The document provides a step-by-step guide to learning WordPress. It discusses widgets, menus, plugins, accessing the dashboard, creating posts and pages, adding images and videos, categories and tags, and basic WordPress settings. The guide explains how to customize the sidebar, create navigation menus, add functionality through plugins, and navigate the backend interface. It also outlines how to write, format and publish new content on the site.

1. Visual Guide to Learning
WordPress.
Step-by-step visual guide to WordPress made
easy.

2. What is WordPress all about?

3. Things WordPress Users Have to Know.
Widgets.
Widget is a fancy word for tools or content that you can add,
arrange, and remove from the sidebar(s) of your blog. Widgets
make it easy to customize the content of your sidebar(s).
Menus.
The Custom Menu feature allows you to change the order of
pages, nest pages to create sub-menus, display posts on
multiple pages by creating category pages, and add posts, tag
pages, and custom links to your navigation menu.
Plugins.
Plugins are cool bits of programming scripts that add additional
functionality to your blog. They either add new features to your
site or enhances ones you already have.

4. Dashboard.
The WordPress platform has two main parts:
• The Front end, what the public sees when they visit your
website.
• The Back end, where you create your posts, articles, and
pages, upload pictures, moderate comments, and control the
look and functionality of the site.
• Both the front end and the back end are accessible from any
web browser.

5. How to access the WordPress Dashboard.
• To get into your back end or Dashboard, you have to go to a specific
address.
• This address is your domain name is plus wp-admin. My website’s
back end address is http://popularbydesign.com/wp-admin/.
• Alternatively, you can go to the right side of your front end website
and click on the Log In button in the Meta section. This brings you
to a log in panel for the WordPress website. Enter your user name
and password.
• If you forget your password, click on the “Lost your password” link,
type your email (the email you used to register your WordPress site),
and WordPress will send you your password. After entering your
username and password, check the “Remember me” button so that
WordPress will remember your username and password.

6. The panel.
• Dashboard section links: Home (your dashboard).
• Updates. It will show if you have any updates. (For example:
WordPress Update, Plugin Updates, etc.)
• Content section: Create and edit post, tags, and categories.
• Add and edit images in your Media library.
• Create and edit links. Create link categories.
• Create and edit new pages.
• Review and moderate comments.
• Appearances: Control Themes, Widgets, Menus, Theme
Options, Background, and Editor.
• Install or Uninstall Plugins.
• Add or remove users.
• Import or export tools.
• Configure settings on your WordPress website.

7. WordPress toolbar.
Dashboard.
• Excess to the front end.
• Updates.
• New comments.
• New Post, Media, Link, Page, User.
Front End.
• Excess to Dashboard.
• Updates.
• New.
• Edit Page.
• Stats.

8. Creating your first Post.

9. Posts.
Categories are like overall defining descriptions of your content.
Think of them as buckets you put things in. In a food magazine, a
category could be something like soup recipes or salad recipes.
Tags are a free form method of categorization.
For soup recipes by Christina, Christina will be the tag name.

12. Posts and pages differ in how they are
presented on your website.
• Posts are generally presented in reverse chronological order.
The most recent post appears at the top, and as you scroll
down the page you get older content.
• Posts are displayed based on categories, and tags, and
authors.
• Posts may have break points. You often find that if you go to a
website, you will see on the index page a featured image and
a short version of a story; there is a link, and by clicking on the
link you get to the full story. Those are the break points that
you see inside posts.
• Posts may have featured images. Those are the images that
appear on indexes, on front pages related to the posts, and
outside of the main content.

13. Pages.

14. Posts versus Pages.
• Pages are individual elements: they don't have categories, tags
and dates.
• Pages may have parent-child relationships. For example, a
parent Recipes page may have child pages like Soups, Salads,
and Desserts.
• Pages have dedicated URLs, so it's easy to find them. For
example, if you create an “About” page, usually the URL will
end up being <your site>.com/about.
• Pages can also have different page templates within the
website. For example, the contact page will look different
from the home page.

15. Creating a new Post.
• Posts are at the core of what WordPress is built to do, and
they have been around since its beginning.
• To create a new post, lot on to your site, go to the WordPress
toolbar, and select New and Post, or, in the Dashboard, go to
the left sidebar and select Posts and Add New. Both will take
you to the Add New Post panel.
• Enter Title.
• Enter Text.
• Assign and create categories and tags.

