Step 1, How to Wordpress? {Getting the Most Out of Your WP Blog}

Posted on | February 27, 2010 | No Comments

I have been using Wordpress for just over two years, started with WP.com and moved on to WP.org. And it has really been the easiest blogging method I have ever used, with the most extra tools available.

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I used to hand code everything for every blog entry. I wasn’t very good at making things easy on myself, then again that was still during the day that HTML and CSS were the major coding being used. Point being that it wasn’t too hard to do things that way, 10-15 years ago…

Now it’s all a bit harder to work with. I took a break from doing webpage stuff for a few years and when I step back into the web, it seemed as though everything had changed drastically. Now most everything is being run off of PHP and this stuff gives me a major headache to figure out.

But now there are websites for bloggers, Blogspot (powered by Google), Typepad, Livejournal (which I used 2002-2005), and Wordpress. Just a few of the more popular ones that I have found out there.

Now once you’ve picked one the trick is figuring out how to customize your settings and layout to fit your style. Since I have picked and stuck with WP that is what I’m going to dabble into a little.

I chose WP.com because it was simple and most things only needed a click of the button to update and change. Then I got bored… So I got a domain and hosting, and switched everything over to WP.org. Some of the differences — WP.com will allow to add your domain name (for a fee), and will allow you to edit the CSS (for a fee). But with WP.org you buy your domain and hosting then pop everything into WP, easy click-click and your ready to start blogging (just make sure that the hosting you choose supports WP).

WP.org allows you to edit the CSS file, PHP files, header and colors (which can be found in the CSS file), and add a bunch of different plugins that other people have written just for you ;) .

First step would be to pick a layout, Appearance / Theme. I would suggest finding a layout that fits your personality, mine speaks ultra organized, Elements of SEO 1.4. My mother also blogs with WP.org x2, Peaceful Acres and Simply Real Foods — now she has chosen to use the same layout for both sites because it is what suits her, PrimePress Theme. You can easily find a theme for you, Appearance / Add New Themes and search for what you want (make it easy for yourself — search for how many columns you want or if you want a header or not).

Next, it is time to tweak the design to make your blog reflect your personality. Most of this is found in the CSS file, Appearance / Editor — easy right?… the trick is understanding and be able to read HTML and CSS.

Key words to look for, this will help you make the right edit moves, IMG=images, A HREF=links. Most everything else you will want to find to edit is written in plain english in the CSS file. BODY will allow you to change your background color or url, you can lock your background from moving by adding fixed after the url. HEAD, now this could be prefaced with text such as mastHEAD — keep your eyes peeled for HEAD, this will allow you change and edit your header image (in some cases you may have to plug into a PHP file to edit the header image, for Elements of SEO 1.4 you want to head into the PHP files header.php, myheader.php, and myheader1.php to change and edit the header image most efficiently).

To make this easier I’m going to break this up into steps, this is step one — pick a theme and edit it to fit you!

Category: Inspire
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