Content management guide
1. Introduction
Your Web site is running content management software called WordPress. WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms available, and is both powerful and easy to use (once a few introductory concepts are out of the way). Though originally designed as a blog platform, it has been enhanced to function quite well as a general content management framework (CMS). More comprehensive documentation is maintained at the WordPress site.
2. Logging in
By default, logins are not required to view your Web site or leave comments on blog posts. This can be changed, if desired.
Logins are required to create blog posts or pages.
To login, click on the link titled “Log in” on your Web site, if it is present. This will take you to a log in screen, which you may want to bookmark for future ease of use. (If you do not have a “Log in” link on your site, go to http://yourdomain.com/cms/wp-admin/ — substituting the name of your domain for yourdomain.com.)
Enter your username and password exactly as was provided to you, and click “Log in.” This will take you to the WordPress dashboard.
3. Your Profile
The first time you login, you will probably want to edit your profile. Click on your user name on the upper right-hand side of the dashboard page. Here are some things you might wish to change:
- Visual Editor. By default, all users will use a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWIG) or “rich text” editor to create and edit content. Most users will want to keep this option, since it provides a fully-featured tool to easily edit and format content. (Cut and paste from Microsoft Word is not recommended in Visual mode. If you need to cut and paste, or if you need to enter some HTML code, you should switch to HTML mode, then switch back to Visual mode to format. You can easily switch between “Visual” and “HTML” mode while editing.)
- Name. You can change the way your name will appear on your blog posts here.
- E-mail. Comments on your blog posts will be e-mailed to this address. Your e-mail address will not be visible to users.
- Website. Depending on your theme, this may be linked from your by-line on blog posts.
- AIM, Yahoo IM, jabber / Google Talk. These fields are not in use by default, so don’t bother filling them in.
- Biographical Info. Here you can enter a simple, short (one or two sentence) description of yourself, which will appear at the end of your blog posts and/or on your author page, depending on your theme.
- New Password. Please reset your password the first time you log in.
Once you’ve made changes to your profile, you must click “Update Profile” for the changes to take effect.
4. Creating Content
There are two basic ways to create content on the Web site.
“Pages” are content that is more or less static, and that will generally be more easily accessible from the front page. “About,” “Calendar,” “Volunteer Opportunities,” and “Contact” are some examples.
“Posts” are content that is more time sensitive, more like diary entries. The most recent eight posts show up on the blog page (which may be your front page, depending on how your site is configured), and fall off into the archive as new posts are added (with the most recent on the top). Posts also allow comments from readers, and can provide a lively discussion forum.
Creating a Post or Page involves the same basic steps, but make sure you know which you are creating.
1. Blog Posts
To create a new blog post, click on “New Post” on the dashboard. This will take you to a page with lots of options. Be sure to include a title in the area beneath “Add New Post”, then compose your entry in the editor below. You should also check one or more Categories.
You can click “Save Draft” frequently while composing your post, which will save the post as a draft, and you can also click “Preview” to see how it will appear once published.
When you are ready to publish the post, simply click “Publish.”
2. Pages
To create a new page, click on “New Page” on the dashboard. This will take you to a page with slightly fewer options than the post page. There are no categories, for example. Otherwise, things work pretty much the same.
5. Editing content
Any user at the “editor” level may edit any post or page, regardless of who originally created it. Under “Posts” or “Pages” on the left-hand side of the dashboard, click “Edit” under “Posts” or “Pages”. This will take you to a list of blog posts or pages. If you want to edit a previously written page, you can click “Pages” from here to get a list of pages. From either of these lists, you may simply click on the title of the post or page you wish to edit, and you will be taken to an editor.
There is also an “Edit” link at the bottom of each post or page when you are logged in.
Once you’ve made changes or additions, simply click “Save” to publish your changes.