There is always tales about WordPress which are actually very true. Tales like “Even a 90 yr old school great granny can use the system.”
And yeah its very true and sincere. WordPress is a very powerful software and we all know how powerful it is. Today, we won’t be writing too much recommendation about it.
This is just a total beginner’s guide using the software. So in this article, I will be working you down the lane on how you can actually…
#1. Install WordPress
#2. Introducing WordPress
#3. Install Plugins/Themes
#4. Configure the system to suite your need
#5. Create a simple blog website.
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So obtain your copy of BrumPost ID for free by signing up for an account and you there will have unlimited access to all we write about here. Well then, let’s further our tutorials.
So as I was saying WordPress isn’t new in the market with thousands of plugins and themes and lots of blogs being powered by it.
Its very flexible yet secured. The system is awesome and believe me, its what you actually need. There are bunch of website that uses WordPress as their base software. Its that powerful. So anyway, let’s go further.
#1. How To Install WordPress
Installing WordPress isn’t a tough job though if you know what you are doing. But being a beginner, you might not know what you are doing since you’ve never come across the system before.
Before, I used to work with Drupal but later on shifted to WordPress since demand for it gets higher. I used to in fact develop for my clients using this software. Now to cut the long story short, here is how to install WordPress.
There are few processes involved in doing this. The approaches include getting a copy of the software, unzipping it, editing a file within it and uploading it to your server and getting a database and then installing finally.
In case those process look like they aren’t easy to you, well, keep cool its easy just that its quite long.
Now when I say downloading and installing, there are two approaches to take in this wise.
The first depends solely on where you want to install WordPress. Let’s assume you want to just experiment with it and then install it on your own computer but don’t really know how, then you can read here on How to install WordPress on LocalHost server,
But if you want to see how it behaves on a real server or really want to create your very own website then further your reading but you can also read this post on How to create a website using WordPress That said, you should note that this post will be focusing solely on installing the software online and not on localhost server. But if you want the other one, you can click the link above.
As I have said earlier, there are two approaches that this tutorial follows. The first being the “One Click Install” approach and the second being ” Do it Yourself Approach.”
Alright now. All you need to do is log in to your host CPanel as everything you’ll do starts here anyway. While you are there, you might notice the “Scripts” among the main menu which if clicked takes you to another interface where you can actually install any software you want including WordPress.
This is usually simple and straightforward and the most recommended for newbies. But in case your host doesn’t offer such solution, then you might want to follow the manual approach. So this takes us back to the downloading and blah! blah! blah!
Now go to WordPress.Org and then get a copy of the software. While you do, download your copy where you can remember and then open a new tab and then log in to your host Cpanel and go to Database MySQL management area.
There, create a new Database. In case that’s new to you, you can read about it here. After you must’ve set up the database, the next thing to do is to actually leave the place momentarily.
Now, come back home to your computer files exactly where you’ve downloaded your WordPress .zip file earlier. From there, unzip the file by using any decompressing software you know or have. Windows/Mac usually have a built in software that does the job.
Now furthering the course, you then open the newly decompressed files and open it up. You’ll notice some files and 3 folders.
Out of those files is your WpConfig.php file. This file is a preset file that holds some main configuration to your website. But in most cases, this file is usually hidden because of WordPress measure to secure it’s system.
Anyway, get yourself FileZilla. Filezilla is an FTP software for transferring files from your computer to your internet file manager.
But before you get FileZilla, go back to your Cpanel and leave the Database area and back to the main screen. There should he a place with FTP. Click on it and create an account. Different hosts have different means of doing it.
So do it as instructed. While you’re done, then further it by actually you will use those details in FileZilla. Download FileZilla by searching that keyword in Google and when the result appears, go to wherever you wish to download it and install on your PC.
When that is done, open the software by launching it straight up and then input all those details you’ve created earlier on in your Server’s FTP area.
While that is done, if your credentials are true, you will see your server Public_HTML folder and by now, you can upload your files straight up from your PC unto your internet file manager. When you do that, you’ll see the result as it moves. Few minutes later, that should be done.
By now, in case there isn’t any error, then you should see a WordPress welcome message on your screen when you enter your Domain.com URL.
Installing
Now WordPress greets you and asks you to click on a button after the message. Click on that and it takes you to the next page which is where you enter your Database information.
