WordPress Tutorial
Administration Panels
The Administration Panel provides access to the control features of your WordPress installation. Each Administration Panel is presented in sections, the header, the main navigation, the work area, and the footer. The top portion of all Panels, the header, is featured in dark shading. The header shows the name of your blog and a visit site link to your blog’s main page, a favorites menu, and links to your profile (shown as your user name), Turbo, and Log Out. Just below the top shaded area are two hanging tabs, Screen Options and contextual Help, that can be clicked to expand them.
On the left side of the screen is the main navigation menu detailing each of the administrative functions you can perform. Two expand/collapse arrows just below Dashbord and Comments allow the navigation menu to collapse to a set of icons, or expand (fly-out) to show an icon and description for each major administrative function.
Within each major function, such as Posts, a pull-down arrow is presented upon hovering mouse hovers over the title area. A click of that arrow expands the menu to display each of the sub-menu choices. Clicking that arrow again collapses the sub-menu.
The large area in the middle of the screen is the work area. It is here the specific information relating to a the particular navigation choice, such as adding a new post, is presented and collected.
Finally, in the footer, at the bottom of each Administration Panel in dark shading, are links to WordPress, Documentation, and Feedback. In addition, the version of WordPress you have installed is shown. Just below the menu tab section, if your version is NOT the latest version, you will see the message A new version of WordPress is available! If you have questions regarding this message, please feel free to contact Best Choice Web Solutions with your questions.
Each Panel, referred to as SubPanel, that is accessed via the main navigation menu, is presented in the boxes below. The links in those boxes will lead you to sections of this article describing those SubPanels. From those sections, you can navigate to articles detailing more information about each SubPanel. Also, WordPress Screenshots shows examples of all the SubPanels.
| Dashboard | Posts | Media | Links | Pages | Comments |
| Users | Tools |
Dashboard – Information Central
The Dashboard tells you about recent activity both at your site and in the WordPress community at large.
The Dashboard SubPanel provides you a number of links to start writing Posts or Pages, statistics and links on the number of posts, pages, Categories, and Tags. A Recent Comments box shows the number of Comments
awaiting moderation and a list of the recent comments. Configurable boxes of Incoming Links, and RSS feeds from the WordPress Development Blog, the Plugins blog, and Planet WordPress are also displayed.
Posts – Make some content
Well, you’ve done it! You’ve successfully installed the best personal publishing tool on the internet. You’re ready to start sharing your thoughts and ideas with the world.
Now what?
Simple. You login to your admin panel, and in the navigation menu on the left, click on Posts, and then Add New. WordPress displays the Add New Post SubPanel. This panel allows you to populate your site with actual information! You’ll be spending most of your administration time here, so you should spend a bit of time familiarizing yourself with it.
Posts are the principal element (or content) of a blog. The Posts are the writings, compositions, discussions, discourses, musings, and, yes, the rantings, of a blog owner and contributors. Posts, in most cases, are the reason a blog exists; without Posts, there is no blog!
Edit Posts
Via the Posts Edit SubPanel you can select the Post or Posts you wish to edit, delete, or view. Multiple Posts can be selected for deletion and for editing. A powerful bulk edit feature allows you to change certains fields, en masse, for a
group of Posts. A handy in-line edit tool, called Quick Edit, allows you to update many fields for an individual Post. Various search and filtering options allow you to find the Posts you want to edit or delete.
Add New Post
The most important part of WordPress, the Posts Add New SubPanel is where you write new Posts. While you are writing those Posts, you can also create new Categories, new Tags, and new Custom Fields. In addition, any Media (pictures, video, recordings, files) can be uploaded and inserted into the Posts.
Tags
Tags are the keywords you might assign to each post. Not to be confused with Categories, Tags have no hierarchy, meaning there’s no relationship from one Tag to another. But like Categories, Tags provide another means to aid your readers in accessing information on your blog.
When using the WordPress Default Theme (sometimes called Kubrick, this is one of the two themes delivered with WordPress), Tags are displayed under each Post those Tags are assigned. Someone viewing your blog can click on one of those Tag links, and an archive page with all the Posts belonging to that Tag will be displayed.
