Congratulations! You’ve installed WordPress! Now what?
Installing WordPress is just the beginning. Adjust your settings, choose a theme, and decide which plugins to run. At this month’s meetup four of our long-time meetup members are going to help you navigate WordPress after you install it.
3. Settings > General
"Anyone can register"
● When unchecked, this "Register"
link will disappear from the login
page.
● Helpful for preventing bot accounts
(spammers)
● Does not prevent commenting
4. Settings > Writing
XML-RPC
Wha???
"Enable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog
and Blogger XML-RPC publishing protocols."
Translation: Publish from your phone.
5. Settings > Reading
● Front page: Latest posts or static page?
● Number of posts per page (applies to archive
pages as well as front page
● Full or summary RSS - this only affects your
feed
6. Settings > Discussion
● Pingbacks and trackbacks - generally, turn
these on if you are building a traditional
"blog"
● Regulate comments, or turn them off
7. Settings > Privacy
● Turn off search engine indexing for test sites,
not-ready-for-prime-time, etc
● This does not hide your site - it's still online!
● Not all search bots respect this
8. Settings > Permalinks
● Make your links readable and SEO-friendly
http://mysite.com/tags/parties/fourth-of-july
vs
http://mysite.com/?p=241
● Customize, but beware! Best to use one of
the options. Details at http://codex.wordpress.
org/Settings_Permalinks_Screen
9. Pick a Theme
● Change themes without changing content
● Search from within the dashboard
● Change at will!
11. What is a theme?
A group of files that affect how your site looks.
Theme files are stored separate than WP core, plugins
and your content.
12. Free vs Premium
Free Commercial/Premium
· Try as many as you like · A good developer, will
for free! provide good support.
· Most are unsupported so · If building a niche website,
you rely on community for some are built with industry-
help. specific features.
Is one better than the other?
13. How do we find themes?
· wordpress.org/extend/themes
1,518 free themes available in .org/extent theme repository
· wordpress.org/extend/themes/commercial
65 commercial theme development companies listed
14. Where else?
· Developer websites - Elegant Themes, Themify, WPMU
· Lots of developers sell their work on other marketplace sites
such as themeforest.net (owned by Envato) and mojo-
themes, as well as many others
· Theme reviewers - WPCandy, WPTavern, Smashing
Magazine..
BEWARE!!
Do not use Google to do random non-specific theme searches,
BUT instead use it to find a specific theme or developer by name
that you may have heard about or read a review on.
15. Things to look for and consider
· Visual design
· Fits your needs
· Supports WP core features
· Options and Features
· Browser compatibility
· Software compatibility
· Last updated
· Available Support
· Comments
· Price
16. How do you choose?
Know what you want, but be open to
creativity and ideas.
17. Plugins vs. Themes
● Plugin applies to all themes, it's not limited
to a specific theme
"Plugins can extend WordPress to do almost
anything you can imagine."
25. Widgets
Code free way to add options
and features to your site
Place to display content and
bring forward functionality
from your theme and plugins
Widgets are placed in areas
defined by your theme
26. "Core" Widgets
Widgets are theme dependent, but certain
widgets come with the core install
Search
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Pages
Archives & Calendar
RSS
Text Widgets
27. Manipulating Widgets
Drag and Drop
Recent Posts, Comments and Archives
Re-order and change options
Display Widgets Plugin
Additional functionality in a code free way
Removing a Widget
Delete vs. Inactive
28. Menus
Main Navigation area of your site
They tell your visitors where to find and access your content
Style
Old Style of Menus was hard coded in theme :(
New Style is User configurable in the admin panel
Theme Support is required for the new menus
How Do I know? From Dashboard go to Appearance --> Menus
29. Building Menus
Start with Menu name
Save and you should see 'Theme locations'
Add the menu to the theme location
Add Pages (5)
Point out Top Level auto add
Order them through Drag and Drop
Special Home item (view all)
Add Categories (3)
Order them
Custom Link
wpnyc.org
30. Useful Links
Widgets
The Codex Article
http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Widgets
Creating Widget Areas (Advanced Topic)
http://justintadlock.com/archives/2009/05/26/the-complete-guide-
to-creating-widgets-in-wordpress-28
Menus
The Codex
http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Menu_User_Guide
35. Presented by
Rindy Portfolio
@portfola / rindy@crosscutsoftware.com
Krista Gonzalez
www.720creations.com
Dana Skallman
dana@glocalwebtech.com
Kevin Cristiano
wpnyc.org/members/kcristiano