WordPress 101
Terms:

Dashboard: The control panel of the WordPress website.  Like the dashboard of a car, the Dashboard shows you what is happening with the website.  This is the main control area where you can change the content and look of the website.

Post: A post can be text, picture, or video.  This is content that will typically change frequently, like newsletter updates.  See the section below for directions on how to add and publish a new post.

Page: This is content that will typically be static, like the “About Opal’s House” page.

How To’s:
Login Procedure:

• After typing the site URL into your browser (www.opalshouse.org/newsite), click on “Log In” under the “Metadata” tab on the bottom left of the page.
• Enter your Username and Password here.
• This will bring you to the Dashboard screen.

Create a Post:

• Click on the drop-down menu of the “Post” box on the left-hand side of the Dashboard.
• Click on “Add New.”
• Type in the title of your post.
• Type in the content of your post just as you would in a Word document.

Save a Post:

• If you want to save your post and come back and work on it more later, you can click on the “Save Draft” button on the right-hand side of the Dashboard.
• You will be able to retrieve drafts of posts by going to the “Post” box on the left-hand     side of the Dashboard and clicking on “Posts.”  This will bring you to a page where you can see all your published posts as well as draft posts.

Publish a Post:

• When you are finished with a post, you can publish it to the WordPress site by clicking on the “Publish” button on the right-hand side of the Dashboard.

Manage Posts:

• You can edit and delete posts by going to the “Post” box on the left-hand side of the     Dashboard and clicking on “Posts.”  This will bring you to a page where you can add, delete, and update all your posts.

Add a Link:

• Click on the drop-down menu of the “Link” box on the left-hand side of the     Dashboard.
• Click on “Add New.”
• Type in the name of the link, the actual web address (URL), and a description of the link if you wish.
• Click on the “Add Link” button on the right-hand side of the Dashboard.

Add a User:

• Select the “User Menu” on the bottom left-hand side of the Dashboard.
• Select “Add New.”
• Complete the required fields.
• When selecting the “role” for a user, keep the following in mind:

• Administrator – Somebody who has access to all the administration features.  We suggest that YOU are the only administrator, but other staff may have editorial/authorial roles.
• Editor – Somebody who can publish and manage posts and pages as well as manage other users’ posts, etc.
• Author – Somebody who can publish and manage their own posts.
• Contributor – Somebody who can write and manage their posts but not publish them.
• Subscriber – Somebody who can only manage their profile.
• Select “Add User.”

How to Add a Picture (in Posts and Pages):

• In the page that you want to add a picture, click on “Edit” in the top right-hand corner.
• Once in “Edit,” click on “Upload/Insert” above the formatting bar – you will have the option to add an image, video, audio, etc.
• Choose the picture file you want to upload.
• You can also add a picture from the browser by clicking on “from URL.”

For more information about how to change the appearance and add features in WordPress, the Help Tab in the right-hand corner of the Dashboard screen has some great tips.