The Posts Tags SubPanel allows you to add, change, or delete Tags. Multiple Tags can be selected for deletion. A search option allows you to find the Tags you want to edit or delete. Also remember Tags can be added in the Posts Add New SubPanel.
Categories
Every Post in WordPress is filed under one or more Categories. Categories allow the classification of your Posts into groups and subgroups, thereby aiding viewers in the navigation and use of your site.
Each Category may be assigned to a Category Parent so that you may set up a hierarchy within the category structure. Using automobiles as an example, a hierarchy might be Car->Ford->Mustang. In creating categories, recognize that each category name must be unique, regardles of hierarchy.
When using the WordPress Default Theme (sometimes called Kubrick, this is one of the two themes delivered with WordPress), Categories are shown in two different places on your blog First, the Categories are listed as links in the Category section of your sidebar, and second, all the Categories to which a given post belongs are displayed under that post. When someone viewing your blog clicks on one of those Category links, a archive page with all the Posts belonging to that Category will be displayed.
The Posts Categories SubPanel allows you to add, edit, and delete Categories, as well as organize your categories hierarchically. Multiple Categories can be selected for deletion. A search option allows you to find the Categories you want to edit or delete. Also remember Categories can be added in the Posts Add New SubPanel.
Media – Add pictures and movies to your posts
Media is the images, video, recordings, and files, you upload and use in your blog. Media is typically uploaded and inserted into the content when writing a Post or Page. Note that the Uploading settings in the Settings Miscellaneous SubPanel describes the location and structure of the upload directory.
Media Library
The Media Library SubPanel allows you edit, delete or view Media previously uploaded to your blog. Multiple Media objects can be selected for deletion. Search and filtering ability is also provided to allow you to find the desired Media.
Upload New Media
The Media Add New SubPanel allows you to upload new media to later use with posts and pages. A Flash Uploader is provided and the ability to use a Browser Uploader is supplied if the Flash Uploader does not work.
Links – Putting the Inter in the Internet
Even if you have a beautifully designed content rich blog, your site might be a dead-end if it never references all the other blogs, humor sites, search engines, sports teams, or chicken cacciatore recipies, you love so much! Since you visit those sites all the time, then use
the WordPress Add New Link ability to allow your reading public to also enjoy those sites.
WordPress Links can be organized by category, have internal references about your relationship to their destinations, can be automatically associated with images, and can even be rated on a scale
from zero to nine.
Edit Links
The Links Edit SubPanel allows you to select the Links to edit or delete. Multiple Links can be selected for deletion. Various search and filtering options allow you to find the Links you want to edit or delete.
Add New Link
As you might expect from its name, the Links Add New SubPanel handles the creation of new links.
Link Categories
Links, like Posts, can be categorized. Categorizing Links aids your audience in navigation of your Links. Each Link Category may be assigned to a Link Category Parent so that you may set up a hierarchy within the Category structure. In creating categories, recognize that each Category name must be unique, regardless of hierarchy.
The Links Link Categories SubPanel allows you to add, edit, and delete Link Categories, as well as organize your Link Categories hierarchically. Multiple Link Categories can be selected for deletion. A search option allows you to find the
Link Categories you want to edit or delete. Also remember Link Categories can be added when adding or editings Links.
Pages – Your Static Content
A Page is another tool to add content to a WordPress site and is often used to present “static” information about the site; Pages are typically “timeless” in nature. A good example of a Page is the information contained in “About” or “Contact” Pages. A Page should not be confused with the time-oriented objects called Posts, nor should a WordPress Page be confused with the word “page” referring to any web page or HTML document on the Web.
Because Pages live outside of the normal blog chronology, and as such, are not displayed with the rest of your Posts, but are displayed individually.