Remember you created an account the other time on your Database MySQL, use those details here and then click on the Install. If your credentials are correct, then you should see the installation taking place.
Few moments, it takes you through the Administrative account set up and website details. Enter those details as you so wish and click on finish.
Then the installation runs fully and its complete with a pop out asking you to Log in with your newly created credentials.
Please Note In case you are using host’s one click install, that takes you through almost the process and you won’t need to actually upload anything or download any WordPress files in fact because those files already reside in your server.
All you just need to do is Install by going to your URL after you must’ve used the one click install system. This in fact creates a new database for you. Its faster and easier unlike doing it manually.
But the installation processes are almost the same because you will always need to create the super admin account.
Now, you should be ready to log in to your website. In case you are just following this tutorials for fun sake, then you can use some random simple email and ordinary passwords but in case you want to create a real website, you might want to use a very powerful password for security purposes.
#2. Intro to WordPress
Well, this part isn’t a hard part. It just deal with getting familiar with the core WordPress. Now, the exact place where you are is actually the Admin Dashboard. This is where you see quick messages about stuffs going in your website.
By default, WordPress generates two dummy contents which are one dummy page to see how pages work and a post content.
Both can be deleted because they aren’t relevant. Also, it creates a post Category which cannot be deletes but modified.
This wag, your website is one click away to becoming amazing. Now as I’ve said, the dashboard can be configured as you can hide things you want to sew and those you don’t want.
WordPress admin panel is responsive and so you can use it in a mobile phone without a single problem. Other things in the admin are all bunch of information and that’s all.
The Posts
Posts are your exact blog posts. Back when WordPress was actually made, the attempt was to actually make a better blogging software to manage contents efficiently.
And well as the case gets by, WordPress became something more. So as a matter of fact, the initial intention still remains. So anyway, under the post area lies other important post utilities like The Add Posts, Post Tags and Post Categories.
This are all useful. Now let’s take for example your attempt is to create a news website, you will want to sort those post contents you create in categories.
Those categories might include the sub-topics within the niche which you write stories about. For example, if your news website is in Guangzhou, You can sort each news out like
Category #1. Guangzhou Weather News
Category #2. Guangzhou Political News
Category #3. Guangzhou Health Reports and so on and so forth. That way, each topics falls under its right category.
This helps a lot as it makes post to be sorted out rather than getting mixed up. This gives users better experience while reading your post articles or website as a whole.
Now comes the Post Tags. This is an attempt to actually Hashtag posts from different category within a tagged category.
Okay let me make it clearer. I you write a story about Weather in Category Guangzhou Weather News, and you write about a respiratory infection in Guangzhou Health news, you can actually tag Weather Condition as it’s the cause of the bad respiratory infection.
So we can actually call the Tagging system a means of bringing two or more individual posts from different categories together in a place. That’s how the tag works.
The last is the Add New interface. This is where you actually compose your post articles. Don’t get it confused that I’m putting it here last.
You will find out later. Now while the form opens, you will notice lots of options above the large post form. By the side are post metals.
Here, you can set what condition the post should be either to publish it immediately or set a time interval for it to be published that is you can actually write a post that gets automatically published by next week. That depends solely on you.
You can also put your post in draft maybe you aren’t through editing it. But by default, each time you write your post and stop or pause, WordPress automatically save the post in draft.
That’s part of the powers of the system. Other features by the right side includes setting the post Category. This actually means that your Guangzhou News categories can actually function now well.
Now let’s assume that your new post is a Weather News Report, you just tick the Guangzhou Weather News category as it correlates with the article.
You can also tag the post if for example your next post will have something relating to weather but not in the category. You just use the small form below the category multi choice and type the Tag.
Below that resides the Post Featured image. This is the picture that your theme actually sets as the post default picture. Depending on your theme, you can decided to use this place or use the first image inside your article. After that, you can publish or draft your post.
So post you publish, draft or trash will be found in the All Post area above the three Utility menus we’ve talked about. That’s all about the WordPress Post Utilities.
Comments
This is where comments come straight to whenever your users or subscribers make comments to your post articles.
You can manage them using the bulk functionality by simply marking them all or not. It all depends on you anyway.
You can also approve comments individually by either hovering the individual comment and approving it or by using the bulk function. It all depends. You can trash or spam comments all as to how you see it.
