Getting Started Your website uses two WordPress installations. To login to the admin interfaces, go to:

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1 Holden High Web Content Management Training October 14, 2008 Contents Overview... 1 Getting Started... 1 Touring the Administrative Panels... 2 Editing Content... 3 Formatting Content... 4 Parent Side Features... 4 Student Site Features... 5 Overview Your website uses WordPress, an open source software that includes a MySQL database and a set of PHP files that allow you to update your site s content via a userfriendly administrative interface. After a little experimentation, you will likely find that publishing content on your website is nearly as easy as sending an ! This booklet provides you with an overview of WordPress administrative interface and instructions for managing your website s content. If you would like to explore WordPress further, you can review the documentation and forums at Getting Started Your website uses two WordPress installations. To login to the admin interfaces, go to: (parent side) (student side) You can login to both interfaces with the following account information: Username: admin Password: r3dh3art Once logged in, you can update your profile for each site (including name, and password) by going to Users > Your Profile. To ensure your site s security, you should Holden High Web Content Management Training 1

2 keep your password protected, update it somewhat regularly, and always log out of the administrative panel when using a public computer. The features described in this booklet are available to administrative-level users who have the ability to edit and write all content, manage plugins and themes, and manage other users. It is possible for you to set up sub-accounts limited to authoring and editing content; some of the following won t be relevant for users with more limited accounts. Touring the Administrative Panels WordPress provides an administrative back end to your website where logged in users can manage and create content. The URL for the admin interface typically follows the structure: Header The header of your site s admin interface shows the site s title. The View Site link takes you back to the public front end of your site. The top right corner shows your username (which links to your profile), a Log Out link (which is good to use after you access your account on a public computer), and helpful links to WordPress documentation and forums. Dashboard Once you ve logged in to your site s admin interface, the Dashboard panel will be open by default. This panel provides shortcut links for typical admin activities, statistics about your site, and extra information about WordPress. Write The Write panel is where you can go to write new posts and pages (more about creating content is provided below for each site). Manage The Manage panel is where you can go to view, edit and delete your saved and published posts and pages. You can also manage tags and uploaded media. You likely won t need to change the categories. The Links, Link Categories, Import and Export sub-panels aren t relevant for your needs. Some plugins that add extra functionality to your installation may have management panels here; these are discussed below for each site. Holden High Web Content Management Training 2

3 Design Under the Design panel it is possible to change the entire theme (design) of your site-- so be careful! The options in the Design panel likely won t need to be changed. Comments If you have comments turned on for your site, you can use the Comments panel to view, approve and delete them. Settings Under Settings you can configure various options that will affect the operations of your site. Settings that are relevant to you include: the address on the General panel (this will receive notifications regarding the site); and the settings under Discussion, which lets you manage the way comments are permitted and moderated for your site. Be sure to set these for both sites. The other settings likely won t need to be changed. Plugins Plugins add functionality to your site. The defaults in the Plugins panel should not be changed. Users From the Users panel, you can edit your profile and manage other users. To add another user with specific permissions, you must first be logged in as an administrator, then go to Users > Authors & Users and scroll down to Add New Users. More about user roles can be found at Additional Panels Some plugins that add extra functionality to your installation have their own management panels; these are discussed below for each site. Editing Content Once you ve logged in to WordPress, you can edit page and post content via one of two methods: within the public front end of your website, you can click on the Edit link within a page/post (this link only appears if you are logged in and the content is editable); or, within the admin interface, you can go to Manage > Posts or Pages and click on a name of a post or page. Creating and modifying content is discussed further below for each site. Holden High Web Content Management Training 3

4 Formatting Content Once you are in the Write Page or Write Post admin form, you will see two tabs: Visual and HTML, as well as formatting buttons associated with each tab. For simple styling of your content, type your content in the Visual tab. Here you can use the familiar word processor style buttons along the top to format your text. You can cut and paste text from a text editor into the Visual tab and then style it, but if you are cutting and pasting text from the web or a word processor, you should paste into the HTML tab first and then click back to Visual to format it further. If you paste this text into the Visual tab, the styling may cause formatting problems. A few formatting notes: To create a hyperlink, select the text that you want to be linked and click on the chain link button (if you are in the HTML tab use the link button). In the formatting window that pops up, enter in the web address for your link. You can upload.jpg,.gif or.png images and embed them into posts and pages. To do this, use the Add media: add an image button along the top of the Write Post form. Within the Add image popup window, you can choose an image on your computer and upload the image. You will then have the option to title, describe and insert the item (with desired scale and alignment) within your post. Note: This upload function will work for a variety of file types under a few MB in size (.jpg,.gif,.pdf,.doc,.mp3,.mov). Large audio and video files may need to be uploaded directly to your server, as described below for the student site. The Write > Page/Post panel includes various options for configuring your content. Of these, categories, custom fields, page parents, page templates and page order are relevant in some cases, as described below for each site. Parent Site Features Within the main parent site, you can create and modify a few different types of content: pages, which create the main structure and content for the site; posts for individual newsletters and events; events for the calendar, which you can tie to posts for additional information; and forms, which are currently only used in the Contact page. Holden High Web Content Management Training 4