Edit Pages
The Pages Edit SubPanel provides the necessary tools to edit, delete, and view existing Pages. On this SubPanel you can select the Page to edit or delete. Multiple Pages can be selected for deletion and for editing. As with Posts, a powerful bulk edit tool allows certain fields to be edited for a whole group of Pages. A handy in-line edit tool, called Quick Edit, allows you to update many fields for an individual Page. Various search and filtering options allow you to find the Pages you want to edit or delete.
Add New Page
The Add New Page SubPanel allows you to create new Pages. Also see the Pages article for an in depth discussion.
Comments – Reader Feedback
Comments are a feature of blogs which allow readers to respond to Posts. Typically readers simply provide their own thoughts regarding the content of the post, but users may also provide links to other resources, generate discussion, or simply compliment the author for a well-written post. Comments can be controlled and regulated through the use of filters for language and content, and often times can be queued for approval before they are visible on the web site. This is useful in dealing with comment spam.
In the Comments SubPanel you can edit and delete as well as mark comments as spam. Comments that are awaiting moderation can be marked as approved or previously approved comments can be unapproved. Multiple comments can be selected and approved, marked as spam, unapproved, or deleted. A section at the top of the Comments SubPanel displays the number of comments awaiting moderation and the number of approved comments. A search box allows you to find specific comments
SubPanels
Users – Your Blogging Family
Every blog probably has at least two users: admin, the account initially set up by WordPress, and the user account you, as the author/owner of the blog, use to write posts. But maybe you want more; perhaps you want several authors for your blog. If you want a person to be able to post to your blog, that person must have access to a user account; typically, every person will have her or his own user account.
Via the Users option in the main navigation menu you can set up all of the user accounts you need, as well as change user information, or delete users.
An important administrative feature here is the Roles feature. Depending on their Role, different users have different Capabilities. Briefly, a user can be assigned the following Roles: Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, or Subscriber.
You can also specify your, and others’, personal information, such as name, e-mail, etc. from these User Administration Panels.
Your Profile
The Users Your Profile SubPanel allows to change any information related to your user account.
SubPanels
Tools – Managing your Blog
WordPress Tools provide you the ability to speed up WordPress for you local machine, import content from other sources, export you content, or to upgrade your WordPress software to a new release.
Tools – Turbo and Press This
The Turbo ability, introduced with Version 2.6, adds new features to your web browser and speeds up WordPress for the local computer user. The More information… link describe the Google Gears product.
The Press This function allows quick posting and publishing through the use of a special web browser favourite. You can create a shortcut to allow use of “Press This” from the new post screen. You then activate the function when browsing by selecting the favorite from your web browser favorites list.
The Tools Tools SubPanel allows the Turbo and Press This functions to be activated.
Log Out
The Log Out link is found at the top right corner in the Administration Panels. It is simply a link that will log you out from your WordPress blog.
When you log in to your blog, WordPress stores a so called “cookie” in your web browser. This cookie allows WordPress to remember who you are; if you leave your blog’s site for a while but come back to it later, WordPress will see the cookie and not require you to log in again.
However, the cookie cannot tell WordPress who is using the WordPress; in other words, WordPress has no way of looking back at you through your monitor to determine if you are really you. If you have a WordPress cookie set in your web browser, anyone using your computer can access the Administration Panels of your blog. If you don’t want this to happen (perhaps you are using a public computer or a computer which other people use), you can click this Log Out link, and WordPress will delete the cookie from your web browser.
You can, of course, log in at some later time.
Favorites Menu
The Favorites Menu in the header is provided to give quick access to the most used WordPress functions. Those options include, New Post, Drafts, New Page, Upload, and Comments.
Screen Options
Screen Options, displayed as a hanging tab under the header, allow the user to decide what fields or modules are presented in the work area for a given function. Each SubPanel may have a different set of Screen Options.
Click on the Screen Options tab to expand the options available for a particular SubPanel, check (or uncheck) the desired options, then click the Screen Options hanging tab to collapse the Screen Options.
Help
Contextual Help, displayed as a hanging tab under the header, displays one or more Help items that are related to the SubPanel that is displayed in the work area.
Click on the Help tab to expand the Help available for a particular SubPanel, then click the Help hanging tab to collapse the Help display.