page content box you will notice a tiny toolbar that is similar to MS Word or MS Outlook Mail. Use these functions by highlighting anything within the content box. For example, if I want to make something bold I highlight it and it appears bold after I click on the B button.
If you would like to upload and image into your content you may do so by scrolling below the content box and locating the upload file box. Click on the browse button find the file you would like to upload and click on the Upload button located in blue below the description field. Your image will now appear in the upload box. To actually add it to your content, simply click on the image and drag it to wherever you want it to appear in your content.
There is one other feature on the write post that I would like for you to learn about. And that is the Edit Timestamp. This feature appears on the right side of your content box (you may have to scroll down to find it). Click on the little + button next to Edit Timestamp and check the edit timestamp box. Then put in the date and time you would like for your post to appear. Think about timezones when you choose a time. For example if you live in say…Seattle, 6am is the East Coast’s 9am. Use the edit timestamp feature to create as many posts as you like in any given day and spread them out throughout time. This way fresh content will continue to appear on your site (which is good for your readers) but you will not have to physically tend to it.
Alright now let’s talk about Manage.
Manage
When you click on the Manage button, seven new categories will appear: Posts, Pages, Categories, Comments etc. The main ones you will be concerned with are: posts, pages and comments.
This is where all the editing can be done and if you are like me you will need to edit quite a bit. Clicking on Manage automatically takes you to the Manage Posts interface. It should show you the last 15 posts you have created (or less if you don’t have that many). Next to all the self explanatory items you will see links to view, edit and delete. These too are self explanatory, click on the edit button to be taken to that particular post’s content box. One quick thing to remember is that if you are using a feed for your posts it will publish the first version you ever published. If you have no idea what a feed is, disregard the last sentence.
Comments can be moderated under the Manage function as well. Make sure you have the plugin askimet activated otherwise you are going to receive a lot of spam comments. If you are not sure that this function is activated or not go to the plugin category and check to see if your askimet plugin says: deactivate. If it does then your’re in business if not click on activate and you should be good to go. If it repeatedly says that Askimet is not active it could mean that WP was set up somewhere other than WordPress.org. Moderating the comments section is pretty self-explanatory. If you have other questions about comments, let me know.
That pretty much should arm you for basic management of your site. Let me know if you have specific questions.
WordPress Instruction Resources:Â
The following links are a list of WP resources that will help you get more involved in running WP on your site.
The most obvious is of course WordPress.org. You can search any feature that they offer through their documenatation, support forum and WP blogs.
The WP Theme Viewer: This allows you to download a theme that you like so your website presentatin will differ. Once you have downloaded the theme and uploaded it on your cpanel or host site. To those of you that are my clients, please e-mail me the link of a theme that you like and I will handle all the uploading. Once uploaded you should be able to see your new theme under the Presentation>>Themes. Simply click on the desired theme and WP will execute it for you automatically.
The Codex Plugin Directory
