WordPress® For Dummies®, 7th Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015944209

ISBN 978-1-119-08857-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-08873-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-08855-4 (ebk)

WordPress® For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/wordpress to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Cover

Foreword

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Introducing WordPress

Chapter 1: What WordPress Can Do for You

Discovering the Benefits of WordPress

Choosing a WordPress Platform

Chapter 2: WordPress Basics

Shining the Spotlight on WordPress

Dipping into WordPress Technologies

Using WordPress as a Content Management System

Moving On to the Business of Publishing

Part II: Setting Up WordPress

Chapter 3: Setting Up Blogging Base Camp

Establishing Your Domain

Finding a Home for Your Website

Understanding FTP Concepts

Installing WordPress

Chapter 4: Understanding the WordPress.org Dashboard

Logging In to the Dashboard

Navigating the Dashboard

Arranging the Dashboard to Your Tastes

Finding Inline Documentation and Help

Setting Options in the Dashboard

Configuring the Settings

Creating Your Personal Profile

Setting Your Site’s Format

Chapter 5: Establishing Your Publishing Routine

Staying on Topic with Categories

Examining a Post’s Address: Permalinks

Discovering the Many WordPress RSS Options

Writing Your First Entry

Look Who’s Talking on Your Site

Part III: Flexing and Extending WordPress

Chapter 6: Media Management: Images, Audio, and Video

Inserting Images into Your Content

Inserting Video Files into Your Posts

Inserting Audio Files into Your Posts

Keeping Media Files Organized

Chapter 7: Making the Most of WordPress Plugins

Finding Out What Plugins Are

Exploring the Plugins Included with WordPress

Using Plugins: Just the Basics

Installing Plugins Manually

Uploading and Activating Plugins

Setting Plugin Options

Uninstalling Plugins

Understanding the Open Source Environment

Chapter 8: Finding and Installing WordPress Themes

Getting Started with Free Themes

Activating a New Theme

Browsing and Installing Themes from the Dashboard

Deciding to Use Commercial Themes

Part IV: Customizing WordPress

Chapter 9: Understanding Themes and Templates

Using WordPress Themes: The Basics

Contemplating the Structure of a WordPress Website

Examining the Anatomy of a Template Tag

Getting Familiar with the Four Main Templates

Putting a Theme Together

Customizing Your Blog Posts with Template Tags

Using Tags with Parameters for Sidebars

Chapter 10: Tweaking WordPress Themes

Styling with CSS: The Basics

Changing the Background Color

Using Your Own Header Image

Creating Custom Navigation Menus

Changing Font Family, Color, and Size

Understanding Basic HTML Techniques

Chapter 11: Understanding Parent and Child Themes

Customizing Theme Style with Child Themes

Modifying Theme Structure with Child Themes

Preparing a Parent Theme

Chapter 12: WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS)

Creating the Front Page of Your Website

Adding a Blog to Your Website

Creating Custom Page Templates to Achieve Different Layouts and Styles

Creating Different Sidebar and Footer Templates for Your Pages

Creating Custom Styles for Sticky, Category, and Tag Posts

Adding Theme Support for Built-In Features

Optimizing Your WordPress Site for Search Engines

Chapter 13: Hosting Multiple Sites with WordPress

Considering Web-Hosting Services

Enabling the WordPress Network Feature

Installing the Network on Your Site

Exploring the Network Admin Dashboard Menu

Managing Your Network

Stopping Spam Signups and Splogs

Chapter 14: Upgrading, Backing Up, and Migrating

Getting Notified of an Available Upgrade

Backing Up Your Database

Upgrading WordPress Automatically

Upgrading WordPress Manually

Migrating Your Existing Site to WordPress

Importing from WordPress

Moving Your Website to a Different Host

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 15: Ten Popular WordPress Plugins

AppPresser — Mobile App Framework

Jetpack

Subscribe to Comments

Facebook

All in One SEO Pack

BackupBuddy

WP Super Cache

WooCommerce

Google XML Sitemaps

Sucuri Sitecheck Malware Scanner

Chapter 16: Ten Free WordPress Themes

Hybrid

designPile

Responsive

P2

Annotum Base

Blackbird

iTheme2

Esquire

WP-Creativix

Gridline

About the Author

Cheat Sheet

Advertisement Page

Connect with Dummies

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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Foreword

There used to be a program from Microsoft called FrontPage that was the first visual interface for creating websites that I saw. It worked like Word or Publisher, so with very little knowledge, I was able to hack together the world's worst website in just a few hours without worrying about what was going on under the hood.

