Using the Publish box – Working with Drafts in WordPress.
WordPress gives you a few extra options when it comes to Publishing your Post.
The Publish box is on the right side of the ‘Write Post Page’.
The functions of the ‘Save Draft’, ‘Preview’ and ‘Publish’ buttons are obvious.
It’s the options in the middle of the Publish box I’m going to explain here.
Status, Visibility and the Time Stamp
To edit these options just click on the Edit Link on the right of each option.
This will expand the menu (see the image below)
Click on the image for a larger view
Status Options; Use the Drop down Menu to choose, and then click ‘OK’
- Published; the post is already published and live on your site, viewable by anyone.
You can still edit the post and change its status at any time - Pending review; Your Post is waiting to be approved by an administrator
- Draft; The Post is only viewable by yourself and administrators until the status is changed to ‘Published’
Visibility Options; Use the Radio Buttons to choose, and then click ‘OK’
- Public; Your post will be visible to everyone when its Published
- Public- Stick this Post to the front page;
In some themes this option will publish this post at the top , on your home page, over newer posts. Until you change it. - Password Protected; Choose this option if you want to limit who sees your Post when it’s published. You can give the password to the people you would like to read.
- Private; Your post will be published but only you will be able to see it.
Post Timestamp
You can schedule when your post will be published by editing the time and date in this section.
For Example … if you have written several posts in one day. But would like to space out when they are published and go live. You can schedule the time here.
You can also change the date published to an earlier time if you need to.
When you’ve selected the time and date you want click ‘OK’
Inserting Links and using Images as links in WordPress Posts and Pages
Most Word processing applications such as Microsoft Word will automatically transform URL’s into a Hyperlink.
In WordPress it’s a little more work than that … but ‘Inserting a link’ into your post is quick and easy when you know how.
1. Select the text or image that you want to be a link then Click on the ‘Insert / Edit link button’
Click on an image for a larger view
2. In the Window that Opens.
Enter the URL of the web site or web page you want to link to into the Link URL text box (see image below)
3. In the Target textbox you can set whether you want the link to open in a new browser window or the same window.
4. The Title text box is a description of the link and is used by some browsers as Alt text
5. You can also change the Class (formatting) of the link
Don’t worry about this unless you know what you’re doing
6. Click on the ‘Insert’ Button …
You’re done! You can now Save and preview and test the link or publish your Post.
Click on an image for a larger view
To Insert an Image link.
After you have inserted the image into your post.
Select the image by clicking on it then simply follow the same steps as above.
How to add a Post or Page In WordPress and Inserting an image or a gallery.
If you dont know the difference between a WordPress Page or post please read my previous entry first; The Difference between Pages and Posts
The main difference between adding a Post or a Page to your Site is that you can categorize your Posts. Otherwise the Admin / Editing page looks the same (see image below).
Click on Image for a Larger view
To write a post:
Log in to your WordPress Administration Panel.
1. Click the Posts tab.
2. Click the Add New Sub Tab
3. Fill in the title
4. Write your content for your post or page
5. As needed, select a category, add tags, and make other selections from the sections below the post.
Each of these sections is explained here.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_Posts
6. Save your Post or Page as a draft and preview it as many times as you need to.
When you’re satisfied you have finished, click Publish.
There are lots of features and tools available in this ‘Add a Post’ window.
I am just going to deal with the main ones here that most people will use consistently to create content and need to get started.
In this Tutorial;
Inserting Images and galleries
In Tutorials coming up;
• Inserting Links and using Images as links.
• Using Drafts and previewing your content before Publishing.
Inserting Images and Galleries into your Post or page
Click on the ‘Add Image’ Button at the top of the Toolbar.
Click on Image for a Larger view
This will bring up the ‘Add an Image’ Window (See Below)
Click on Image for a Larger view
Click on ‘Select Files’ and browse to the Folder where your images that you want to use, are being stored.
One of the great things about Using WordPress is you can bulk upload images using the Flash Uploader
In the Image above I have selected the top 6 images to upload.
use the CTRL or SHIFT key and click on the files to select more than one Image
Click on the Open button
You should then see the progress bars animation and image thumbnails as files are being uploaded (see below)
Click on Image for a Larger view
Note: If you have clicked on the ‘Select Files’ button and nothing happens it usually means that you don’t have the Flash Plug-in installed in your browser. This means you will have to use the Browser Uploader which can only upload a single image at a time
You can then add details to each image by clicking on the ‘Show’ Link
this will also give you all the options to insert the image into your page or post
Click on Image for a Larger view
Insert Image Options
(see Image above and explanation below)
Title and Caption: The ‘Title’ and ‘Caption’ options vary from Web browser to Web browser.
