Admin Tutorial

Overview

WordPress is a feature-rich, open source Content Management System (CMS). With WordPress you are able to self-publish your own content and blog posts quickly and easily. OnYourMark further enables auto posting to social media.

User Accounts and Roles

Every user you wish to administer content in WordPress should be given his or her own user account. You should never share an account with multiple people! User accounts in WordPress are assigned Roles which define what the user can and cannot do within the WordPress Administration section. The roles are defined as follows:
Administrator: Someone who has access to all of the administration features
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
Your account is set as an Administrator. You have full access to all of the administration features.

List User Accounts

To list all of the user accounts that have already been set up:

  • Login to the administration page.
  • Click on Users in the left column navigation.
  • You should now see a list of all user accounts.

Edit an Existing Account

To edit an existing user account:

  • List user accounts (see previous section on how to do this).
  • Click on the username of the account you wish to edit from the table of existing users. Change any of the options that appear on this page.
  • When finished, press the Update User button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.

Delete an Existing Account

To delete an existing user account:

  • List user accounts (see previous tutorial on how to do this)
  • Hover your mouse over the username of the account you wish to delete. A set of text links should appear just below the username, labeled Edit and Delete.
  • Click on the link labeled Delete
  • A confirmation page should then come up. You must select what to do with any posts and links the user may have published.
    • Choose Delete all posts and links if you want to simply remove any content this user may have contributed.
    • Choose Attribute all posts and links to if you want to reassign any content this user may have contributed to a different user. Then select which user you want that content to be assigned to.
  • Press the Confirm Deletion button.

Note: Once you delete a user (and choose to delete all posts and links), the data will be gone for good. You cannot retrieve the data once it has been deleted!

Create a new Account

To create a new user account:
Login to the administration page.
Click on Users in the left column navigation. Click on Add New button at the top of the page

  • You must enter a usernameemail address, and password. The other fields are optional.
  • Note: you must select the proper Role for the user you are creating.
  • Click on Add New User when finished to save the user account.
    • You must enter a usernameemail address, and password. The other fields are optional.
    • Note: you must select the proper Role for the user you are creating.
    • Click on Add New User when finished to save the user account.

Pages

Pages are used to store all of your site’s main content. For example, you would use the Pages system to create pages like About UsServicesCustomer Support, and/or Contact Us.
To administer your Pages:

  • Login to the administration page.
  • Click on Pages in the left column navigation.

Add a New Page

To add a new page to your WordPress site, there are three main steps:

1. Enter Page Content
  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Pages in the left column navigation.
  • Click on Add New in the left column navigation, under Pages. Enter a Title for your Page.
  • Enter your page content in the large textbox.
  • Below the text box where you entered your Page Title, some text should pop up which resembles:

Permalink: http://www.domain.com/your-page-title
This is called a Permalink and is the actual address of your newly created page. You’ll notice that the portion of the address after your domain resembles the page title you entered. WordPress will automatically format the page title you entered and use it for the address of the page. You are free to modify the Permalink. See the section describing Permalinks within this tutorial for more information.

  • There may be other options below the large text box where you entered your page content. Many of these options can be ignored unless you have been instructed or trained to use them.
2. Set Page Attributes
  • In the far right column find the box labeled Page Attributes.
    Select a Parent page, if necessary. By selecting a Parent page, your page would appear as a sub page of the selected parent within the Pages administration page and in any dropdown navigation menus that may appear on your site.
  • Choose a Template for your page. For most pages, you may select Default Template. Only for a few special cases will you need to modify this option. An example of this may be your Sitemap page, where you would select Archive, and your Blog home page where you would select Blog.
  • Enter an Order for your page. The Order option is used to order your pages within the Pages administration page and in any automatically populated navigation menus. You should enter a numeric value here. We recommend you enter numbers incrementing by 10’s, 100’s, or 1000’s so if you add new pages in the future, you can easily order new pages within existing pages without having to reorder every single page.
Add a New Page
3. Publish/Save Page
  • In the far right column find the box labeled Publish.
  • You may click the Preview button to see a preview of the page.
  • To set the visibility of your page, you may click the Edit link next to the title Visibility. By default, any page is visible to everyone. You may make a page Password protected or Private (only logged in users can see).
  • You can change the Publish date of your page. By default any new page is published immediately. You can select a date in the future if you wish by clicking the Edit link next to the Publish title.
  • Press the Publish button when finished to save and publish your page!
Edit an Existing Page