Years later when I look back at that website, I cringe, but at the time it was incredibly empowering. The software, though crude, helped me publish something anybody in the entire world could see. It opened up a world I had never imagined before.

Now, using software like WordPress, you can have a blog or website light years beyond my first one in both functionality and aesthetics. However, just as my first web experience whetted my appetite for more, I hope that your experience entices you to explore the thousands of free plugins, themes, and customizations possible with WordPress, many of which are explained in this book.

WordPress is more than just software; it is a community, a rapidly evolving ecosystem, and a set of philosophies and opinions about how to create the best web experience. When you embrace it, you'll be in good company. WordPress users include old media organizations such as CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, along with millions of personal bloggers like myself for whom a WordPress blog is a means of expression.

Matt Mullenweg
Cofounder of WordPress

Introduction

It was 2003 when I discovered the WordPress blogging software. Way back then (and in Internet years, that’s actually quite a lot of time) I used Movable Type as my blogging platform. My friend Chelle introduced me to the WordPress software. “Try it,” she said. “You’ll really like it.”

As a creature of habit, I felt reluctant to make the change. But I haven’t looked back. I’ve been with WordPress ever since.

WordPress started out a tool for blogging. Authors, students, parents, business owners, academics, journalists, hobbyists — you name it — use blogs as a matter of course. Over the past decade, WordPress has emerged as the premier content management system available on the Internet today. WordPress software currently powers 25 percent of the websites you see on the World Wide Web — that means 1 in every 4 websites you run across are powered by WordPress.

Today, WordPress is so much more than a blogging tool. Individuals, organizations, and corporations are using WordPress to build their entire web presence. WordPress has grown into a valuable solution for everything from selling products on the Internet to membership sites, blogging, media — pretty much anything you think you can do with your website can be accomplished with WordPress.

To a brand-new user, some aspects of WordPress can seem a little bit intimidating. After you take a look under the hood, however, you begin to realize how intuitive, friendly, and extensible the software is.

This book presents an insightful look at WordPress and covers managing and maintaining your WordPress-powered website through the use of plugins, themes, and using the intuitive WordPress Dashboard to manage your content. If you’re interested in taking a detailed look at the website-building tool provided by WordPress, you happen to have just the right book in your hands.

About This Book

This book covers all the important aspects of WordPress that new users need to know to begin using the software for their own website. In this book, I cover the software package available at https://wordpress.org by highlighting all the important topics, such as these:

Locating good hosting services for the software

Installing and setting up the WordPress software

Navigating the WordPress Dashboard

Adding media files to your website

Finding and installing free themes to use in your WordPress website

Using basic coding to design your own WordPress theme or modify the one you’re using

Using templates and tags in WordPress

Installing, activating, and managing WordPress plugins

Choosing to use the multiple-site WordPress Network option to host a network of multiple websites on your domain

Discovering the potential pitfalls associated with WordPress

Understanding the challenges you face when running a WordPress-powered site, such as dodging comment and trackback spam

Exploring RSS feed syndication and integration with social media like Twitter and Facebook

Migrating your existing website to WordPress (if you are using a different platform, such as Drupal, Movable Type, or Expression Engine)

Discovering the power of WordPress as a content management system (CMS) to create a full-service website

Upgrading your WordPress website and staying up to date and informed about ongoing WordPress software development

Finding support, tips, and resources for using the WordPress software

With WordPress, you can truly tailor a website to your own tastes and needs. All the tools are out there. Some of them are packaged with the WordPress software; others are third-party plugins and add-ons created by members of the WordPress user community. It takes a little research, knowledge, and time on your part to put together a blog that suits your needs and gives your readers an exciting experience that keeps them coming back for more.

