Ohmystinkinheck

Glad to have y’all back for WordPress Wednesdays. If you weren’t here for our kick-off last week, please go and read WordPress Wednesdays: It’s Wise To Organize before you begin working with us on this week’s tutorial.

I know many of you are chomping at the bit to dive into the meatier things, but I can’t delve in until I’ve properly introduced you to the tools you’ll be working with using WordPress. You will just have to be patient and watch it unfold in a neat and orderly manner.

*ducking from the tomato tossage*

If you have already purchased a domain and web hosting, and installed your self-hosted WordPress blog, either on your own, or by using the VERY EASY step-by-step tutorial, then this screenshot will be all too familiar.

Not the prettiest theme on the block, eh?

The tiny text makes my eyes squint and there is something just completely unoriginal about keeping the default of ANYTHING. However, we aren’t talking themes today. Nope, we’re familiarizing you with your WordPress Dashboard.

Did I lose about 3/4 of you?

Ah … well, maybe next week.

Okay, here we go … everybody login.

Oh, and if you haven’t been in before or haven’t saved your password within your browser or via WordPress itself, you’ll likely get forwarded to this page.

Just insert the username and password used when you installed your WordPress account. Make sure to click on the “Remember Me” box to alleviate a step in the future.

And this is what you’ll see. WordPress and its VERY BLUE Dashboard.

Later on, after you’ve familiarized yourself with the WordPress Dashboard, you might want to pretty it up a bit by taking advantage of a plugin called WP Tiger Administration which makes your Dashboard significantly LESS BLUE. It also organizes it in a way that is more familiar and intuitive - much like the files on your computer’s hard drive.

If you use IE for your browser, this plugin will not work for you. I will allow the designer’s own words to explain why:

“Currently this design is compatible with Safari and Firefox. Until Internet Explorer complies with CSS2 specifications, this plugin will default back to the original WordPress administration design. The plugin does this automagically, without the need for browser sniffing. If the browser is incapable of displaying CSS2, it will not display the updated design.”

If you’re gonna be a web geek, you might as well switch to a smart browser that doesn’t try to make up its own rules. You’ll never look back once you see all its bells and whistles. You might even want to buy me something pretty or chocolate for recommending it to you in the first place!

Moving around the WordPress Dashboard

Let’s see, what do we see here? Well first, WordPress is so kind to welome you EACH AND EVERY TIME you login. Isn’t that just the sweetest thang?

Most of the dashboard home-page is really self-explanatory. There are quick links to get started. The “Latest Activity” box at the right tells you what you’ve been up to (Comments, Posts, and Blog Stats). If you scroll a bit further down you’ll see the RSS Feed from the WordPress Development Blog, in case you want to keep up with what’s going on there. And at the very bottom, are button links to other WordPress News. See? Totally self-explanatory.

So, let’s move-on.

Look at the tabs up top and run your mouse over the tabs until you see “Options”. Click it. Go ahead, don’t be afraid.

This is what you’d find “above the fold” over at WordPress Wednesdays’ Dashboard under the Options tab:

I’m not gonna walk through each of these tabs, because WordPress already does a fabulous job of detailing each and every part of its Dashboard. (Bookmark that link if you haven’t already). However, I do want to cover the Options > General tab and then give you information on Permalinks and the importance of customizing your blog’s permalinks to suit your fancy.

Options > General

Options > General has its own sub-tabs that we will quickly move through, but first, let’s make sure everything is good here.

Weblog Title · My Weblog Title is “WordPress Wednesdays”. I keyed over the URL that was automatically populated here. Whatever you place in your title tag will be the “title” of your blog.

Tagline: · I did not have a Tagline entered here at the time of the screenshot. I will update it to say “Because what else do you have to do on Wednesdays?” when we save the changes to this page. Here at OMSH, my tagline is, “Recounting the daily not-so-profundities”.

Both your Weblog Title and your Tagline are important. It is what WordPress will automatically place in your blog’s <head> title tag for your blog’s title. It is also how Search Engines will index you. For instance, look at how OMSH is indexed in Google. It shows my Title, “Oh My Stinkin’ Heck” and then my Tagline, “Recounting the daily not-so-profundities.” following a hyphen.

