Recent Drafts

If you’re using a brand-new WordPress blog and this is a new installation,

the Recent Drafts module displays the message There Are No Drafts at the
Moment because you haven’t written any drafts. As time goes on, however,
and you write a few posts in your blog, you may save some of those posts
as drafts — to be edited and published later. Those drafts show up in the

If you’re using a brand-new WordPress blog and this is a new installation,

the Recent Drafts module displays the message There Are No Drafts at the
Moment because you haven’t written any drafts. As time goes on, however,
and you write a few posts in your blog, you may save some of those posts
as drafts — to be edited and published later. Those drafts show up in the
Recent Drafts module.

The Recent Drafts module displays up to five drafts, showing for each the

title of the post, the date it was last saved, and a short excerpt. A View All

link also appears; click that link to go the Manage Posts page, where you can view, edit, and manage your blog posts (check out Book IV, Chapter 2 for more information). Figure 1-7 displays the Recent Drafts module, with five posts in draft status, awaiting publication.

 

 

The Recent Drafts module displays up to five drafts, showing for each the

title of the post, the date it was last saved, and a short excerpt. A View All

link also appears; click that link to go the Manage Posts page, where you can view, edit, and manage your blog posts (check out Book IV, Chapter 2 for more information). Figure 1-7 displays the Recent Drafts module, with five posts in draft status, awaiting publication.

 

 

Read More

Plugins

 

We get into the management and use of WordPress plugins in detail in Book VII; however, for the purposes of this section, we discuss the functions of the Plugins module in the Dashboard.

The Plugins module includes three titles of WordPress plugins that are

linked to its individual plugin page within the WordPress Plugin Directory.
The Plugins module pulls information via RSS feed from the official
WordPress Plugin Directory at http://wordpress.org/extend/
plugins. This module displays a plugin from three different plugin

categories in the official WordPress Plugin Directory: Most Popular,

Newest Plugins, and Recently Updated.

The Plugins module doesn’t have an Edit link, so you can’t customize the information that it displays. Use this module to discover new plugins that can help you do some fun and exciting things with your blog.

The Plugins module does have a very exciting feature that you can use to install, activate, and manage plugins on your blog. Just follow these steps to make it happen:

1. Click the Install link next to the title of the plugin.

The Plugin Information pop-up window opens. It displays the various

bits of information about the plugin you chose, such as title, description, version, author, date last updated, and the number of times the plugin was downloaded.

2. Click the Install Now button.

This button appears at the top right of the Plugin Information window.

The Plugin Information window closes, and the Install Plugins page in your
WordPress Dashboard opens, displaying a confirmation message that the
plugin has been downloaded, unpacked, and successfully installed.

3. Specify whether to activate the plugin or proceed to the Plugins page.
Two links appear below the confirmation message:

•  Activate Plugin: Activate the plugin you just installed on your blog.

•  Return to Plugins Page: Go to the Manage Plugins page.

We cover the installation and activation of WordPress plugins in further depth in Book VII.

4. Click the Dashboard link to return to the Dashboard.

The Dashboard link appears at the top of the left menu on every page of your WordPress Dashboard.

Read More

Incoming Links

 The module below the Recent Comments module in the Dashboard is

Incoming Links. It lists all the blog-savvy people who wrote a blog post that
links to your blog. When your blog is brand new, you won’t see any incoming
links listed in this section. Don’t despair, however; as time goes on, you’ll
see this listing of links fill up while more and more people discover you and
your inspired writings!

In the meantime, the Incoming Links module shows, “This dashboard widget
queries Google Blog Search so that when another blog links to your site it
will show up here. It has found no incoming links . . . yet. It’s okay — there is
no rush.” The phrase Google Blog Search is a link; when you click it, you go
to the Google Blog Search directory, which is a search engine for blogs only.

Follow these steps to edit the Incoming Links module:

1. Hover your mouse on the title of the Incoming Links module.

A new link labeled Configure appears directly to the right of the Incoming Links title.

2. Click the Configure link.

The Incoming Links module expands and you see settings that you can configure (see Figure 1-4).

3. Add a URL in the Enter the RSS Feed URL Here text box.

You can enter the URL of any RSS feed that you want to display incoming
links to your site. Examples of feeds you can use include such sources
as Technorati (http://technorati.com), Yahoo! Search (http://
search.yahoo.com), or Social Mention (www.socialmention.com).
You’re not restricted to using the Google Blog Search engine (http://
blogsearch.google.com) to provide your Incoming Links information.