To edit an existing page:

  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Pages in the left column navigation. Click on the title of the page you wish to edit.
  • Modify any of the page data you wish. You should use the same three steps outlined in the Add A New Page section of this tutorial. You’ll need to modify your Page Content first, then modify any Page Attributes, and finally Publish your page. Refer to the Add A New Page section of this tutorial for more information on each step required.
  • Press the Publish button within the Publish box in the far right column.
Delete an Existing Page

To delete an existing page:

  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Pages in the left column navigation.
  • Hover your mouse over the title of the page you wish to delete. A set of text links should appear just below the title, labeled Edit and Delete.
  • Click on the red link labeled Trash.
  • Your page has now been moved to the Trash.

Pages that have been moved to the Trash have not been fully deleted. You can always restore pages that have been trashed. To view pages that you have previously added to the trash:

  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Pages in the left column navigation.
  • Under the page headline is a list of links labeled All, Published, and Trash. Click on the Trash link.
  • A list of all previously trashed pages will be shown.


To permanently delete or restore a trashed page from this list:

  • Hover your mouse over the title of the page you wish to restore. A set of text links should appear just below the title, labeled Restore and Delete Permanently.
  • Click on Restore to restore your page. It will immediately be put back under your Pages list.
  • Click on Delete Permanently to permanently delete your page. It will immediately be removed from WordPress.
Note: Once you permanently delete a page, the data will be gone for good. You cannot retrieve the data once it has been deleted!
Posts in WordPress

Posts are another method for adding content to your WordPress site. Posts are blog entries that are displayed in reverse chronological order on your blog’s home page. In contrast to pages, posts usually have comments fields beneath them and are included in your site’s RSS feed.

Managing Posts is very similar to managing Pages. To administer your Posts:

  • Login to the administration page.
  • Click on Posts in the left column navigation.

All Posts must be assigned to at least one category. If you do not select a category when making a new Post, a default category is assigned. To manage your Categories:

  • Login to the administration page.
  • Click on Posts in the left column navigation.
  • Click on Categories in the left column navigation, under the Posts heading.

The table on the far right column of this page lists all of your current categories. To add a new category, fill in the blank fields in the center column of this page.

  • Enter a Name of your category.
  • Enter a Slug for your category. The slug is part of the URL or address to your blog category. Your slug should be all lower case letters with dashes used instead of spaces, and should be closely related to your category name. If your category name is Technical Support, your slug could be “technical-support”.
  • Choose a Parent for your category, if necessary. By selecting a Parent, your category will be listed as a child of the parent category and displayed as a subcategory within any dropdown navigation your theme may use. Enter a brief description of your category if you wish.
  • Press the Add New Category button to save your category.

To edit an existing category, click on the category name you wish to edit from the table in the left column. A new form will appear which will allow you to change the category information.
To delete an existing category, hover your mouse over an existing category listed in the table in the left column. A list of links will appear below the category name. Click on Delete. A message box will pop up asking you to confirm. Click OK. Once you delete a category, it cannot be retrieved. It will be gone for good.

