1. Requirements
In order to perform the actions outlined in this guide you will need a computer that is connected to the internet via a reliable internet connection. We recommend that you use one of the following, up to date web browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, or Internet Explorer 8. If you do not have access to one of these web browsers you can download or upgrade your current browser to one of the three listed free of charge. The download links have been provided for you below.
Mozilla Firefox (recommended)
Download Link
Google Chrome
Download Link
Internet Explorer 8
Download Link
2. Logging In
As you may already know, in order to view a web page you must first enter in the Uniform Resource Location (URL) of the page you want to view in the address bar of your web browser. After you type the URL into the address bar you can press enter and the page will load. You may log in to your website administration control panel by appending \u201c/wp-admin\u201d onto the end of your domain name. For example, if your website URL is http://www.mysite.com, then you would log into your website by traveling to http://www.mysite.com/wp-admin. If you have successfully loaded your website’s administration control panel you will see a screen that looks similar to below.
At this point, please enter the Username and Password you were given by your web developer, system administrator, or other superior and then press the Log In button. Upon successful log in you will be redirected to the control panel dashboard.
3. Things You Need To Know
3.1 The Dashboard
The dashboard is the first screen you will see after logging into the administration system. It contains a quick overview of your data and is a good reference point to find out what is going on with your website. You can travel to the dashboard at any time while logged in by clicking on the Dashboard button on the top left hand side of the screen.
3.2 Pages vs Posts
Pages and posts are two different types of content that are handled in a very similar manner inside WordPress. Because of this fact, it is very easy to become confused. The difference between the two is best worded by WordPress’s documentation:
When you’re writing a regular blog entry, you write a post. Posts automatically appear in reverse
chronological order on your blog’s home page. Pages, on the other hand, are for content such as “About
Me,” “Contact Me,” etc. Pages live outside of the normal blog chronology, and are often used to present
information about yourself or your site that is somehow timeless — information that is always applicable.
You can use Pages to organize and manage any amount of content.
If you still are not completely sure what the difference is between pages and posts or if you would just like more information please see WordPress’s documentation at http://codex.wordpress.org/Pages.
3.3 Moderating Comments
Eventually a website visitor will leave a comment on one of your pages or posts. By default, comments will not display on your website until you review and approve them. You can moderate your comments by clicking on the Comments link inside your administrative control panel located on the left hand side.
Your comments moderation section will look similar to this:
If you hover your mouse cursor over each comment you will see a menu of links display underneath the actual message. This is your moderation menu that will allow you to perform actions on the comments. Each link has a specific purpose as outlined below.
3.4 Drafts, Previews, and Publishing
Here are a few more small pieces of information to know before proceeding further in this guide.
Draft: You can save pages or posts as a draft before publishing. This enables you to save progress on a document without making it public on the website.
Preview: You can preview pages or posts to see what they will look like once published. This will open up a new tab or window that will show exactly what you can expect it to look like.
Publish: As soon as you publish content it is saved immediately and visible on your website.
4. Managing Pages
4.1 Viewing the Page List
To access the list of pages click the Pages link in the left hand side of your screen. Once the page loads you will see that the Pages menu has expanded into additional links. In the list of pages you can hover over each one and a menu of links will appear that will enable you to perform actions on that page. This list will show both published and unpublished drafts.
4.2 Editing a Page
To edit a page you first need to go to the Page list. You can then edit a page by clicking on the title of the page or hovering over the row and clicking the edit link that pops up. The editor includes a rich WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor and several other powerful tools.
4.3 Adding a Page
To add a new page you first need to go to the Page list. You can then click the Add New link in the Pages section located in the left menu. This screen will look identical to the Edit Page screen above except all of the fields will be blank. Keep in mind you do not have to publish new pages right away. You can save them as a draft and review and/or edit them further at a later date. Once the page is published via the Publish button it will be instantly visible on your website.
5. Managing Posts
5.1 Viewing the Post List
To access the list of pages click the Posts link in the left hand side of your screen. Once the page loads you will see that the Posts menu has expanded into additional links. In the list of posts you can hover over each one and a menu of links will appear that will enable you to perform actions on that post. This list will show both published and unpublished posts. This is very similar to how viewing the pages list works (see 4.1).
