{"id":28,"date":"2018-09-06T13:37:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T13:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/uncategorized\/wordpress\/"},"modified":"2018-09-06T13:37:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T13:37:08","slug":"wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/uncategorized\/wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>WordPress is an open source blog application. WordPress forked from b2\/cafelog in 2003, and WordPress Mu multiple website functionality has been integrated since 2010. Today WordPress is the most used blog application powering millions of blogs and being used by tens of millions of people every day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"installing-wordpress\" class=\"sectionedit2\">Installing WordPress<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>WordPress is an open-source publishing platform that can be used for setting up a blog or website easily. In fact it&#8217;s one of the most popular publishing platforms on the web. Setting up a WordPress install on your own domain can be done by following this video tutorial and\/or these simple steps:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"vshare__none\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Av8rTd3HC0Q\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Once logged at\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\" href=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu<\/a>\u00a0you&#8217;ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Scroll down and look under <strong>Web Applications<\/strong>, then\u00a0click the\u00a0<strong>WordPress<\/strong>\u00a0button.<a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wordpress.001-e1460144310905.jpeg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-353\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-353 \" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wordpress.001-e1460144347129-1024x542.jpeg\" alt=\"wordpress.001\" width=\"707\" height=\"374\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This page gives you more information about the WordPress software. To begin the install click\u00a0<strong>Install this Application<\/strong>\u00a0in the upper-righthand corner.<a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/install-wordpress.001.jpeg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-354\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-354\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/install-wordpress.001-1024x576.jpeg\" alt=\"install wordpress.001\" width=\"709\" height=\"398\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the next page the installer will ask for some information about this install. The first thing you&#8217;ll want to do is decide where to install it.\u00a0For example, you could install it in a\u00a0subdomain you have created by selecting it from the dropdown menu.\u00a0You also have the option of installing WordPress in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the\u00a0<strong>Directory<\/strong>\u00a0field. <a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/#setting-up-subdomains\">Click here<\/a> for more information about subdomains.<a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wp-install-domain.001-e1460144842548.jpeg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-355\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-355\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wp-install-domain.001-e1460144842548-1024x540.jpeg\" alt=\"wp install domain.001\" width=\"712\" height=\"376\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you&#8217;ve already created one for this website you can choose\u00a0<strong>Let me manage the database settings<\/strong>\u00a0and enter the details. Finally, you&#8217;ll need to create an initial username and password for the WordPress install. Enter that information in final section and click\u00a0<strong>Install<\/strong>.<a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wp-settings.001.jpeg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-356\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-356\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wp-settings.001-1024x576.jpeg\" alt=\"wp settings.001\" width=\"648\" height=\"365\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The installer will take just a few moments to install WordPress and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see a link to your new WordPress site as well as a link to the backend administrative section for your WordPress site.<a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/installing_wordpress_progress_bar-e1460750260702.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-377\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/installing_wordpress_progress_bar-e1460750260702.png\" alt=\"installing_wordpress_progress_bar\" width=\"965\" height=\"668\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/installing_wordpress_finished-e1460752693646.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-388\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/installing_wordpress_finished-e1460752693646.png\" alt=\"installing_wordpress_finished\" width=\"967\" height=\"536\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Congratulations, you&#8217;ve now installed WordPress! Now you can start customizing it\u00a0with themes, plugins, and more.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/demo_blog.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"basic-privacy\" class=\"sectionedit3\"><\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\"><\/div>\n<h1 id=\"general-settingstitle-and-tagline\" class=\"sectionedit5\">General Settings: Title and Tagline<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>Now that you have your WordPress installed and running, it&#8217;s time to look at some basic settings for your site. The place that you will access the settings for your site is called the\u00a0<strong>Dashboard<\/strong>, and it provides the starting point for accessing all of your sites dials and knobs.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_dashboard.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The setting we will look at here is your blog \u201ctitle\u201d and \u201ctag line\u201d. It is located under\u00a0<strong>Settings > General<\/strong>. Once you&#8217;re on the General Settings page, you can give your blog any\u00a0<strong>title<\/strong>\u00a0you want. You can also give your blog a\u00a0<strong>tagline<\/strong>, which can be a short description of the blog.