The Busy Bee

This is one part of a series of articles providing basic instructions for using WordPress. To start at the beginning, or view the full index of articles in this series, go to  A Simple Wordpress User Guide for Beginners.

How to Update your WordPress Installation.

When a new update to WordPress is released, you will be notified in your admin panel by a one sentence statement to that effect, displayed at the top of each page of your WordPress admin panel. There is a link in that notification to update. Updating your installation immediately is always a good idea.  Sometimes the updates have security patches that protect your website from hackers.

Click that link to go to the update page where you will have 2 options – to update automatically or manually.

The WordPress automatic updater works very well. Just click the button to update and wait 5 to 10 seconds until it tells you it is complete.

This is one part of a series of articles providing basic instructions for using WordPress. To start at the beginning, or view the full index of articles in this series, go to  A Simple Wordpress User Guide for Beginners.

It is actually super easy to create a new post or page in WordPress.

1. Login to your WordPress Admin panel;
2. On the left column where the core navigation buttons are, click on either the Posts or Pages button, depending on which you want to create;
3. Click on the “Add New” link.  This will take you to the “Add New Post” or “Add New Page” screen.
4. Enter your title in the top text area.
5. Enter your post or page content.  Edit your content.
6. Save or Publish your new post or page.
7. The rest is optional.

This is one part of a series of articles providing basic instructions for using WordPress. To start at the beginning, or view the full index of articles in this series, go to  A Simple Wordpress User Guide for Beginners.

This section of the guide starts on the Edit Post or Edit Page section of your WordPress Admin area.  You can get there either by choosing the “Edit” or “Add New” option under Posts or Pages on you Core Navigation bar at the left of your admin screen (see image to right for reference). If you are adding a new post or page, you may want read How to Add a New Post or Page before continuing below.  If you are editing an existing post or page, you will be presented with a list of posts or pages to choose from.  You can either click on the title of the post or page, or hover your cursor over the bottom of the title and options will appear, including “edit”.

Let’s get started.

The control panel to edit a post is identical to that used to edit a page, therefor the information below pertains to both.

Upload/Insert Media

The icons at the top left of the editor next to the words Upload/Insert allow you to add and edit images, video, audio and other media.  We will be focusing on editing text in this article.  You can learn about uploading and inserting media in the article titled How to Add Images and other Media in WordPress.

Visual and HTML Editors

There are two content editor modes, the “Visual” editor and the “HTML” editor.  You can select which editor you want to use using the buttons at top right of the content editor.  The image below shows the Visual editor.

This is one part of a series of articles providing basic instructions for using WordPress. To start at the beginning, or view the full index of articles in this series, go to  A Simple Wordpress User Guide for Beginners.

Let’s Get Started

Orientation » There are two editing modes, Visual and HTML.  Each have their own edit commands.  We will be working within the “Visual” editing mode.  See below at top right of the editing area where the word “Visual” is clear and “HTML” is faded out.  This means you are in visual mode.  If you are not, simply click on the work “Visual” to switch modes.

If you ever need to access files on more than one computer, and you haven’t heard of Dropbox, I can’t recommend more highly checking out their service.  On top of that, I have only read glowing feedback on-line from others, which has been my experience.

I am not exagerating by saying that dropbox was for me the easiest and most user-friendly application I have ever had to install and get up and running.  The learning curve to have this application serving your needs quickly so you could move on to other things you want to be doing – was almost nothing.  I would even go so far as to say it would be a stretch to say you have to even “learn” how to use it.  Not only have they made it incredibaly easy and simple, but they even hold your hand in explaining how to use it, kind of like, if you add 2 and 2 together, your will get 4. You can be sleep deprived and multi-tasking, and you will understand it.

After setting it up, you have a folder, just like any other folder, in which you can save, edit and delete files, just like you normally do.  Except all of those files will automatically synced with any other computer you have set-up with that same dropbox account.  And if you are away from your computer and need to access those files using another computer, you can login to your account with Dropbox and access those files that way as well.

Runs automatically.  Super Secure.  You can also have a folder specified to for sharing so you can invite others to view or collaborate with you live.  They have a free iPhone app so you can sync with your iPhone, if you have one.  And there is more, but I think you get the point.  Check it out, try it, use it.

And the price – Free for the first 2 GB.  That is a lot of free space.  For some people, you won’t need more.  For me, and how I plan to use it, I don’t actually need more space.  From there you can upgrade to $9.99 for 50 GB, or $19.99 for 100 GB.

I think that about says it.

Have you ever entered a keyword phrase into Google with the intent of seeing where your website, or a client’s website is in the search results?  Before you get too excited, you will want to “uncustomize” the results.

In December 2009, Google launched a Beta version of their new “Asynchronous Tracking Code” for its Google Analytics.  This won’t affect your current code from operating, but if you want to improve your webpage load times and fine-tune the accuracy of your Analytics data, then then check out this option.

WordPress is a powerful program that is simple to use.  It is that way because many people have put years into refining it to be so.  Millions of people use it, and there are endless resources to help you learn more and do more with it. It was designed as a blogging platform and has grown to serve as a multi-faceted content management system for seemingly endless possibilities.

This is a simple user’s guide for beginners, designed to guide a new user through the basics of adding and editing content in a pre-installed Wordpress environment.  Whether you are using this as a blogging platform or as a content management system, this guide should serve the beginner well.  This guide is written at a time when the current version of Wordpress is version 2.9.

Side Note: Whether you are a web designer or developer using this guide to support your clients, or a first time user of WordPress, feel free to let me know how I can improve this guide – by submitting comments below.  It is not intended to be exhaustive, just the basics.  And please be patient and check back for updates.

Lets get started.

What you need

• The URL address (website address) to login to your admin panel.  (It will likely end in: /wp-admin or /wp-login.php).
• Your username and password.

Guide Topics – many coming soon

• Overview – Dashboard and Core Navigation
• Posts & Pages Overview
• Create a New Post or Page
• Add, Edit, and Format Text in a Post and Page
• Add Images, Video, Audio and other Media
• Edit Images, Video, Audio and other Media
• How to Update and Backup your WordPress Website

Are you are freelancer, independent contractor, or other professional working solo? Here are three plus great freelancer resources for you.

Freelancers Union

Freelancers Union has grown to be a very large voice on Capitol Hill for the rights of Freelancers in the US, and the more members they have, the better they can serve the needs of Freelancers. Freelancers pay more in taxes, have less options when it comes to health insurance, and have less rights as workers, just to name a few.  But Freelancers Union is changing all of that.  And they also offer seminars, discounts on related services, networking opportunities, and other benefits for freelancers.  Visit their website.  Check them out.  Joining is FREE.

Here are the basics. If you want to, for example, conduct transactions online with credit cards, via a form or shopping cart, where customers enter their credit card information, you will want to offer your customers the security that once they hit the submit button, their information is not being viewed by other than you.

How do you do this?