WordPress address (URL) · The WordPress address URL is exactly where your WordPress blog is located. This will have automatically populated for you at your install, but you still need to understand its purpose. In the case of WordPress Wednesdays, the blog is in the root directory. I do not have another website at this URL. The mock blog that will grow with each tutorial is all that is there. However, many of you have e-commerce sites on your main URL, plan to have a static website on your main URL, or for whatever reason, have installed your WordPress blog in a separate directory - perhaps /blog/. In which case, yours would look like: http://www.wordpresswednesdays.com/blog.

Do not put a trailing “/” after the URL or it will break the flow of links in your blog.

Blog address (URL) · Right below this box is a description of how or why this is used. This will have been automatically populated for you at your install - just as with the WordPress address (URL) above, and in most cases it will match it exactly. However, there are times when you might have been running your WordPress blog in a sub-directory and decided you wanted it to show up in the root directory. There are several steps to doing that - which we aren’t going to go into at this moment - but in THAT case, this will show the URL that site visitors will “key” to see your blog.

Confusing?

Okay, imagine that I had a t-shirt shop at http://wordpresswednesdays.com. It did poorly and I decided I’d just use the website to blog. Obviously, if there was nothing at http://wordpresswednesdays.com anymore, I wouldn’t want people to key it and NOT SEE my site or my blog, right? So, I would make a few changes so that when site visitors keyed in http://wordpresswednesdays.com, it would take them to my blog, which might still rest at http://wordpresswednesdays.com/blog.

A bit less confusing now, right?

Good. Also, same as above, do not put a trailing “/” after the URL or it will break the flow of links in your blog.

Moving on then.

E-mail address · I think this one is clear enough. Whatever e-mail address is entered here is where your WordPress will send you messages regarding admin, maintenance, new members (if you require registrations), comments (if you later select to be notified of comments). This admin e-mail is not available for your site visitors to view anywhere on your blog

Membership · You have two choices here. If you are going to require people to register to post to your blog, then you’ll need to decide which of the options you prefer. I do not require anyone to register to post to any of my blogs, so both of these remain unchecked.

New User Default Role · I also do not subscribe roles to my site visitors, so this stays at the default, which is “Subscribers”. WordPress offers an explanation of Roles and Capabilities to offer you more information on why you may or may not want to assign User roles.

Scrolling “beyond the fold” you’ll see this under the Options > General tab:

Date and Time · WordPress defaults to UTC time and you need to fill in the box to represent your website’s time. I am in CST, so I have to enter -6; which is actually the example given on the screenshot. I had it easy *wink*.

I keep the Default date format: and Default time format as it is, but you can reformat it if you’d like. There is a link below to direct you as to how to properly do it.

Finally, select which day of the week you want your blog’s calendar links to call the first day of the week. I typically have mine set to Sunday.

Once you’ve done all that, click on the “Update Options” button and you have officially saved your Options > General settings.

Stand up. Stretch. Get some water, a Coke, another cup of coffee and meet me in 5 minutes.

Doing the dance of the Permalinks

WordPress is just smart blogging - and the way you can know WordPress is smart is because it’s always improving on itself. One of the ways WordPress has improved is by offering what it calls Pretty Permalinks. You can read the link for more information, but bottom line … your URL will not be a mixture of question marks, characters and general nonsense. You can make it keyword effective, date-oriented, content-oriented - WHATEVER YOU WANT. All of this helps with SEO, but most important - it gives you the option.

Here’s what WordPress says in its Options > Permalinks information page within your blog:

“By default WordPress uses web URIs which have question marks and lots of numbers in them, however WordPress offers you the ability to create a custom URI structure for your permalinks and archives. This can improve the aesthetics, usability, and longevity of your links.”

Uh … yea, what they say.

So, here we go.

First, you need to get on over to your Options > Permalinks tab. I have highlighted in yellow the default Permalink Structure for WordPress.

We don’t want that. Now, I’ll tell you what I DO, but remember, you are creating permalinks for YOUR BLOG and you may want to do it differently. If you follow the text-linked words “…number of tags are available” in that first paragraph it will give you a slew of choices.