The Pages
While still narrating and introducing you to the system for the very first time, you will also notice the Pages by the side. The utility menu here is just two.
The First is where you add a New Page. Now let’s assume that you have a custom page like About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy etc, this is what you use the page for.
In some cases while you use a premium WordPress theme, you can use a static page for the front page. That isn’t going to be detailed in this post because we are only focusing on the WordPress default settings and theme.
Okay then, the next thing is to actually create those pages using the names respectively and save them. If you have a contact form, you can use the short code directly here.
The Page listing lists out all your pages. There, you can see those pages you’ve created and published or drafted. Remember we talked about post metal settings, and yeah pages too have the same. The difference being that Pages don’t have categories and Tags by default.
So in case you are okay in HTML, you can use those tags within your static pages to actually fit in your brand well.
Note that in the Page listing interface, you can actually bulk edit pages or delete or draft them all at ones.
The Media
This is where your files be it pictures, videos and music or PDF or any software type which your website uses lives at.
The media interface houses all those multimedia files making them easy to access directly from your New Post creation interface.
To upload, there is a button at the top. Images can be edited and resized. The metal data of images can be changed. Its usually advisable to host videos outside because of bandwidths.
Also, you can always use this files in case your website offers downloads.
The Appearance
The Appearance is another awesome interface that comes prepackaged with WordPress core. Here, there are bunch of other utilities like Themes, Menus, Widgets, which can all be edited to suit your very need.
Now let’s assume you want to activate a theme that you have, you use the Theme interface to do so. This is where all themes and templates that resides in your server lives.
You can also add more by clicking on the Add New button at the upper left side of the area. While clicking on this button takes you towards where you install themes directly from the internet which is faster rather than uploading it straight from your computer unless you got the theme from another source which isn’t available at the WordPress theme repository.
Menu
This is where you actually create menus for your the specific menu area. For example, the default WordPress theme have the Main Menu area which is the default menu area Since your website is new, you will need to create a new menu.
To do so, Add New Menu link or simply type the name of your menu inside a given short form. Then save and after do that, the system opens the new menu for you and then you can just add other links that already exists straight up.
Now let’s assume you’ve created the About Us, Contact Us and Privacy Policy pages alongside the earlier 3 Categories we’ve created earlier on, you can actually tick on each of those pages or Categories to appear on your main menu.
So to do so, click on all the pages and press Add Menu button. It loads an ajax and then adda the menus. Open the Category area too and tick on the Categories and Press the Add Menu button and then its done now, tick on the Add to Main Menu button and them press save.
When you see your website in front end, the changes will have taken place. Adding the menu straight up to the main menu area can also be done elsewhere buy it’s better you fix it up from the menu area straight up.
Customize
This is an awesome feature of WordPress whereby you can actually edit and customize your website using a real WYSIWYG drag and drop interface.
There are default settings at the left side while your theme is at the right side. Now, starting from the top, you can start customizing your theme by adding your website name in case you have decided to change it. You can also do the description too here.
Add Favicon and Logo is also here. Each of those setting you make will always be seen changing straight up in your theme by the right side.
Moving away from the general settings the next will be color. There, you can change the color scheme of your theme to match your brand.
The next is the menu. Here, you can attach the menu you’ve created earlier to your main menu here and then the next is the graphical representation of the Widget where you drop widgets to your sidebar.
Widgets are the features which you can actually still use straight in your theme. Default widgets are…
1. Calendar
2. Feed Aggregator
3. Recent Posts
4. Recent Comments
5. User Meta
6. Menu
7. Tag Cloud
8. Categories
9. Text Editor
Those are the fundamental widgets which you actually need by your sidebar according to WordPress. And again, you don’t need to do so much as WordPress takes care of the rest for you. The default theme has footer area, side area.
So you can do or fix whatever you wish anywhere you’d like it.
Going out of the Widget zone is the next which is labelled Static Frontpage. Remember when I said something about some themes supporting static pages as their front page, this is where you fix that.
Rather than using recent posts as your front page which is the default feature of the default WordPress core theme. So next time you buy a premium, that’s where you fix it.
Widgets
Here, is the back end editor where you drag widgets to sidebars. Each widget area is named whatever the theme author wants it to be called.
For example, sidebar widget, footer widget 1, 2, 3 etc. So you can actually drag by clicking on the exact widget you want and then drag it up to wherever you’d like it to be.
