WordPress For Dummies, 8th Edition
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With WordPress, you can truly tailor a website to your own tastes and needs. All the publishing tools you need are readily available: Some are packaged with the WordPress software; others are third-party plugins and add-ons created by members of the WordPress user community. With a little research, knowledge, and time, you can create a WordPress website that suits your needs and gives your readers an exciting experience that keeps them coming back for more.

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Finding WordPress Community Support

The WordPress community has volunteers who run support forums for each version of WordPress. In these forums, you can exchange questions and answers with seasoned users. Be sure to access the right support forum for the version of WordPress you are using.

If You Are . . . . . . Use This Forum
Using the free hosted solution provided by the fine folks at WordPress.com WordPress.com Forums
Running the single-user version of WordPress on your own Web server (self-hosting) WordPress Support
Searching for a repository of information about the overall use of WordPress WordPress Codex

 

Touring the WordPress Dashboard

The WordPress Dashboard has main menu items that are standard across both versions — WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Submenu options may vary with the WordPress version.

Menu Item Description
Dashboard Find basic information and statistics for your website, as well as information from the WordPress Development Blog and other blogs run by those involved with WordPress development or resources.
Posts View all media files you’ve uploaded to your site, including images, audio, and video. Upload and manage new media files with the built-in media uploader.
Media View all media files you’ve uploaded to your site, including images, audio, and video. Upload and manage new media files with the built-in media uploader.
Pages Write and publish new static pages for your site, and edit or delete previous pages; assign pages to custom page templates.
Comments Manage comments by viewing, editing, or deleting them; also manage your comment moderation queue and comment/trackback spam.
Appearance Manage your WordPress themes by viewing them, activating them, and editing them in the Theme Editor. Use and configure Sidebar Widgets here, too.
Plugins View a listing of plugins installed in your WordPress site. Find new plugins, and install, activate, deactivate, upgrade, and edit them.
Users Manage your users and subscribers and edit your own profile.
Tools Import data into your blog from another content management system (like Blogger, TypePad, or Movable Type) or export your current website data into a backup file. Upgrade your WordPress software to the latest version using the auto-upgrade feature.
Settings Set the general options for your website. Find settings for posts, RSS feed, discussion options, privacy, and permalinks.

 

Locating a Reliable Web Host

WordPress can host your blog using the WordPress.com hosted service. If you are using the self-hosted WordPress.org software, you need a quality, reliable web host. Here are some WordPress–friendly web-hosting services.

Finding WordPress Resources

If you use WordPress as the platform for your website, you can use any or all of the many tools that WordPress offers. The WordPress community is active and provides you with several resources you can use to help you along the way with using the WordPress platform to publish your content.

With This Tool . . . . . . You Can
WordPress Plugins Browse through thousands of downloads that let you do almost anything you can imagine — and you can imagine quite a lot, can’t you?
Theme Directory Choose from hundreds of themes to manage the look and functionality of your home page.
WordPress Codex Try the Codex to tap into the encyclopedia of WordPress knowledge.
WordPress News & Updates Check out this section of the official WordPress website for the latest news and notes on all things WordPress.
Support forums for WordPress.com Post questions, answers, and comments for other WordPress users who are using the hosted/commercial version of WordPress.com.
Support forums for WordPress.org Post your questions and obtain answers from the vast WordPress community for users of the self-hosted WordPress.org software.

 

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Lisa Sabin-Wilson is cofounder of WebDevStudios, one of the largest WordPress design and development agencies in the world. She is a regular public speaker at national events on topics such as WordPress, development, design, CSS, and social media.

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