Foolish Assumptions

I’ll never know what assumptions you’ve made about me at this point, but I can tell you a few things that I already assume about you:

You know what a computer is. You can turn it on, and you understand that if you spill coffee on your keyboard, you’ll have to run out and get a replacement.

You understand how to hook yourself into the Internet and know the basics of using a web browser to surf websites.

You have a basic understanding of what websites and blogs are, and you’re interested in using WordPress to start your own. Or you already have a website, are already using WordPress, and want to understand the program better so that you can do more cool stuff and stop bugging your geeky best friend whenever you have a question about something. Or, even better, you already have a website on another platform and want to move your website to WordPress.

You know what email is. You know what an email address is. You actually have an email address, and you send and receive email on a semi-regular basis.

Icons Used in This Book

Icons emphasize a point to remember, a danger to be aware of, or information that I think you may find helpful. Those points are illustrated as such:

tip Tips are little bits of information that you may find useful.

warning I use this icon to point out dangerous situations.

technicalstuff All geeky stuff goes here. I don’t use this icon very often, but when I do, you know you’re about to encounter technical mumbo-jumbo.

remember When you see this icon, read the text next to it two or three times to brand it into your brain so that you remember whatever it was that I think you need to remember.

Beyond the Book

I’ve put a ton of information between the covers of this book, but you’ll find even more information at www.dummies.com, such as the following:

I provide you with a Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/wordpress that lists

The best places to find WordPress support online.

The basic sections of the WordPress Dashboard.

How to locate a reliable web-hosting provider.

Where to find some great WordPress resources online.

You’ll also find helpful online articles at www.dummies.com/extras/wordpress that discuss

Setting up a WordPress.com account.

Changing your WordPress Dashboard layout to create your own unique work space.

Avoiding unsafe WordPress themes.

Great examples of ten sites that use WordPress as a full-blown content management system (as opposed to just a blog).

Where to Go from Here

This book is a veritable smorgasbord of WordPress information, ideas, concepts, tools, resources, and instruction. Some of it will apply directly to what you want to do with your WordPress blog. Other parts may deal with topics that you’re only mildly curious about, so feel free to skim (or skip) those pages.

For example, if you already have WordPress installed on your web server, you can skip Chapter 3. If you aren’t interested in digging into the code of a WordPress template, and don’t want to find out how to apply CSS or HTML to enhance your design, you can skip Chapters 9–12. If you have no interest in running more than one website with WordPress, you can skip Chapter 13.

I don’t intend for you to read this book from cover to cover (unless you’re my mother — then I won’t forgive you if you don’t). Rather, scan the Table of Contents and the Index of this book to find the information you need.

Long story short: Take what you need and leave the rest.

Part I

Introducing WordPress

webextra Visit www.dummies.com for great Dummies content online.

In this part…

Explore all WordPress has to offer.

Discover the basic concepts about publishing a website with WordPress.

Understand the different versions of WordPress and choose the right one for you.

Get ready to use WordPress for your online publishing.

Chapter 1

What WordPress Can Do for You

In This Chapter

arrow Seeing how WordPress can benefit you

arrow Participating in the WordPress community

arrow Understanding the different versions of WordPress

In a world in which technology advances in the blink of an eye, WordPress really does make building websites easy — and free! How else can you get your content out to a potential audience of millions worldwide and spend exactly nothing? There may be no such thing as a free lunch in this world, but you can bet your bottom dollar that there are free websites and blogs. WordPress serves them all up in one nifty package.

The software’s free price tag, its ease of use, and the speed at which you can get your blog up and running are great reasons to use WordPress to power your personal blog or business website. An even greater reason is the incredibly supportive and passionate WordPress community. In this chapter, I introduce you to the WordPress software so that you can begin to discover how effective it is as a tool for creating your blog or website.

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!