16. Advanced text formatting.

17. Creating and managing Links.
• Copy the Ezlearningacademy blog post URL, highlight
ezlearningacademy.com in the text, and then click the Link button; this
opens the Insert/edit link dialog.
• Paste in the URL, remembering that you need http:// in the front; then
give your link a title, so that when people hover over it they see where
they’re going.
• Select open in the new window link/tab. My rule of thumb is that if I'm
pointing to something that's not on my website, I always check this box.
That way, people can jump to the other website or the other article, and
when they're done they can close it down and be right back where they
were in my article.
• Once you've added both the URL and the Title, click Add Link, and the link
is added.
• If you want to edit one of these links, you can click on it and either take it
away by clicking the Unlink button or click on the Insert/edit link button to
make edits.
• If you want to link to something that's already on your website, such as a
page or a post you’ve already created, highlight the text, click the Link
button, and click on link to existing content.

18. Working with Images.
• Title.
• Alternate Text.
• Caption.
• Description.
• Link URL.
• Alignment.
• Size .

19. Image gallery.
• When people add image galleries, they often ask, what if I
want to add a regular image to my post and keep the gallery
separate? Unfortunately, you cannot display an image in your
post separately from the gallery. If you add an image to the
post, it will automatically appear in the gallery as well.

20. Adding Video from external files.
• You can easily add a YouTube video to your post.
• Go to YouTube and choose the video you want to add.
• Click on the Share button and then the Embed button and
copy the code.
• Go back to your post. Click on HTML view and post your code.
• Preview and publish your post.

21. Adding Tags, Categories, Featured Images,
and Additional Functions to your post.
• To add a new category
• Create a tag or multiple tags
• Featured Image

22. Additional Functions.
• Excerpt - When WordPress displays your content on an index page, it
only displays the first part of your content; in many cases, the
beginning of your article might not be very informative. In the
excerpt panel, you can write a short summary of the article, and that
text will be displayed in the index.
• Trackbacks - is an advanced function that allows you to tell websites
you are linking to that it is actually you linking to them.
• Custom Fields - are also an advanced option that is available only for
self-hosted WordPress sites.
• Discussion - You can turn comments, trackbacks and pingbacks on
and off for each page.
• Slug – is an advanced function that you are not going to use much.
• Revisions - gives you a list of every revision you have made to this
post.
• Author - If you have multiple authors registered on your blog, you
can pick a different author for your post.

23. Creating and editing a new Category.
• Give the category a name.
• Attach a slug, that is, a URL-friendly version of the category name.
• Add a category description.
• Click on Add New Category.
• The new category can now be edited, either by Quick Edit or by a full
Edit. You can also delete the category.
Bulk Editing a Category
• Go back to All Posts and click on Uncategorized again to filter it
down.
• Check every post, then go to Bulk Actions and select Edit. When you
click Apply, you get to the bulk edit for all of these posts. From here,
you change the categories by selecting new category names.
• Click Update; now all these updates have the new category
attached.

24. Publishing your post.
• Status - When you write a new post, it is automatically set to
Draft.
• Visibility - You have three levels of visibility for any post in
WordPress:
• Public
• Password Protected
• Private

25. Creating Pages.
• Using Page Templates
• Default
• Showcase
• Sidebar

26. Creating a static front page.
• Create a new page and call it the Home Page.
• Create a new page and call it the Blog Page.
• Go to Settings and choose Reading
• On the Reading panel, choose a static page, under the front
page select Home, and on the Post page select Blog.
• Click Save Changes and preview your index page.

27. WordPress Settings.
General tab
• Site Title - Define your website title.
• Tagline - a few words about your site.
• WordPress Address (URL) - Web address for your website.
• Email Address - main email address for the site.
• Membership - who can register on the site. In most cases, you want
to leave this unchecked, so that you control who can register to your
site.
• New User Default Role - The default role is always Subscriber, and
you really should never change this.
• Time zone - The Time zone tab lets you define what the time is
where you are currently located. If you don't know the UTC time for
your current location, try typing in the name of a large city close to
you and see if it pops up.
• Date Format - Set the Date Format; you can leave that as it is.
• Time Format - The Time Format, including what day the week starts
on.

28. Writing tab.
• Formatting - You have two options: off means that regular emoticons
are converted to graphics; on means that badly written XHTML is
automatically corrected.
• Default Post Category - Keep it the way it is; you can change it if
necessary.
• Default Link Category - Keep it the way it is.
• Press This - This is a bookmarklet. If your browser supports
bookmarklets – for instance, Chrome does – you can open the
Bookmarks bar in your browser, and then drag and drop this
bookmarklet up to the Bookmarks bar.
• Post via email - allows you to send emails directly to your website; those
emails will be turned into posts that appear immediately. It is an
advanced option.
• Remote Publishing - allows you to attach other software to your
WordPress site. Also an advanced option.
• Update Services - Currently, Update Services are turned off, because we
have set the privacy settings not to index. If we change the privacy
settings, a new panel will appear where you can insert Update Services.