4. Select how many items you want to display from the drop-down list.

The default is 5, but you can display up to 20 items (incoming links).

5. Check the Display Item Date box if you want each incoming link to
display the date the link was created.

If you don’t want the date display, leave that box blank.

6. Click the Submit button to save all your preferences.

Clicking Submit resets the Incoming Links module with your new settings saved.

Read More

Recent Comments

 

The module below the Right Now module is the Recent Comments module, as shown in Figure 1-3. Within this module, you find

✦ The most recent comments published to your blog: WordPress displays
a maximum of five comments in this area.

✦ The author of each comment: The name of the person who left the
comment. This section also displays the author’s picture (or avatar),
if he or she has one.

✦ A link to the post the comment was left on: The post title appears to
the right of the commenter’s name. Click the link, and you go to that
post in the Admin panel.

✦ An excerpt of the comment: A short snippet of the comment left on
your blog.

✦ Comment management links: When you hover on the comment with your
mouse cursor, five links appear below the comment. These links give you
the opportunity to manage those comments right from your Dashboard:
The first link is Unapprove, which appears only if you have comment mod-
eration turned on. (Find out more about moderating comments in Book III,
Chapter 5). The other four links are Edit, Reply, Spam, and Trash.

 

✦ View All button: This button invites you to see all the comments on
your blog. Clicking the View All button takes you to the Edit Comments

page, where you can view, edit, moderate, or delete any comments on your blog.

 

 

Read More

Navigating the Dashboard

✦ The number of tags: The number of tags in your blog, which changes

when you add and delete categories. Figure 1-2 shows that this blog has
one tag.

Clicking this link takes you to the Tags page, where you can add new tags and view, edit, and delete your current tags. (You can find more information about tags in Book III, Chapter 7.)

✦ The number of comments: The number of comments on your blog.
Figure 1-2 shows that this blog has two comments, two approved
comments, 0 (zero) pending comments, and 0 (zero) comments
marked as spam.

Clicking any of these four links takes you to the Edit Comments page, where you can manage the comments on your blog. We cover the management of comments in Book III, Chapter 5.

The last section of the Dashboard’s Right Now module shows the following information:

✦ Which WordPress theme you’re using: Figure 1-2 shows that the exam-
ple blog is using the theme Twenty Ten. The theme name is a link that,
when clicked, takes you to the Manage Themes page, where you can
view and activate themes on your blog.

✦ How many widgets you’ve added to your blog: The number of

WordPress widgets you’re using in your blog. Figure 1-2 shows that this
blog has two widgets. The number 2 is a link that, when clicked, takes
you to the Widgets page, where you can change your widget options by
editing them, moving them, or removing them. (Widgets are covered in
detail in Book VI, Chapter 1.)

✦ Change Theme: Clicking this button takes you to the Manage Themes
page, which lists currently active and all available themes for your
WordPress blog. Your active theme (the theme that’s visible on your
active blog) appears at the top of the page, below the Current Theme
header. All other available themes are listed below Available Themes.
Click any theme on this page to use it on your blog.

✦ The version of WordPress you’re using: The last statement in the

Right Now section. Figure 1-2 shows that this blog is using WordPress version 3.1. This version announcement changes if you’re using an earlier version of WordPress. When WordPress software is upgraded, this statement tells you that you’re using an outdated version of WordPress and encourages you to upgrade to the latest version.

Read More

Discovering the admin bar

New to WordPress 3.1 is a navigation menu,
the admin bar, which you see across the top of
Figure 1-1. The admin bar appears at the top of
every page on your site, by default, and across
the top of every page of the Dashboard if you
set it to do so in your profile settings (Chapter 3
of this minibook). The nice thing is that the
only person who can see the admin bar is you
because it displays only for the user who is
logged in. The admin bar contains shortcuts
that take you to the most frequently viewed
areas of your WordPress Dashboard. Across
the top, from left to right you find that your photo
and name display with a drop-down menu when
you hover on them. The drop-down menu pro-
vides you with quick links to three areas in
your Dashboard: Edit Your Profile, Dashboard,
and Log Out. The next link in the admin bar is

called New; hover on that and you find links to
Post and Page, which you click to go to either
the Add New Post page or the Add New Page
screen. The next link is Comments; click that
and visit the Manage Comments page in your
Dashboard. The last link is Appearance; hover
on that link and the Widgets and Menus links
appear. When you click one, you can visit
either the Widgets page or the Custom Menu
page in your Dashboard. Additionally, on the
right side of the admin bar is a search form
that you can use to search for items on your
site by using keywords.
Again, the admin bar is seen only by you at the top of your site, no matter what page you’re on, as long as you are logged in to your WordPress site.

