Really, WordPress software is pretty simple. I often tell people that if they can use a Word Processor, like Microsoft Word, for instance, they can write a good looking post or article in WordPress. Many of the functions are very similar.
Still, though, any time you are embarking on using a new piece of software, it can be intimidating until you get a chance to try it out, play with the bells and whistles and generally let your anxiety wane a bit.
So, if you are just getting started with using WordPress, let’s have a look at the page where you will write a post.
Writing a New Post
First, to get to the post writing page, you will either go to the Posts menu along the right sidebar in the Admin area of your WordPress installation, then click on the sub-menu item that says “Add New.” Alternatively, you can click on the “+New” link on the top black bar in your admin area. Take a look in the image at the right, you can click in either of the red areas to start your new post. So, just click on one of those links and you will be ready to get started!
Write your post title
Put Your Post Title in the Red Area
See the area in the picture above? The area in the red square? Just write your post title in that space, as you see I have done. It’s that easy!
Writing the post
Next, it’s time to move your cursor down into the main post writing area, shown at the bottom area of the image just above. Just click there and start writing. It’s that easy. But wait!
Want to spruce up what you write?
Want fancy titles, subtitles, different styles of text, different colors, that sort of thing? It’s not hard. Look just above the area where you are writing, and you will see this:
Kitchen Sink Icons
Those are the buttons you can use to customize the text. Let’s have a look at each one.
Add Media Button
You click on this button to add any kind of media like photos, a PDF file or whatever you want to add. Primarily this will be used to add photos to your post.
Bold Button
If you want to make text bold, highlight the text that you want to make bold and then click on this button, when you do, the text will look like this.
Italic Button
If you want to make the text italic, highlight the text that you want to italicize and click on the italic button, when you do the text will look like this.
Strike Through Button
If you want the text to have the strike through effect, highlight the text that you wan to strike through and click on the strike through button, when you do the text will look like this.
Bullet List
If you want to make a bullet list just click on the bullet list button, type in your text and then when you finish click the bullet list button again and your text will look like this:
- Point A will be here
- Followed by Point B
- Until you are finished
When you are done, just go to a blank line and click the bullet list button again to turn it off.
Numbered List
This is just like the bullet list icon, but instead of a bullet list it gives you a numbered list like this:
- Point A will be here
- Followed by Point B
- Until you are finished
Use the Numbered list feature in exactly the same way as I described for the bullet list above.
Block Quote
If you want to quote text from another website, or quote something that somebody said, you use the Block Quote feature. For example:
Tom told me that he really likes my new blog!
It’s that easy!
Align Left
If you want to align your text along the left margin, which is what you see in this blog article, you will use this button to do that. Align left is the default, so generally, you won’t really need to touch this.
Align Center
If you wish to center the text on a certain part of your article, you will use this button. Just select the text that you wish to center and use this button. For example:
I hope you are enjoying this article!
Done!
Align Right
It would probably be rare that you will want to align your article text to the right margin, but if you want to do so, use this button. The resulting text will look like this:
It might be weird, but this is aligned to the right!
If you ever want to do it, now you know how!
Link
If you want to put a link in your article, you should use the link button. Just highlight the text that you want to link and click on the link icon. When you do a box will pop up where you enter the URL that you want to link to. For example, I will put a link now over to one of my related blogs: Ways to Make a Living.
Unlink
If you have placed a link in your article, and you decide that you no longer want to have the link, just highlight the link text and click on the unlink button. When you do that it will remove the link, but leave the text in place on your article.
Insert More
If you want to break up an article so that only part of it shows on your home page, it says something like “Read More” at the end, and you click on that “Read More” and are taken to the rest of the article, just place your cursor where you want the home page portion of the article to end and click this button. It will split up the article just like what you want!
Spell Check
Want to spell check your blog article? If so, just use this button and all of your spelling will be checked in case you made any misspellings. Very important, so don’t forget!
Full Screen
If you want to write your blog post in full screen mode, so that you cannot see any distractions on the screen, just click on this button. To exit from full screen mode, just click on the “Exit Full Screen Mode” link on the upper left side of the blog post.
Kitchen Sink
If this button is not selected, or is toggled off, only one row of editing icons will show. To see all editing icons as we are listing them here, just click this button to select to show all of the buttons in the “Kitchen Sink.”
More to come
OK, this article is getting a bit long, so we will cut it off here. Check back in after a few days, and we will continue explaining each of the editing icons that WordPress offers.
Have a question on anything covered so far? No problem! Just leave a comment with your question and I will answer it for you, if I can.
Happy Blogging!