29. Reading tab.
• Front page displays - We already discussed this Chapter 6 and
chose a static front page. Basically, if you are building a
website you should choose this option; if you are building a
blog you should choose your latest Post.
• Reading settings - You decide how many posts you want to
show on the front page and index pages, and also how many
posts you want to show in your syndication feeds, your RSS
feeds, and so on.
• For each article in a feed - You decide whether you want to
show the entire post in your feeds or just a summary.
• Search Engine Visibility - You decide if you want your website
be visible to search engines.

30. Managing site Users.
• Administrator - Somebody with access to the website network
administration features controlling the entire network. The
Administrator can do anything on the site, including reconfiguring it,
adding and subtracting new users, and publishing and unpublishing
content.
• Editor - Somebody who can publish and manage posts and pages as
well as manage other users' posts and pages.
• Author – Somebody who can only publish and manage their own
posts.
• Contributor - Somebody who can write and manage their own posts
but not publish them. If they try to publish posts, the posts will be
saved as Pending Review.
• Subscriber - Somebody who can only manage their profile and has
no access to the Dashboard. If you log in as an Editor, Contributor, or
Editor, in each case the Dashboard will look different. The Subscriber
will not have any dashboard at all; they can only manage their
profile.

31. Managing Comments.
• Management of comments in WordPress can be done in
several different places. If you go back to Settings and
Discussion, you can configure who can comment and how and
when they can comment on your site. The comment’s author
must have a previously approved comment configuration.
• When you log on to WordPress and someone has left a
comment on your site, you see it in your toolbar.

32. Working with Themes.
• You can download a theme from the Internet and install it manually
in WordPress. If you want to install a theme which is not available in
the WordPress theme directory, you go to the WordPress toolbar
and select Themes or go to the Dashboard, then to Appearance, and
select Themes.
• Go to Install Themes and click on the Upload button; WordPress will
allow you to upload a zip folder with the new theme in it directly to
your site.
• Click Choose File, navigate to my Downloads, find the zip folder, click
Open, and click Install Now.
• WordPress uploads the file and unpacks the folder.
• Activate or preview the theme.
• Each time you activate a new theme, you have to review the
documentation that comes with the theme and configure the theme
according to the instructions. Remember, each theme is designed
and programmed with a different set of functionalities.

33. Building Custom Web Site
• Go to Dashboard > Appearance > Themes > Install Themes
tab > "Upload". After you click the "Upload" link, a new page
opens and you are asked to upload Dandelion.zip file on your
local file system.
• General Settings .

34. Page Settings.
1. Home.
• To Upload Images go to WordPress Class folder > Pages >
Page_Images > Home Page > box1.jpg, box2.jpg, box3.jpg. Box
image size 263 x 160
• Insert Box image description and link to the page you want
your image to be linked.
• Save Changes
2. Blog.
3. Portfolio.
4. Contact Page

35. Slider Settings.
• To add images to the slider go to the Slider Settings > Nivo
Slider section.
• Upload the selected image (or add image URL), and press the
"Add Image" button.
• Nivo Slider Images are located in your WordPress Class folder
> Pages > PageImages > Home Page > Slide1.jpg, Slide2.jpg.
Optimal image size: 980px × 370px
• Save Changes.
• After you add images, you can sort them by dragging and
dropping the image box to the desired position.

36. Style Settings.
• The Dandelion theme comes with several predefined skins and
you can choose any skin you like.
• If you like to use custom color, rather than one of the
predefined colors, you can select your color in the Custom
Theme Color field.

37. Logo.
• To Upload Images go to WordPress Class folder > Pages
>PageImages >Home Page > Logo.jpg. Optimal logo size:
160px × 80px
• Save Changes.

38. Styles
• Text Style.
• Backgrounds.
• Fonts.

39. Create Pages.
• Go to Dashboard > Pages >Add New.
• Type your text.
• Select >Template > Home Page.
• Slider > Nivo Slider/Fader.
• Page Layout > Full Width.
• Go to Dashboard > Setting > Reading.
• Choose Static Page.
• Choose Front Page > Home.
• Post Page > Blog.
• Preview and Publish Page

40. About Page.
• Go to Dashboard > Pages >Add New.
• Type your text.
• Select >Template > Default Template.
• Slider > Static Header Image.
• Page Layout > Full Width.
• Upload Featured Image go to WordPress Class folder > Pages
>Page Images>About Page > about_page.jpg. Featured image
size 980 x 200.
• Preview and Publish Page

41. Blog Page.
• Go to Dashboard > Pages >Add New.
• Select >Template > Featured Page.
• Slider > None.
• Page Layout > Right Sidebar.
• Preview and Publish Page.