But, here’s my choice for permalinks. I like my post name to be the file name for my permalink. So, I enter /%postname%/ in the blank next to the Custom Permalinks option.

Then, I click the button (either at the top of the page or at its base) to “Update Permalink Structure”.

OOPS! What’s this? A message that says: “You should update your .htaccess now.” Now, this is normally when I get many, MANY emails stating something like “Um … WHAT?!” And I explain what I’m about to explain to you - HOW TO MODIFY AN .HTACCESS FILE.

Before I go ANY FURTHER THOUGH, please understand that your .htaccess file basically stores all your permalink information, as well as re-directs and other “what-not”. Please don’t mess with it any further than you know or read here, b/c you really can screw up your blog fast with modifications made to the .htaccess file.

And with that, y’all are probably runing away from the computer or tossing your hands in the air and saying, “THANKS for THAT vote of confidence!”, right?

heh heh

So, your .htaccess file is in your blog’s root directory. It will be an odd looking file b/c it has a “period” before the actual file name and no extension. It is NOT htaccess.txt, htaccess.php, or htaccess.html. IT IS .htaccess - and that is it. It will be directly beneath your /wp-includes/ file on the server unless it is hidden.

If you are accessing your server files via cPanel it is not hidden by default. If you are accessing your server files via an independent FTP program, like I am, you may have to ask it to show you hidden files. I use Filezilla which can be downloaded FOR FREE. If you follow that link and click on the “FileZilla_3.0.0_win32-setup.exe” text-link, it’ll begin the download. Ask it to save it to your desktop and run the install from there. It is quick and easy to use in accessing your server files. If you are using Filezilla, the only thing you need to do to be able to view your .htaccess file is click on the “View” text-link on your top toolbar and scroll down and click “Show Hidden Files”.

If you couldn’t see the .htaccess file before, you can see it now. Other FTP programs will function much the same.

The screenshots below show me accessing WordPress Wednesdays’ server files using Filezilla. If you prefer to access your server files using your web host’s File Manager, that’s fine too.

The files shown in the left window are on my hard drive. The files shown in the right window are on my server. Did you notice I followed my own advice and have a full copy of my WordPress files on my hard drive (on the left) that mimic the files on my server (on the right).

Good for me, right?

To modify the .htaccess file using Filezilla, right click on the file and then scroll down to “File Attributes” and click it. A “File Attributes” pop-up window like the one below will display.

This is the default file permissions for your .htaccess.

We are going to change it from 644 to 755 and then click “Okay” to save it.

Why do you have to do this, you ask? For html or images files, you need a permissions setting of 644 for individual files. The file needs to be readable by others, but not writeable.

In this situation you need 755 rights because the script needs to be executable and readable by the web server, as well as have “write access” permissions for you.

I’m not going to pretend to understand the fullness of file permissions, but you can read and learn more about UNIX permissions, if you’d like.

Once you’ve done that, you can close out of your server files and go back to your WordPress Options > Permalinks tab. Now, you can click the button to “Update Permalink Structure” again, and you’ll get a “Permalink Structure Updated” message up top like the image below.

Now, all of your links will reflect the Custom Permalink structure you just assigned. If for some reason, you are stilling getting the message, “You should update your .htaccess now.”, then set your .htaccess file to ‘777′.

Still with me? GRRREAT! Because? We’re done today. My fingers are tired and your brain needs to digest all of this. The rest of the dashboard truly is easy squeezy. If you have specific questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments and I’ll try to answer them promptly. If it is an answer that needs a bit more time and some screenshots, I’ll likely make it a different post.

Referenced Links

The following are links I’ve given throughout today’s tutorial for your reference.

• How to purchase your own domain name
• How to purchase web hosting
• Setting up your own Wordpress blog using cPanel and Fantastico.
• WP Tiger Administration which makes your Dashboard significantly LESS BLUE.
• If you’re gonna be a web geek, you might as well switch to a smart browser
• WordPress already does a fabulous job of detailing each and every part of its Dashboard
• WordPress offers an explanation of Roles and Capabilities to offer you more information on why you may or may not want to assign User roles.
• One of the ways WordPress has improved is by offering what it calls Pretty Permalinks
• Here’s what WordPress says in its Options > Permalinks information page.
• If you follow the text-linked words “…number of tags are available” in that first paragraph it will give you a slew of permalink choices.
• I use Filezilla which can be downloaded FOR FREE.
• Read and learn more about UNIX permissions

See y’all again next week!