In Mozilla Firefox the ‘Title’ text is used as Alternate text (this is the little box with text that appears when you hold your cursor over a link).
But In Internet Explorer the ‘Caption’ Text is used as Alternate text. ‘Caption’ text is optional it but can help with Search Engine Optimization.
The use of ‘Title’ and ‘Caption’ can also vary according to the theme (template) you are using.
It’s a good idea to change the ‘Title’ text to something other than the file name (also good for the Search Engines)
If you’re not sure how ‘Title’ and ‘caption’ will appear on your site save your post or page as a draft and preview it.
You can always come back and edit later on before you publish.
Description: As far as I know the text entered into the ‘Description’ is never actually displayed on your Blog or web site. It’s for your own info to keep track of your media. It is optional
Link URL: This is the URL that your image will link to; you can enter a web site here or use the buttons underneath
None: clears the URL text box (image will not link to anything)
File URL: Image in your post or page will link to the actual Image file (image will be displayed on its own in your browser)
Post URL: Image in your post or page will link to a page of your web site with your image in it
Alignment: Left and right aligned images will usually have the text wrapping around them.
Again if you’re not sure how it will look in your finished post; save as a draft and preview.
Size: When images are Uploaded WordPress creates and stores three different sizes of your image.
Thumbnail, Medium and Large and the Full size image file is also an option.
If the full size image is smaller than any of the options a larger file will not be created.
You can change the default sizes of images if you have administrator privileges in Settings-Media.
Click on the ‘Insert into post’ button
then save as a draft and preview or publish
If you click on ‘Delete’ you will first be given the option to ‘continue’ or ‘cancel’ before the Image or file is deleted
Inserting a Gallery into Your Post or Page
Another great feature in WordPress is the ability to insert galleries into your post or page.
Click on the ‘Add an image’ button in your Toolbar and when the window loads you will see the link to Gallery and the number of images that have been uploaded for that Post or Page.
Click on Image for a Larger view
Note: When you upload images while writing a Post or Page, the images are always associated with that particular Post or Page and you can access them by clicking on the ‘Gallery’ link.(see Image below)
You can also access all of your uploaded images by clicking on the ‘Media Library’ link.
Only the images in the Gallery will be inserted into your post or page when inserting a Gallery.
Select all the options for your Gallery and click on the ‘Insert gallery’ button.
How your gallery will be displayed in your Blog or site will depend on what Plug-in and theme you have installed.
I recommend trying all the options, Saving your Post or Page as a Draft and previewing it.
So you can decide on what options work the best for your site.
Click on Image for a Larger view
Your ‘Add a Post’ Admin page will look then look something like the image above.
To delete the Gallery from your post. Simply click on the yellow box (with the camera graphic) to select it and press the delete key on your keyboard then click on the ‘Save draft’ or ‘Update’ button.
Basic WordPress Tutorials
WordPress is a web application or CMS (Content Management System) .
It’s Intuitive and easy to use … If you’ve ever composed an email or used a Word Processing Application such as Microsoft Word, you will have no trouble at all creating content for your web site.
But there are a few basic things you need to know to if you are going to use WordPress as a Content Management System or Blog.
I have written a few tutorials on the basics of using WordPress you can access them by clicking here.
They are designed to get people started … who are completely new to using WordPress as a Blog or Content Management System.
I hope you find them useful.
Please feel free to Comment.
How to add, remove or manage users in WordPress
There are five different levels of access and privileges for Users to your WordPress Blog, they are as follows;
- Administrator - has access to all the administration features
- Editor - can publish posts and pages.An Editor can also manage posts as well as manage other people’s posts, pages and comments. An Editor can manage, add and remove links from the Wordpres Blogroll (Links Directory)
- Author - can publish and manage their own posts and can manage comments on their own posts. An Author cannot publish or manage pages.
- Contributor - Somebody who can write and manage their posts but not publish posts. Contributors posts must be approved (or published) by an Editor or Administrator. A Contributor cannot publish or manage pages.
- Subscriber - Somebody who can read comments, make comments and receive news letters, etc.
You can manage your blog’s users from the WordPress admin area, in the Users section.
You must log in as an Administrator to be able to add and manage Users.
Once you have logged in as an administrator click on the users tab in the left navigation column to open the Users menu.
Click on the Image above to see a larger view
To add a new user, click the Add New button and fill in the user name, first and last name, email and password. Choose a role from the Role drop-down menu and click Add User to complete the user registration.
Click on the Image above to see a larger view
You can manage existing users from the Authors & Users option in the Users section. From here you can change the role of a user or remove it from your blog.
Hold your cursor over the top of the user you want to edit and you will see the ‘Edit’ and ‘Delete’ options.
Once a User has been added he can change his display name or password by logging in and going to his profile