42. Contact Page.
• Go to Dashboard > Pages >Add New.
• Select >Template >Contact form page.
• Slider > None.
• Page Layout > Right Sidebar.
• Preview and Publish Page.

43. About Me Page.
• Go to Dashboard > Pages >Add New.
• Page Layout > Full Width.
• Select >Template >Default Template.
• Slider > None.
• Parent About > Order 1.
• Preview and Publish Page.

44. Portfolio Page.
• Go to Dashboard > Pages >Add New.
• Select >Template >Portfolio Gallery.
• Portfolio Settings. Please review settings on.
• Preview and Publish Page.

45. Building Sample Site Portfolio
Create Portfolio Categories.
• Go to Portfolio > Portfolio Categories.
• Create Categories for your portfolio.
Image Portfolio Item.
• Go to Portfolio > Add New.
• Create Categories. Select Portfolio Categories.
• Portfolio images located in WordPress Class folder > Portfolio.
• When clicked on the image open > Select image in lighbox.
• Preview Image URL > Upload portfolio image.
• Item Description >Add item Description.
• Preview and Publish.

46. Building Sample Site Portfolio continue…
Video Portfolio Item.
• Upload Portfolio Images go to WordPress Class folder >
Portfolio.
• Select Portfolio Categories.
• When clicked on the image open >Select Play Video.
• Add Custom Link/Video URL > Add video url.
• Preview Image URL > Upload portfolio image.
• Item Description >Add item Description .
• Preview and Publish.

47. Plugins.
Plugins are small programs that run inside WordPress either to
add functionality or to change an existing functionality.
Plugins are developed by open source developers and posted to the
wordpress.org Plugin Directory, where you can find information about
them, download them, and see how other people rate them. You can also find
plugins on other websites, but generally, these are more advanced plugins that
you need to purchase. If you want to see your installed plugins, go to your
Dashboard, scroll down to Plugins, and click Installed Plugins.
• To install a new Plugin:
• Download the plugin Zip File.
• Unpack it.
• Install the plugin application in your WordPress website.
• Activate the Plugin.

48. Here are 10 plugins I recommend getting.
• Akismet Plugin - controls Spam on your website.
• Jetpack Plugin - adds functionality to your website.
• All in One SEO Pack Plugin - helps to optimize your website for search engines.
• WP-DB- Backup Plugin - backs up your website’s database and sends it to your
server or email address.
• WordPress Backup to Dropbox Plugin - uses the free cloud hosting service
Dropbox to back up not only your database but also all your files. It's a way more
advanced function because it backs up more stuff, and it's also more secure.
• WP-touch Plugin - creates a mobile solution for your cell phones and tablets.
• Contact Form 7 Plugin - helps to create contact pages with contact forms on
them.
• Easy Fancy Box Plugin - helps to create an image portfolio. When you click on an
image, it does not take you away from the site but just opens a bigger version of
the image in front of of your content.
• Yet Another Related Posts Plugin - for all content for each post, tracks what other
posts are related to it and displays that list of related posts either in your sidebar
as a widget or somewhere within your post.
• AddThis Plugin - helps to share your content.

49. Plugins for your web site.
• Upload Plugins from your theme, go to WordPress Class folder
> Your Theme.
• Upload Jetpack
• All in One SEO.
• Akismet (key e807637e0bfa)
• WPtouch

50. Site Settings Configuration.
• General Settings.
• Writing.
• Discussion.
• Permalinks.
• Sharing.

51. Creating a Custom Menu.
Menu.
The Custom Menu feature allows you to change the order of pages,
nest pages to create sub-menus, display posts on multiple pages by
creating category pages, and add posts, tag pages, and custom links to
your navigation menu.
Main Menu.
• Go to Appearance>Menus. Create Main Menu.
• Select Pages you want to appear in a Main Menu > Click on Add to
Menu > Click Save Menu.
• Under Main Menu select Main Menu > Click Save
Footer Menu.
• Create Footer Menu > Save Menu
• Select About and Contact Pages > Click on Add to Menu > Click Save
Menu.

52. Widgets.
Widget is a fancy word for tools or content that you can add to,
arrange in, and remove from the sidebars of your blog. Widgets make
it easy to customize the content of your sidebars.
Widgets are small applications that show information, like links to the
most recent post, recent comments, and archives.
Default Sidebar
• Drug Search, Blog Subscription, Text, Links, Twitter Widget Pro and
RSS Links Widgets to Default Sidebar.
• Configure Blog Subscription Widget
• Configure Text Widget
Footer Columns
• Drug Search Widget to Footer First Column
• Drug Blog Subscription to Footer Second Column
• Drug Custom Menu to Footer Third Column

53. Be found by search engines.
• Change Permalinks.
• Install One SEO Pack.
• Social Media Sharing.