Again, you can also click on a widget and it opens a list pop out which shows lists of widget area available in your theme. So you can select anyone and then the system automatically drags the widget up to the area and saves it there.
Note: Each time you drag and drop a widget, WordPress automatically saves it using ajax that means page doesn’t reload before its saved.
But in case you modify your widget, you need to manually save it while the Ajax system do that again. Its cool.
The Plugin Area
You’ve heard that WordPress is a modular system which can actually be manipulated to fit into any business. This means that you can actually build any type of website using the system.
Well, the plugin functionality brings that alive. In WordPress, you can actually download plugins straight from the repository as its faster and easier rather that uploading it by yourself unless you got the plugin in a place which isn’t the official WordPress repository like Codecanyon.
Now, here you see two plugins which are the default plugins from WordPress. The first Akismet is an antispam system and its a premium service anyway.
The other plugin Hello Dolly is just a fun plugin which I’ve never activated in my life. To add a plugin, the button is at the top as usual.
You can actually bulk activate or delete or deactivate plugins by simply clicking in the marker at the top rather than ticking individual plugin marker. Then you can do the bulk action. To add plugins, cluck on the button and it opens the interface to do that for you.
Then the system loads plugins from the Repository based on categories. You can then search any plugin you like. Let’s say you want to download WooCommerce, then just type it and then it brings the result.
Look for the woocommerce plugin and then click on the install button and then the installation process takes place within few seconds and then the system asks you yo activate or return to plugin lists.
Well, unless you want to create an ecommerce website, you don’t need to activate it.
Users
Here, you see a list of users that are on your website. You see yourself because you are the only user presently. You can add users based on roles as you like.
Let’s assume your news website which will be having lots of authors and contributors and subscribers, you can simply do that by clicking on Add User button and that takes you to the registration form to register that user.
The Name and the rest are present for you to fill. Now, you can decide which role to give each user.
Roles are what determines the access severity of your website users. If Huang Sheng Yi is your first employee and a news editor, you can give the role as editor. Else, you can make her your contributor or author or just subscriber depending on which role you wish to give her.
Tools
This a beautiful function of WordPress. Here, you actually can export some settings from your website to another website or even use it as some core back up system.
The first is the Import. This is where you can import settings from either another WordPress or other systems like Blogger etc.
If its WordPress, click on the WordPress below and then it asks you to download the WordPress importer plugin.
Clicking on that simply do the installation for you and then returns you back to the area and then you can click on the browser to import a .XML file and then do the importing.
It takes few minutes depending on how big the settings on the importation file is.
To export, click on the export utility link and then it shows you a bunch of option you can actually export. Posts, Pages, etc.
Click on anyone or you can export everything. Then the system do the backup and then downloads the export file in a .XML format. So you can use that settings in another website or use it as just a back up.
Settings
Here, is the core setting system of WordPress. You can do anything that has to do with your website straight from here. There are lists of other utility menu links here as the drop down. Click on each and do whatever you want.
The first one is the general.
Here is where you can set up some details about your website. Like allowing users to register or not, by default, WordPress doesn’t allow that. You can also discourage search engines to crawl the website all depends on you.
The next settings is the Reading settings. This is where you can set up whether to use recent posts as your front end or static page. You can also determine how many posts to be shown at the front end. There are other significant settings.
The next is the comment where you determine if you want accept comments or not. You can set the default user avatar here also.
The permalink is where you change how your post links appear. For search reasons, its usually advisable not to use the default which is a PHP generic permalink. So you can chose any other type of permalink as you’d like it.
You can also visit your own profile by clicking on the button by the right hand upper side of the admin panel. Clicking on this takes you to your admin back end profile. You can edit it and change your admin theme color from the default black and white.
There are bunch of options there. Whatever settings or changes you make must be saved so that it takes effectiveness as wordpress doesn’t use Ajax here.
Now as you can see, creating a website in WordPress is by far easy and straightforward since the system is just as awesome as you’d think of it to be.
And believe me, this is a beginner’s approach to introducing WordPress but if you’re inquisitive enough, you can fix all these without even needing full tutorials because WordPress isn’t complex that’s just it.
By the way, you can therefore experiment with the settings and the system as you’d like and then hope this helps. You can drop a note for any comment or question using the comment form below. Thanks for reading.