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_general_settings_title.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When you change the Blog title and tag line, they will show up at the top of your site. Depending on what theme you use, the title and tag lines will show up in various places. In the case of some themes, they might not show up at all depending on whether they allow custom configurations. We won&#8217;t worry about that for now. If you use the default theme (currently \u201cTwenty Thirteen\u201d), the blog title and tag line are both in the center left of what&#8217;s called the\u00a0<strong>header<\/strong>\u00a0of the site.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/demo_blog_title.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There are more settings on the General Settings page, such as setting the administrative email account, time zone, date format, etc. Change those to whatever is appropriate for your site and geographical location.<\/p>\n<h1 id=\"basic-privacy\" class=\"sectionedit3\"><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"level1\"><\/div>\n<h1 id=\"wordpress-themes\" class=\"sectionedit18\">WordPress Themes<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>When it comes to WordPress, customizing the look of your site is simple and straightforward. When you install WordPress, the default (or pre-set) theme is called\u00a0<strong>Twenty Fourteen<\/strong>\u00a0(as of WordPress version 3.8). It is a very customizable theme. For example, while the default install doesn&#8217;t include a header, you have the option of adding one of your own images. You can also easily modify the colors of the different fonts and backgrounds used in the theme.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty Fourteen also provides you with the option of choosing a slider or \u201cgrid layout\u201d for your site&#8217;s homepage and to use a custom tag to determine which posts show up on your homepage.<\/p>\n<p>You can find out more about\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Twenty_Fourteen\" href=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Twenty_Fourteen\" rel=\"nofollow\">customizing the homepage layout here<\/a>. You can find out more\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/theme\/twentyfourteen\" href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/theme\/twentyfourteen\" rel=\"nofollow\">general information about Twenty Fourteen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Twenty Fourteen, you&#8217;ll have other themes available to you. (What themes you have depends upon if you did a default WordPress installation, or if you installed a special package.) If Twenty Fourteen doesn&#8217;t meet your needs, you can activate another theme on your site or install a completely new one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"activating-themes\" class=\"sectionedit19\">Activating Themes<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Start at your site&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>Dashboard<\/strong>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_dashboard.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Navigate to\u00a0<strong>Appearance > Themes<\/strong>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_themes.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">You will see thumbnail images representing each of the themes that you currently have available on your site. Simply mouse over any one of them, and click the\u00a0<strong>Activate<\/strong>\u00a0link.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_themes_activate.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s all you need to do to change the look of your site with a new theme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"installing-themes\" class=\"sectionedit20\">Installing Themes<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>If none of the themes that were provided when you installed WordPress are what you&#8217;re looking for, you can always search for and install other themes from the WordPress Theme Repository.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Navigate to\u00a0<strong>Appearance > Themes<\/strong>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_themes.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Installing new themes is quite simple. You start by going to the\u00a0<strong>Add New<\/strong>\u00a0Button.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_themes_add.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">The initial page is the Search Theme page, and it&#8217;s not all that helpful (or visual). You can check a few \u201cfilter\u201d boxes to see what comes up, but there is a more visual way. Click the\u00a0<strong>Featured<\/strong>\u00a0link at the top and you&#8217;ll get visual (screenshot) examples of other themes you can install. You can also click \u201cNewest\u201d or \u201cRecently Updated\u201d.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_search_themes.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Under the thumbnail picture of each theme (when you hover your mouse over the theme) are three choices &#8211;\u00a0<strong>Install<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Preview<\/strong>, and\u00a0<strong>Details &#038; Preview<\/strong>. Those choices should be pretty self-explanitory so click\u00a0<strong>Install<\/strong>\u00a0to add a new theme to your site.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_blog_theme_install.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">After you install the theme, it is still not active on your site. You will need to\u00a0<strong>Activate<\/strong>\u00a0it to use it.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_activate_theme.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Once activated, your site will be using the new theme. Visit your site&#8217;s homepage to view your new theme.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_new_theme.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"building-your-custom-menu\" class=\"sectionedit7\"><\/h2>\n<div class=\"level3\"><\/div>\n<h1 id=\"permalinks\" class=\"sectionedit9\">Publishing Content<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>The primary activity that you&#8217;re likely to be doing on your WordPress site is publishing content. The content could be text you write, pictures you take, videos or audios (which may be hosted on another site), or other media that you&#8217;ve found elsewhere on the Web. WordPress makes it very easy to publish media content of all types, whether hosted on your actual Web server or elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"posts-vs-pages\" class=\"sectionedit11\">Posts vs Pages<\/h2>\n<div class=\"level2\">\n<p>Out of the box, WordPress provides two primary content types for you two work with: posts and pages. If you read blogs or have ever written for a blog before, the concept of a post is probably a bit familiar.