Benny Drops

Just a heads up that we’ve begun updating client sites to WordPress 4.0 or the “Benny” release.

As usual I’m all late and wrong about updating the site itself here, but I can confirm 4.0 is nifty and squashes some nasty bugs so it was worth the time to load it all up.

Something fun for my print buddies –

New work:

Fresh face for Kim at KimOvitt.com.

Fresh face for Good Shepherd Episcopal. Still in progress but all up in production. One of these days I’ll update my sidebars šŸ˜‰

In progress:

Learning management module for online courses (still need a beta tester, email me if you’re interested) and Event Scheduling tools.

TTFN!

Creating a Link in WordPress

To create a link, select the text that you want as a link anchor by highlighting it with your mouse.

createALink

Click the icon that looks like a paperclip (next to the left justify icon in the visual editor) and you’ll see a box like this:

createAHyperlink

Enter the address of the web page you want to link to after the http://. For example, the proper URL formation of the FHNA website is: http://foresthillneighborhood.com. It is no longer necessary to use the www before the domain name in creating a hyperlink. You do not need to enter anything into the Title field, and you can check the box to have the link open in a new window so that the FHNA site remains open in the background.

Also, this video may be helpful –

[wpmudev-video video=”hyperlinks”]

Fresh Starts

I’m kicking off the year with a number of WordPress refreshes to the Charlie Parker release (3.8). This means that many of you will log into your WordPress admin and see a whole new color scheme.

If you’d like to change your sidebar and dashboard colors, it’s quick and easy:

editProfile

First, scroll up to your name in the upper right corner of your site and roll over your name to expand the options. Select the option to edit your profile:

You’ll now see a new array of choices: (click to enlarge)

When you select a color choice, you'll see it immediately reflect in your sidebar.

When you select a color choice, you’ll see it immediately reflect in your sidebar.

Once you chose a palette you prefer, simply scroll down and press the Update Profile button. You can also chose to disable the tool bar or visual editor here, as well. Checking the box will banish both.

Event Registration

We are using Event Espresso (affiliate link) to manage event registrations and ticketing on a new WordPress site we’re deploying. Here is a brief tutorial on adding your first event in Event Espresso:

As always, please use the comments section for questions or feedback!

Advanced WordPress Use

Now that we’ve covered both basic and intermediate WordPress skills, let’s move on to advanced skills! Today’s tutorials include:

Managing Widgets

[wpmudev-video video=”widgets”]

Restoring a Post

[wpmudev-video video=”restore-post”]

Restoring a Page

[wpmudev-video video=”restore-page”]

Trashing (deleting) a Post

[wpmudev-video video=”trash-post”]

Trashing (deleting) a Page

[wpmudev-video video=”trash-page”]

That’s all for now! If you enjoyed these tutorials, have questions or need assistance, let me know in the comments section!

Intermediate WordPress Tutorials

We’ve barely scratched the surface of fun things you can do with your new WordPress site. Today’s tutorials include:

Adding Video to your WordPress site:

[wpmudev-video video=”oEmbed”]

Using QuickPress:

[wpmudev-video video=”quickpress”]

Creating and Managing Custom Navigation Menus

[wpmudev-video video=”menus”]

Tomorrow will be our last day of tutorials. We’ll be covering the version manager and deleting (trashing) posts and pages.

As always, please leave a comment if you have questions or need help!

Beyond WordPress Basics

Now that you’ve mastered the basic techniques of working with WordPress, it’s time to take a look at some of the additional features of your WordPress site. Today’s tutorials:

Working with WordPress Pages

[wpmudev-video video=”add-new-page”]

WordPress Comment Manager (if we have configured Facebook commenting on your site, feel free to ignore this):

[wpmudev-video video=”comments”]

Using the WordPress Excerpt function:

[wpmudev-video video=”excerpt”]

Working with Lists (ordered & unordered):

[wpmudev-video video=”lists”]

If you have any questions or comments, please leave me a comment!

WordPress Tags & Categories

WordPress offers the ability to use tags and categories to sort and refine post data. Many advanced themes use tags and categories to display additional post information within pages or sidebars. Here are some helpful tutorials on using these functions within your WordPress site:

Using the Tags function in WordPress:

[wpmudev-video video=”tags”]

Working with WordPress categories:

[wpmudev-video video=”categories”]

Tomorrow: intermediate WordPress skills, such as working with pages, comments and versions.

WordPress and Links

Working with links in WordPress is fairly straightforward. The following tutorials go into more depth about link tools available in your WordPress site:

Adding Links:

[wpmudev-video video=”add-links”]

Editing Links:

[wpmudev-video video=”edit-links”]

Working with Link Categories:

[wpmudev-video video=”link-categories”]