To add a new post:

  • Login to the administration page.
  • Click on Posts in the left column navigation.
  • Click on Add New in the left column navigation, under the Posts heading. Enter a Post Title in the first text box which is labeled Enter title here.
  • Enter your post content in the large text area.
  • In the far right column you may select which Categories to list your Post under within the box labeled Categories. Click on the All Categories tab and check each box you wish to label your post under.
  • You may select as many categories as you wish.
  • Add any Post Tags to your post. Post tags are micro-categories for your blog. Posts with similar tags are linked together when a user clicks on a specific tag. In the far right column, below the Categories box is a box labeled Post Tags.
  • Enter some specific words and phrases in the box, separating each unique phrase with a comma. When finished, press the Add button.
  • Publish your post. In the far right column find the box labeled Publish. This is exactly the same as the Publish options for Pages.
  • You may click the Preview button to see a preview of the page.
  • To set the visibility of your page, you may click the Edit link next to the title Visibility. By default, any page is visible to everyone. You may make a page Password protected or Private (only logged in users can see).
  • You can change the Publish date of your page. By default any new page is published immediately. You can select a date in the future if you wish by clicking the Edit link next to the Publish title.
  • Press the Publish button when finished to save and publish your page!

To edit an existing post:

  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Posts in the left column navigation. Click on the title of the post you wish to edit.
  • Modify any of the post data you wish. You should use the same steps outlined in the Add A New Post sec- tion of this tutorial. You’ll need to modify your Post ContentCategoriesPost Tags, and finally Publish your post. Refer to the Add A New Post section of this tutorial for more information on each step required.
  • Press the Publish button within the Publish box in the far right column.

To delete an existing post you follow the same steps used to delete an existing page:

  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Posts in the left column navigation.
  • Hover your mouse over the title of the post you wish to delete. A set of text links should appear just below the title, labeled Edit and Delete.
  • Click on the red link labeled Trash.
  • Your post has now been moved to the Trash.

Posts that have been moved to the Trash have not been fully deleted. You can always restore posts that have been trashed. To view posts that you have previously added to the trash:

  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Posts in the left column navigation.
  • Under the post headline is a list of links labeled All, Published, and Trash. Click on the Trash link. A list of all previously trashed posts will be shown.

To permanently delete or restore a trashed post from this list:

  • Hover your mouse over the title of the post you wish to restore. A set of text links should appear just below the title, labeled Restore and Delete Permanently.
  • Click on Restore to restore your post. It will immediately be put back under your Posts list.
  • Click on Delete Permanently to permanently delete your post. It will immediately be removed from WordPress.
Note: Once you permanently delete a post, the data will be gone for good. You cannot retrieve the data once it has been deleted!

Media Library

Adding Media to Your Media Library

You can add/upload media files (pictures, videos, audio files, PDFs, etc.) to your site by clicking on the Media link in the left column. Once you click on this link you’ll see a list of all media that is currently uploaded.

  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Media from the left column navigation. Click on

Add New to upload new media.

  • Press the Select Files button to browse your computer for the media you wish to upload.
  • Immediately after selecting a file, it will begin uploading. When finished, you’ll be presented a sample of the media.
  • You should enter a Title and Alternate Text. The title is used internally to describe the image. The alternate text is used to describe the image for screen readers or if an image is not able to be loaded in a browser.
  • You may enter a Caption if you wish. The caption will show if you include the image in a page or post.
  • ou uploaded an image, you may edit the image after it’s been uploaded by pressing the Edit Image but- ton. Here you can resize the image, change the aspect ratio, or flip the image vertically or horizontally. When finished editing the image, press the Save button.
  • Once you are finished modifying your media press the Save All Changes button.

Note: if you receive a pop up box that asks for a username and password when uploading a new image to the web site, you must enter your OnYourMark htaccess username and password — the same username and password you use to view your Preview Site — and not your WordPress username and password. This box will only pop up while your site is in preview. Once your site is made live, you will not encounter this.

Edit Media Already in a Page/Post

To edit an image that is already added to a Page or Post, simply click on the image. Two small icons should appear on the screen. Press the red circle with a line through it to delete the image.
Press the square picture icon to edit the image.

You can add/upload media files directly from the Add/Edit Page or Post screens. Just above the text area box in which you enter your content is the label Upload/Insert followed by a set of small icons.

  • The first icon is for uploading images.
  • The second icon is for uploading videos
  • The third icon is for uploading audio files
  • The fourth icon is for uploading any other media files.