\u00a0<strong>Posts<\/strong>\u00a0often are content that appear on your blog in some kind of scheduled way. They usually are presented on your site in reverse-chronological order. Posts might be what you use to share your regular thoughts, reflections, or ideas about a topic. Posts make up a kind of \u201criver\u201d of content that you&#8217;re producing as part of your blogging activity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pages<\/strong>\u00a0usually correspond to our more traditional concept of what makes up a Web site. Pages are presented outside of the \u201criver\u201d of content that are posts. They are more likely to stand alone and be organized according to a traditional hierarchy. Pages might be content that is less frequently updated or changed.<\/p>\n<p>If you were using WordPress to build a business Web site with a lot of information content, you would probably use Pages. If you added a feature to that site where you started to advertise special events or news, you would probably use Posts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A few other things to know about Pages vs Posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">If you want your content to be accessible to your users via RSS\/syndication, you&#8217;ll need to use Posts. By default, Pages do not appear in a site&#8217;s RSS feed.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Categories and Tags (which are used in WordPress to help you organize your content) are ONLY available on Posts. Page organization is done through customizing your site&#8217;s menus.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Okay this get&#8217;s a little tricky: WordPress, by default, also creates \u201cCategory Pages\u201d and \u201cTag Pages\u201d that display all the Posts in a category or tag. These are NOT related to the regular Page type.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"media\" class=\"sectionedit12\">Media<\/h2>\n<div class=\"level2\">\n<p>Upon occasion, you may want to include media (images, audio, video) in your site&#8217;s posts and pages. There are generally two approaches to handling media in WordPress:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Uploading<\/strong>: You can upload the files into your site&#8217;s Media Gallery and then link to them in your posts\/pages. This works very well for images, and when you take this approach for images you have the added benefit of being able to make use of WordPress&#8217; built in (albeit rudimentary) editing tools. Also, when you upload images to WordPress, it automatically creates different sizes that you can use, as needed. This approach works less well for audio and video. In order to have your media files actually show up in a \u201cplayer\u201d (with controls for stopping, pausing, etc.) you&#8217;ll need to install a plugin. Otherwise, you&#8217;ll only be able to include links to the files. How people view\/listen to them will depend a bit on the setup on their own computer and in their own browser. They may, for example, have to download the media file and then open it in another program on their computer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Embedding<\/strong>: You can embed media from other sites easily in WordPress. Embedding an image just means providing a\u00a0<abbr title=\"Uniform Resource Locator\">URL<\/abbr>\u00a0to it&#8217;s location elsewhere on the Web. Instead of uploading it to the server, WordPress grabs that image from the external source and displays it on your post\/page. However, with this approach you lose your editing capabilities as well as the resizing feature. Embedding audio and video from external sources becomes easier with every version of WordPress it seems. These days, you can embed video and audio from many external services (YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud, complete list here) by simply placing the full\u00a0<abbr title=\"Uniform Resource Locator\">URL<\/abbr>\u00a0of the audio\/video location on it&#8217;s own line in your post\/page. There is\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Embeds#Okay.2C_So_What_Sites_Can_I_Embed_From.3F\" href=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Embeds#Okay.2C_So_What_Sites_Can_I_Embed_From.3F\" rel=\"nofollow\">a complete list of supported external services<\/a>, and you can learn\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Embeds\" href=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Embeds\" rel=\"nofollow\">more about embedding from external sources at the WordPress site<\/a>. Our general advice is to use externally hosted media whenever it makes sense and works. This is\u00a0<em>usually<\/em>\u00a0the case when you need to use audio or video; without plugins, well-presented audio and video in WordPress is tricky. For images, if you need to do basic editing and\/or require different sizes of images, upload them to your site. Otherwise, consider referencing them from another location (your Flickr account, for example).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"post-formats\" class=\"sectionedit13\">Post Formats<\/h2>\n<div class=\"level2\">\n<p>Recent versions of WordPress have built out a new \u201cpost format\u201d feature which, if you are using a theme with the feature enabled, will style post formats differently depending on what they are. The formats that are built-in to WordPress (and are available for theme developers to use) are the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">aside &#8211; Similar to a Facebook note update.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">gallery &#8211; A gallery of images.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">link &#8211; A link to another site.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">image &#8211; A single image.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">quote &#8211; A quotation.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">status &#8211; A short status update, similar to a Twitter status update.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">video &#8211; A single video.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">audio &#8211; An audio file.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">chat &#8211; A chat transcript.