Read More

Right Now

The Right Now module in the Dashboard shows what’s going on in your blog right now — right this very second! Figure 1-2 shows the expanded Right Now module in a brand-spanking-new WordPress blog.

 

 

The Right Now module shows the following default information below the Content and Discussion headers:
✦ The number of posts you have: This number reflects the total number of
posts you currently have in your WordPress blog; the blog in Figure 1-2
has one post. The number is blue, which means it’s a clickable link. When
you click the link, you go to the Edit Posts page, where you can edit the
posts on your blog. We cover editing posts in Book IV, Chapter 1.

✦ The number of pages: The number of pages on your blog, which
changes when you add or delete pages. (Pages, in this context, refer
to the static pages you create in your blog.) Figure 1-2 shows that the blog has three pages.
Clicking this link takes you to the Edit Pages page, where you can view, edit, and delete your current pages. (Find the difference between
WordPress posts and pages in Book IV, Chapter 2.)
✦ The number of categories: The number of categories on your blog,
which changes when you add and delete categories. Figure 1-2 shows
that this blog has one category.
Clicking this link takes you to the Categories page, where you can view,
edit, and delete your current categories or add brand-new ones. (For
details about the management and creation of categories

Read More

Navigating the Dashboard

The navigation menu in the WordPress Dashboard appears on the left side

of your browser window. When you need to get back to the WordPress
Dashboard, click the Dashboard link that appears at the top of the naviga-
tion menu of any of the pages within your WordPress Dashboard.

In the following sections, we cover the Dashboard page as it appears when you log in to your WordPress Dashboard for the very first time; later we show you how to configure the appearance of your Dashboard so that it best suits how you use the available modules. Also, check out the nearby “Discovering the admin bar” sidebar that covers the menu located at the top of every page in your Dashboard and site.

Read More

Navigating the Dashboard

You can consider the Dashboard to be a control panel of sorts because it

offers several quick links and areas that provide information about your
blog, starting with the actual Dashboard page, as shown in Figure 1-1.

You can change how the WordPress Dashboard looks, at least in terms of
the order the modules appear on it. You can expand (open) and collapse
(close) the individual modules by clicking your mouse anywhere within
thegray title bar of the module. This feature is really nice because you can
use the Dashboard for just those modules that you use regularly. The con-
cept is easy: Keep the modules you use all the time open and close the ones
that you use only occasionally — you can open those modules only when
you really need them. You save space and can customize your Dashboard
to suit your needs.

Read More

Navigating the Dashboard

1. Open your Web browser and type the WordPress login page address

(or URL) in the address box.

The login page’s address looks something like this (exchange that .com for a .org or a .net, as needed):

http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-login.php

If you installed WordPress in its own folder, include that folder name in
the login URL. If you installed WordPress in a folder ingeniously named
wordpress, the login URL becomes http://www.yourdomain.com/
wordpress/wp-login.php.

2. Type your username in the Username text box and your password in
the Password text box.

In case you forget your password, WordPress has you covered. Click the
Lost Your Password link (located near the bottom of the page), enter
your username and e-mail address, and then click the Submit button.
WordPress resets your password and e-mails the new password to you.

3. Select the Remember Me check box if you want WordPress to place a
cookie in your browser.

The cookie tells WordPress to remember your login credentials the

next time you show up. The cookie set by WordPress is harmless and
stores your WordPress login on your computer. Because of the cookie,
WordPress remembers you the next time you visit. Additionally, because
this option tells the browser to remember your login, we don’t advise
checking this option on public computers. Avoid selecting Remember Me
when you’re using your work computer or a computer at an Internet café.

Note: Before you set this option, make sure that your browser is config-
ured to allow cookies. (If you aren’t sure how to do this configuration,
check the help documentation of the Internet browser you’re using.)

4. Click the Log In button.

After you log in to WordPress, the Dashboard page appears.

Read More

Logging In to the Dashboard

The direct approach (also known as jumping in) usually works best when

you want to get familiar with a new software tool. To that end, just follow
these steps to log in to WordPress and look at the guts of the Dashboard:

Read More

Using a plugin to back up and move to a new host

 

BackupBuddy is a plugin that moves a WordPress Web site from one hosting environment to another. This plugin is not free or available in the WordPress Plugin Directory, but it’s worth every penny because it takes the entire

backup and migration process and makes mincemeat out of it — meaning, it makes moving the site easy to accomplish and can be done in minutesrather than hours. Follow these steps to use this plugin to move your site to a new hosting server:

1. Purchase and download the BackupBuddy plugin from http://
ewebscapes.com/backupbuddy.

At this time, the cost for the plugin starts at $45.