To add media to a page or post:

  •  Click on one of the four media icons described above.
  • A pop up window will open. You may upload a file directly from this window, or
  • you may browse files that have already been uploaded by clicking on the Media.
  • Library link towards the top of the pop up.
  • Once you upload media or select existing media, you will be present with another form with several data files:
    • Enter Alternate Text. You may also enter a Caption.
    • If you wish for the media to link to a page or other web site, enter the address in the Link URL. Choose an Alignment.
    • (If image) Select the size of the image to be displayed. If you wish, you may edit the image by hitting the Edit Image button below the image thumbnail.
  • Once finished editing the media and its data, press the Insert Into Post button. Your media should now show up in your page content.

To edit an image that is already added to a Page or Post, simply click on the image. Two small icons should appear on the screen. Press the red circle with a line through it to delete the image. Press the square picture icon to edit the image. 

Navigation Menus

The Navigation Menus on your web site can be fully customized as you wish, all through the WordPress administration pages. Depending on the theme being used on your WordPress site, you have one or multiple navigation menus. Any of these menus can be modified by:

  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Appearance from the left column navigation.
  • Click on Menus from the sub menu that displays below Appearance.

Once you are into the Menus administration page, you’ll see two columns. The left column contains several boxes containing configuration options, lists of available pages and blog categories, etc. The right column contains a table with tabs listed at the top. The tabs correspond with each of your currently configured menus. You can configure as many menus as you like, however depending on how your theme is designed, only those menus which you define to be used in a specific spot will actually be displayed.

Many themes will be preconfigured with two navigation menus — a primary menu and secondary menu. The first box in the left column labeled Theme Locations shows you how many menus your theme is designed to use, what each menu location is called, and what config- ured menus is currently assigned to that location. In this example, the current theme supports two menus.

The first is called the Primary Navigation Menu ...other names include Prime Menu, Header Menu, etc.
The second is called the Secondary Navigation Menu...other names include the Footer Menu, etc.
You may switch the current active menu for a specified menu location by changing the selected option in the given drop down menu and pressing the Save button.
To update an already created menu, click on the tab for the associated menu you wish to edit above the table in the right column. The right column table will refresh and display your current menu as it is configured. Some menu items may be indented — this designates the menu option will be a sub menu, or drop down menu.
You may rearrange menu options by clicking and holding your mouse cursor on an item and dragging it up or down to the desired location. While clicking and holding your mouse cursor on an item, you may also drag it left or right to display the item as a sub menu of a parent item.
To change any options within a menu item, click on the down-ward pointing arrow of the desired menu item. The Navigation Label is the text that will appear within the menu. The Title Attribute is text that will appear when your mouse hovers over a menu item. If your menu item was a Custom item, there may be a URL field in which you can specify where the menu item should link to.
From this menu, you can press the Cancel link to cancel any changes you may have made. You can press the red Remove link to remove this item from the menu.
To delete the entire menu, you can press the red Delete Menu link to the left of the Save Menu button. You’ll receive a prompt asking if you are sure you wish to do this. Press OK and the menu will be removed from WordPress.

Note: Once you permanently delete a menu, the data will be gone for good. You cannot retrieve the menu once it has been deleted!

Updating Navigation Menus

To add new menu items to an existing menu, you must use one of the three boxes in the left column, below the Theme Locations box.

Adding a Custom Link

The Custom Link box lets you add a custom link, not tied to any existing page or blog category. Simply enter a URL and a Label and click the Add to Menu button. The menu item will be placed in the table in the right column. You can then click and drag the item to the desired loca- tion within the menu.

Add a Page to Your Menu

You can add a link to an existing page by using the Pages box. Inside the pages box is a list of all pages that exist within your WordPress install. By default, the most recent pages are shown. You can click on the View All tab to show all of your pages, or click on the Search tab to search for existing pages. Simply click on the checkbox next to each page you wish to add to the menu. Press the Add to Menu button and every page you checked will be placed in the table in the right column. You can then click and drag each item to the desired location within the menu.