5.2 Editing a Post
To edit a post you first need to go to the Post list. You can then edit a post by clicking on the title of the post or hovering over the row and clicking the edit link that pops up. The editor includes a rich WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor and several other powerful tools. This is very similar to how editing pages works (see 4.2).
5.3 Adding a Post
To add a new post you first need to go to the Post list. You can then click the Add New link in the Posts section of the left menu. This screen will look identical to the Edit Post screen above except all of the fields will be blank. Keep in mind you do not have to publish new posts right away. You can save them as a draft and review and/or edit them further at a later date. Once the post is published via the Publish button it will be visible on your website. This is very similar to how adding pages works (see 4.3).
6. Other Administrative Tasks
6.1 Sorting Pages
By default, pages will be sorted in your menu alphabetically. If you wish to override this behavior you can manually assign an order value to each page that will determine which order to list the pages. Given three example pages: Services, About Us, Contact Us, the pages would display as follows by default.
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Services
If you want Services listed first you can edit each page and provide an order value. The Order input is found in the Attributes section on the bottom right hand side of the Page edit screen. You would set Services to 1 and click Update Page, set About Us to 2 and click Update Page, and set Contact Us to 3 and click Update Page. After all three values are set the pages would display correct as follows.
- Services
- About Us
- Contact Us
6.2 Uploading Media
Media can be any type of file, such as images or text documents, that you would like to incorporate into your website content. You can upload new media by clicking the Media link in the left menu and then clicking Add New. Next click the Select Files button and choose which files you want to upload. You can select multiple files. Then click the Open button. You will see progress bars appear during processing. Once everything has finished uploading you are finished and can insert the uploaded media into your pages or posts.
6.3 Inserting Media Into Content
Inserting media into content can be a bit overwhelming at first but once you have it figured out you will find that it is quite easy. You can insert media into any new or existing page or post. When you are on the add or edit screen, look for the icons above the content box, illustrated below.
The first icon is for images and the last icon is for inserting links to documents and other types of media. You will want to place your cursor in the content where you want the inserted media to show up. For example, to insert an image between the first and second paragraphs, place the cursor between the paragraphs, then click the Image icon and wait for the dialog to display. Next click the Media Library tab for already existing media, and click Show next to the image you want to insert, and click the Insert Into Post button.
The results would be as follows:
Other types of media can also be inserted. For example, I want to insert a PDF file link into my content but I am not sure what the link is for the one I uploaded. Click on the Media Icon (fourth icon) instead of the Image Icon, click on the Media Library, and click Show on the document you wish to upload. If Link URL is blank then click on the File URL button and it will be automatically generated for you. Click Insert Into Post and the link will be inserted into your content.
6. 4 Managing Links
Your links are a collection of URLs that take users to various locations outside of your website. These links could be to relative’s blogs, a friend’s website, your affiliates, resellers, etc. To view your links index click on the Links link in the left menu. Similarly to other menu links that we have discussed in other sections of this guide, you will notice that once you click on the Links link it will expand into a larger sub menu of additional links.
6.5 Adding and Editing Links
You can edit a link by clicking on the name of the link in your link index as seen above. You an add a new link by clicking the Add New link in the Links section of the left menu. Adding links are fairly straightforward and only really require two items of information. The first piece of information is the link’s name. The name is the text that will be displayed for the link and it will be the text the user clicks on when they wish to travel to the link. The other item that is needed is the Web Address. This is the URL that the user will travel to when the link is clicked. In one of the lower sections of the add or edit screen, you will see a section called target. The target of the link determines how the link is opened. If you would like to have the link open in a new tab or window then select _blank. If you would like to have the link open up in the same window or tab then select _none. In most cases, all other fields that were not discussed can safely be ignored.
6.6 Link Categories
The default category that all links are assigned to is Blogroll. Blogroll is a term used to describe a set of links that links to blogs that the website owner is a fan of. You can change the name of Blogroll to anything you wish. You can also add new categories and categorize all of your links. To manage the categories for your links click on the Link Categories link in the left menu. You can add new categories with the form on the left or manage existing categories in the category index located on the right.
7. Logging Out
To log out of the administration control panel simply click the Log Out link in the top right hand corner of the page. This will log your user out and redirect you back to the log in page.
8. Additional Resources
There are many concepts that were not discussed in this guide. WordPress is very powerful and the possibilities are essentially endless. Here is a list of resources that you may be interested in after you have a solid grasp of WordPress.