2. Install the plugin on your current WordPress Web site.

By current, I mean the old one, not the new hosting account yet.

3. Activate the plugin on your WordPress Dashboard.

Choose Plugins in the navigation menu and then click the Activate link under the BackupBuddy plugin name.

4. Navigate to the Backups section on the BackupBuddy options page.
Click the Backups link in the BackupBuddy menu.

5. Click the Full Backup button.

This initiates a full backup of your database, files, and content and wraps it neatly into one .zip file for you to store on your local computer.

6. Download the importbuddy.php file.

Click the importbuddy.php file on the Backups page and download it to your local computer, preferably in the same directory as the backup file you downloaded in Step 5.

7. Connect to your new Web server via FTP.

8. Upload the backup.zip file and the importbuddy.php file.

These files should be uploaded in the root, or top level, directory on your
Web server (on some Web servers this is the /public_html folder; on
others it might be the /httpdocs folder — if you’re unsure what your
root directory is, your hosting provider should be able to tell you).

9. Create a new database on your new hosting account.

The steps for creating a database are found in the previous posts.

10. Navigate to the importbuddy.php file in your Web browser.

The URL for this looks similar to http://yourdomain.com/
importbuddy.php.

11. The BackupBuddy page loads in your Web browser.

Follow the steps to import the backup file and install WordPress, including the database information needed: database username, name, password, and host. This entire process takes about five to ten minutes,
maybe more depending on the size of your Web site.

12. Load your Web site in your Web browser.

After BackupBuddy does its thing, your Web site is ready to use
like always.

Read More

Import your database backup into the new database you just created

a. Log in to the cPanel for your hosting account.

b. Click the phpMyAdmin icon and click the name of your new
database in the left menu.

c. Click the Import tab at the top.

d. Click the Browse button and select the database backup from
your local computer.

e. Click the Go button; the old database imports into the new.

Read More

Creating a backup and moving manually

 In,This Chapter , we provide you with step-by-step instructions on how

to take a backup of your database by using phpMyAdmin. Follow the steps
available in that chapter and you’ll have a backup of your database with all

the recent content you’ve published to your blog. However, when we say content, we mean what you’ve (or someone else has) written or typed into your blog via the WordPress Dashboard, including

✦ Blog posts, pages, and custom post types ✦ Links, categories, and tags

✦ Post and page options, such as excerpts, time and date, custom
fields, categories, tags, and passwords

✦ WordPress settings you configured under the Settings menu in
the Dashboard

✦ All widgets that you created and configured

✦ All plugin options that you configured for the plugins you installed

Other elements of your Web site aren’t stored in the database, which you need to download, via FTP, from your Web server. The following is a list of those elements, including instructions on where to find them and how to download them to your local computer:

✦ Media files: The files you uploaded by using the WordPress media upload
feature, including images, videos, audio files and documents. Media files
are located in the /wp-content/uploads folder. Connect to your Web
server via FTP and download that folder to your local computer.

✦ Plugin files: Although all the plugin settings are stored in the database,
the actual, physical plugin files are not. The plugin files are located in
the /wp-content/plugins folder. Connect to your Web server via FTP
and download that folder to your local computer.

✦ Theme files: Widgets and options you’ve set for your current theme

are stored in the database; however, the physical theme template files, images, and stylesheets are not. They’re stored in the /wp-content/ themes folder. Connect to your Web server via FTP and download that folder to your local computer.

Read More

Moving Your Web Site to a Different Host

There may come a time that you decide you need to switch from your cur-

rent hosting provider to a new one. There are reasons why someone would
have to do this — either you’re unhappy with your current provider and

want to move to a new one, or your current provider is going out of business
and you’re forced to move. Transferring from one host to another is a reality
that some Web site owners must face, and transferring an existing Web site,
with all of its content, files, and data, from one host to another can seem a
very daunting task. This section of the chapter should make it easier for you.

You can go about it two ways:

✦ Manually through backing up your database and downloading

essential files

✦ Using a plugin to automate as much of the process as possible

Obviously, using a tool to automate the process for you to make it easier is the more desirable way to go, but just in case you need to do it manually, in the next section of this chapter, I provide you with the instructions for doing it both ways.

Read More