Add a Category to Your Menu

You can add a link to a blog category in the same way you add a page to the menu. Inside the Categories box is a list of all categories that exist within your WordPress install. By default, the most used categories are shown. You can click on the View All tab to show al of your categories, or click on the Search tab to search for existing categories. Simply click on the checkbox next to each category you wish to add to the menu. Press the Add to Menu button and every category you checked will be placed in the table in the right column.

 You can then click and drag each item to the desired location within the menu.


Widgets

WordPress Widgets provide a quick and easy way to arrange various elements within your sidebar or other template page that has been “widgetized.” In order to use widgets, your WordPress theme must support widgets. To manage widgets:

  • Login to your administration page.
  • Click on Appearance from the left column navigation.
  • Click on Widgets from the sub menu that displays below Appearance.

Once on the widget page you’ll see two columns. The main left column contains a big table of all available and installed widgets. The right column lists all of the widgetized areas of your current installed theme. You can click on the arrow of a widget area in the right column to expand the area and show what widget(s) are currently assigned to that area.

To place a widget into a widgetized section of your theme, first make sure that the widgetized area in the right column is expanded (click the arrow to open it).

Next, simply click and drag a widget from the left column into the outlined box of the widgetized area. You can drag the widget into the position you wish for it to appear if you have more than one widget set up in that area. Widgets will be shown in the order they appear in the widgetized area, from top to bottom.

Once you drag a widget over to a widgetized area, you can then configure the widget to your specifications. Each widget has different options so fill in the required options and press the Save button to save all of your changes.

Note: you can install multiple instances of a widget to the same widgetized area.

Some of the common widgets are:

  • Text — a text box that allows you to enter any text or HTML code you wish
  • Search — displays a search box used for searching your site
  • Genesis - Latest Tweets — displays tweets from a user’s Twitter account (only available on “Genesis” child themes)
  • Genesis - Featured Page — displays a featured page with thumbnail images (only available on “Genesis” child themes)
  • Genesis - Featured Posts — displays a featured post with thumbnail images (only available on “Genesis” child themes)
  • Links — display links from your Links section
    • Categories — displays a list or dropdown of blog categories Recent Posts — displays the most recent posts on your site Tag Cloud — displays your most used tags in cloud format

Setting Featured Images

Many themes will allow you to pull snippets of existing pages and/or posts and display them on the home page, along with an image of some sort. The image associated with this is called a Featured Image. To set a featured image on a page or post:

  • Login to the administration page.
  • Click on Pages or Posts in the left column navigation.
  • Either add a new page/post or edit an existing page/post.
  • In the bottom right column of the page/post add/edit screen is a box labeled Featured Image. Click on the Set featured image link.
  • Either upload an image from your computer or select an existing image from the Media Library by clicking on the Media Library link in the top of the pop up window.
    • Click on the in the upper right corner of the pop up window to close the window.
    • Your image should now appear in the Featured Image box in the bottom right column of the page content screen.
    • Publish/Save your page.
Note: The size of your featured image must match the predetermined size of the image area for which it will be displayed. Those sizes are:

Theme-Specific Tutorials

Every WordPress theme may have unique options or widgets that enhance the display of content. Special effects such as an image rotation, text rotation, and dynamic tab display are just a few of these unique options.

Included with this tutorial is a set of features specific for the theme being used with your WordPress website. If you have any questions about these, or any other feature of WordPress, don’t hesitate to call us toll free at 1-800-747-3399, or locally at 262-437-0450.

Quick HTML Examples

Here are a few examples of HTML code that you may use:


Sample Code

Result:

Add an image:

<img src= "http://www.domain.com/path/to/image.jpg">

[your image will display]

Add a link:

<a href="https://www.domain.com/page">Name</a>

Open a link in a new window:

<a href="https://www.domain.com/page" target="_blank">Link Name</a>

Link Name

 (will open in new window)

Make text bold:

This will make text <strong>bold</strong>

This will make text bold.

Make text italic:

This will make text <em>bold</em>

This will make text italic.

Add line breaks:

Sentence one here. <br/><br/>Sentence two here

Sentence one here.

Please note: We are always here at OnYourMark to help you!
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