5 Pages The main structure for the parent site is created with pages. You can easily edit the content of existing pages. If you want to create a new sub-page that is tiered to one of pages in the site s top navigation, you can do so via the admin interface s Write > Page panel. You will need to specify the Page Parent (the main page it is tiered to), the Page Template (there is a template associated with each of the main pages), and the Page Order (which determines the order the page is listed in the sidebar). Newsletter To post a newsletter, go to the admin interface s Write > Post panel. In addition to entering a title and content, be sure to categorize the post as a Newsletter. You can also add tags for relevant key words to help in site searches. Comments are currently enabled for newsletters you can disable these on a post-by-post basis under the Write Post panel s Comments & Pings section, or for the entire site under the admin interface s Settings panel. Events To create an event for the calendar, go to the admin interface s Events Calendar panel and scroll down to the Add Event form. Enter your event s information and add the event. To create a post tied to the event for additional information, create the event first and then go to the Write > Post panel and create a post categorized as Events. At the top of your browser you will see a url appended with &posted=# note this post number. Next, go to the Events Calendar panel. Click on your event to edit it and enter the post number in the Post ID field. Forms The parent site s contact form can be configured in the admin interface s cformsii panel. In particular, be sure the core form is correct and tested so the contact form is sent to the right address. Additional contact forms can be created within this panel if desired-- please consult the instructions in the Help subpanel for more information. Student Site Features Within the student site, you can create and modify posts that contain a variety of multimedia content, and you can edit a few pages. Holden High Web Content Management Training 5

6 Pages Pages that have editable content include the Photos, Drama and Classes pages. Once logged in to the student site, you can edit page content from the public front end of the site using the related Edit links. Posts To create a new post associated with a main section in the student site (photos, video, music, art, drama or other projects), go to the admin interface s Write > Post panel. You will need to categorize the post (using the Categories section below the Write Post form) so that it appears in the correct location in the site. Posts can contain a variety of multimedia content, such as images, galleries, audio and video, as described further below. Comments are currently enabled for all student site posts you can disable these on a post-by-post basis under the Write Post panel s Comments & Pings section, or for the entire site under the admin interface s Settings panel. Thumbnails The thumbnail images that show for each post are automatically created from the first image (including gallery images) or YouTube video embedded within a post. For other video formats or to specify your own thumbnail image: 1) format a 70x70 pixel image in an image editor application (you may want to round the corners to match related thumbnails); 2) upload the image as described earlier in this booklet and note the file s name, but don t insert the image into your post; 3) in the Custom Fields section of the Write Post panel, enter Image as the key and your file name (such as image.png ) as the value. If no thumbnail image is available, a default image will be used. Excerpts The post excerpts that show on the site s main pages are created from the first 20 words in each post. Image and video content are not included in this excerpt, but the audio and gallery code will be. To avoid this, you can indicate where to end your excerpt by using the Write Post panel s HTML tab and clicking the more button. Alternatively, you can define an excerpt in the Write > Post panel s Excerpt section. Image Galleries To create an image gallery, begin with a set of images that are formatted for web. It is best to use.jpg photographs that are about 500 pixels on their longest size. Images Holden High Web Content Management Training 6

7 should have web-friendly names (letters, spaces, and underscores only no spaces or unusual characters). Go to the admin interface s Gallery > Add Gallery panel and create a new gallery; note the tag (such as [gallery:#]) that is displayed when you create a gallery. You can now upload individual images, an image folder, or a zipped file containing images to this new gallery. The file size for your upload should not exceed 10MB, and files over a few MB may be troublesome to upload (see the FTP notes below if you experience difficultlies). You can manage an existing gallery (to add and delete photos) using the Gallery > Manage Gallery panel. To embed an image gallery within a post, enter the [gallery:#] tag within the Write Post panel s HTML tab. Photo/Art Big Slideshows You can manage the images within the main Photo (big_polariod gallery) and Art (ArtBoard) slideshows within the Gallery > Manage Gallery panel. Images for the big_polariod gallery should be cropped to 258x265 pixels; and images within the ArtBoard gallery should be 242x249 pixels. Audio You can upload.mp3 audio files that are under a few MB in size using the Write Post panel s Add Media buttons. To embed an audio player for the file within a post, note the file s URL and enter a tag like the following in the Write Post panel s HTML tab: [audio: Quicktime Videos You can upload.mov video files that are under a few MB in size and less than 500 pixels wide using the Write Post panel s Add Media buttons. To embed a.mov file within a post, first note the video s URL and its dimensions. In the Write Post panel s Visual tab, a second row of formatting buttons will appear if you select the Show/Hide Kitchen Sink button (second from right). In the second row, select the film button. In the popup window that appears, enter Quicktime for the type, the full URL for the.mov file, and the dimensions (add 20 pixels to the height to allow for the video controls). Go to the Advanced tab and turn off the Auto Play option. Holden High Web Content Management Training 7

8 FTP If your audio, video, or gallery files are very big (over about 5MB in size), you may need to compress your files and/or upload them directly to your server. In such cases, please contact Tri Valley Internet for additional support. Ordering Posts By default, posts within the main pages will be listed in reverse chronologic order from most recent to oldest. To set a custom order, go to the admin interface s Manage > AstickyPostOrderER panel, select a category, number the posts, and save your settings. Home Page Images Coming soon! Holden High Web Content Management Training 8