18 Responses to “WordPress Wednesdays: Dashing through the Dashboard”

1. DaisyCake

   oh my stinkin’ heck — this is great information, but WOOOOSH, over my head! I will have to re-read it! thanks for helping out and doing these tutorials Heather!

2. celeste

   OMSH, I’m so excited that you started doing this. We use wordpress and usually I leave things up to DH (him being the graphic designer and all) but he’s been so busy, I might start tinkering myself. And voila! Here’s where I start. Thanks again!

3. sam

   I am going to LOVE this weekly edition once it gets into the good stuff, but for now… you HAVE to tell me where you got your theme for your browser! Is it FF?? I love it!

4. Ang in TX

   Omsh, I have dealt with =pg 1 or =pg 3 in the url for the last year, thank you for finally solving this puzzle for me!

5. Angella

   Such a wealth of information you are! And I have had one too many margaritas to process this.

   Will be back tomorrow to put do what you say. Because you are the WordPress guru!

   xoxoxoxoxo

6. OMSH

   DaisyCake - One thing I’ve been told several times in the past is that it is overwhelming to READ, but if done step-by-step, not so overwhelming to DO.

   Just as an encouragement to anyone else feeling the same way.

   celeste - You’re welcome! I’m glad I can maybe help you to not lean so tech-heavy on your hubby!

   sam - I’m boring you, am I? haha!
   Oh, let me see. I’m using the Firefox Default theme, but I’ve added Colorful Tabs, which makes it colorful when my tabs are up. :)

   Ang in TX - You’re welcome!

   Angella - No, not the WordPress guru. We’re all at different points in learning WordPress and there are others more skilled than me. I’ll certainly be referring out here and there to those who can better “say” what needs “saying”.

7. JustBeachy

   Yeah! I have pretty permalinks :) thank you! AND….I have Firefox (now)! All my feeds are in IE and the Microsoft Feed Reader….and I am lost about a tag or bookmark or google reader or a del.icio.us…or whatever. I guess there will be a learning curve, but, for coolness sakes, when I typed OMSH into the search bar, your site came up….instead of search options.

8. OMSH

   JustBeachy - I’ll cover RSS Feeds later, but I’ve found Google Reader to be the greatest. I like having all my feeds in one place and I really like the way I can organize them.

   I’m glad you are able to use what I’m putting out there though! Whooopeee!

9. Shawna

   I LOVE Wordpress Wednesdays! I am such a newbie at thie whole bloggin’ thang, and your timing in starting up this fine endeavor is impeccable! I’m stuck in IE for now, but am slowly being persuaded to inch over the line and become a fox–a Firefox, that is!

10. Angella

    I fixed my permalinks, and didn’t even have to access that htaccess file! Easy peasy :)

11. OMSH

    Shawna - NO ONE, dare I say NO ONE is stuck in IE. It is a choice. You are strong. You want the best, optimal browsing experience. You seriously don’t want to miss out on the amazing Webmaster Tools available through Firefox. Download it, fall in love with it. You’ll send me gifts, I swear!

    Angella - Well, there ya go. Now you’re all PRETTY!

12. KYouell

    I am so glad we are both married so that this can be taken in the spirit I mean it:

    I LOVE YOU!

13. KYouell

    And it looks like I hit the enter key twice when I didn’t mean to. I’m all twitterpated!

    Not only has hubby installed WP on his Mac (on our network) so that we can both play with it there before going live online, but I am downloading FireFox while I read/type.

    You know, we are looking to leave Northern California for someplace cooler. Lucky for you Texas is hotter or I would just be too stalker-y.

14. OMSH

    KYouell - ahhhh … it is so good to be loved! :)

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    I wish the default permalink would be post name it drives me bonkers to see post=6, permalink was the first thing I set up on my blog. I am enjoying this new series.

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