Creating posts in WordPress is very simple. First, be sure you’ve logged-in to the site.
Creating a New Post
- On the black toolbar at the top of the page, click on +New, this will create a new Post.
- Give your post a title in the Add Title box.
- Below the title box, you’ll see text that says Start writing or type / to choose a block, this is where you’ll compose your post.
- Hover over that text and you’ll see icons appear at the right hand side of the text box (bulletted list, image, and heading). These are the most common elements to add to your post.
- You’ll also see a + on the left hand side of the text box. If you click that it will give you more options regarding the types of content you can add.
- Or you can just start typing and regular paragraph text will show up.
- Once you start typing, you’ll notice a small toolbar will show up at the top of the text block that includes some formatting options. Those options work just like a wordprocessing program.
Images
- You can choose to Upload an image from your desktop, select one from the Media Library, or Insert a Link to a URL.
- Once the image has loaded and you’ve selected it:
- Resize the image by clicking and dragging the blue dot to the side or bottom of the image.
- Change the alignment of the image by selecting one of the alignment icons on the toolbar that appears above the image.
- Add a caption or source by typing below the image where it says Write Caption…
- If you want your text to wrap around the image, on the toolbar above the image, click on the image icon on the far left and then under Transform To: select Media and Text.
Featured Image
A featured image is the image that shows up on the home page or a post archive page along with the post excerpt.
- On the right hand side sidebar of the edit post window, click on Document.
- Under Featured Image, click on Set featured image.
- Select the image from the Media Library, or up Upload an image from your desktop.
Links
- Highlight the text where you want to include a link.
- A formatting toolbar will appear above the text edit box.
- Select the icon that looks like a link.
- Paste in the URL.
- Click the Apply Arrow to the right of the link .
Categories
In order for your post to show-up in the correct place on the course site, you must categorize your post. Think of Categories as the overall organization of your site. To add a category to your post:
- On the right hand side sidebar of the edit post window, click on Document.
- Scroll down and click on Categories.
- Select the appropriate Categories.
Tags
Tags work just like Hashtags. They’re topics or microcontent you raise in your post. Add a few tags to each of your post so that we can see what topics arise from our work this semester.
- On the right hand side sidebar of the edit post window, click on Document.
- Scroll down and click on Tags.
- Enter at least three tags for your post.
- You can also see the most frequently used tags, if you want some ideas of what your classmates are seeing in their work.
Publishing
When your post is written and you’ve added your Category, you need to Publish it. Click on the Publish button in the top right hand corner.
Privacy
You can opt to keep a post private so that only you and your professor can see the post.
- On the right hand side sidebar of the edit post window, click on Document.
- Under Status & Visibility, click on Public, then select Private.
- Be sure to click the blue Update button after to save your changes.
Editing
If you realize that you’ve made a mistake or want to update your post, don’t worry, you can always edit your posts. Here are a few ways:
- You can access the posts via the Dashboard > Posts > find your post > click Edit.
- You can go to the post on the front end of the website and click on Edit on the black toolbar at the top of the screen.
- You can go to the post on the front end of the website and click on Edit (it will either be next to the date, or at the bottom of the post).
After you’ve made changes to your post, be sure to click on the Update button in the top right hand corner.
Copying from Google or Word Documents
Are you copying and pasting work from Word or Google Docs? If so, WordPress can be annoying. It might help to work in Classic mode.
- Select a new text block.
- Click on the + icon on the left side of the text block.
- Scroll down to Formatting and select Classic.
- This changes your edit window to look like the old version of WordPress.
- You should be able to copy and paste your entire text, format it, etc., with less problems.
- You can add images to text in this view by clicking on the camera/music note icon.
- Remember that you still need to Categorize and Publish your post when you’re done.