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those of you familiar with\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/tumblr.com\/\" href=\"http:\/\/tumblr.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Tumblr<\/a>\u00a0may recognize this approach to post formats.<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, post formats are designed as a way to\u00a0<strong>style<\/strong>\u00a0a site (and customize styling depending on the kind of content that is being displayed). They have no special functionality, and their use depends entirely upon the theme you are using. Many older themes, for example, do not recognize post formats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"reading-settings-front-page\" class=\"sectionedit14\">Reading Settings &#8211; Front Page<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>WordPress is a very flexible platform for creating full-blown websites, not just blogging sites. This page will show you how to change the \u201cfront page\u201d of your website.<\/p>\n<p>As we have said before, WordPress provides two primary content types for you two work with:\u00a0<strong>posts<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>pages<\/strong>. Posts, as in blog posts, are a somewhat complex form of webpage. Each blog post gets published in reverse chronological order, on the front page of a WordPress site. You write a new post, and it gets published at the top of the front page. Pages, are a more static form of content. They are additional areas to put information that doesn&#8217;t change much. So what if you would like to make the front page of your WordPress site based on a page instead of your blog posts?<\/p>\n<p>Start at the\u00a0<strong>Dashboard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_dashboard.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Navigate to\u00a0<strong>Settings > Reading<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_reading_front_page.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Normally, the front page displays your latest blog posts. What we want to do instead is select a\u00a0<strong>Page<\/strong>\u00a0from the website. Obviously this page has to exist before you can select it. Select the \u201c<strong>A static page<\/strong>\u201d radio button and choose the\u00a0<strong>About<\/strong>\u00a0page from the Front page drop-down menu (an About page was created for you when you installed WordPress).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_static_page.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>OK, great. Click the Save Changes button and now you will have the About page as your Front page. Edit it as you see fit and provide a good welcoming page for your visitors. But wait. What will happen to your blog posts? Most people will want them as the \u201cdynamic\u201d part of your site.<\/p>\n<p>First, create a new\u00a0<strong>Page<\/strong>\u00a0and title it Blog (you can title it whatever you want but Blog is common and descriptive). Leave the page blank (don&#8217;t type any text in the edit box) and Publish it. Now go back to\u00a0<strong>Settings > Reading<\/strong>. Under the\u00a0<strong>static page<\/strong>\u00a0area choose Blog from the\u00a0<strong>Posts page<\/strong>\u00a0drop-down.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_posts_page_blog.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Click the\u00a0<strong>Save Changes<\/strong>\u00a0button. Now your \u201chome\u201d page will actually display the About page. You will also have a Blog item in your menu (depending on your theme, you may have to customize your page display to see pages).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_pages_blog.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you click on the Blog menu item, you will then see your blog posts. Notice the\u00a0<strong>\/blog<\/strong>\u00a0added to the web address.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_final_blog_post.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"permalinks\" class=\"sectionedit9\">Permalinks<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>Part of the popularity of WordPress is how easily it makes a website functional and yet attractive. One of the smaller details that you might want to adjust is how the addresses to your blog posts are structured.\u00a0<strong>Permalink<\/strong>is the name given to the address of an individual blog post because they are \u201cpermanent links\u201d. For example, the web address for this\u00a0sample blog is\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/createoutestdomain.com\/\" href=\"http:\/\/createoutestdomain.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/createoutestdomain.com<\/a>. The link to the first post, titled \u201cHello World\u201d may be structured in many ways. The screenshot below shows one way.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_address_bar.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/createoutestdomain.com\/?p=1\" href=\"http:\/\/createoutestdomain.com\/?p=1\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/createoutestdomain.com\/?p=1<\/a>\u00a0may get you to that blog post, but it&#8217;s not a very informative link. With WordPress, you have many options to form the links to posts, and you can change them to make more sense than question marks and numbers. To change the permalink structure, start by going to the\u00a0<strong>Dashboard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_dashboard.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Next, go to\u00a0<strong>Settings > Permalinks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_permalink.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, there are several choices under\u00a0<strong>Common Settings<\/strong>. The Default setting gives us that uninformative \u201c?p=123\u201d. A popular choice is to use the\u00a0<strong>Post name<\/strong>\u00a0choice, which is a bit more informative. So our post titled \u201cHello World\u201d will have an address of\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/createoutestdomain.com\/hello-world\" href=\"http:\/\/createoutestdomain.com\/hello-world\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/createoutestdomain.com\/hello-world<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_permalink_hello_world.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you want to have the date as part of the address, you can choose\u00a0<strong>Day and name<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>Month and name<\/strong>. You can also change the structure of category and tag names under the\u00a0<strong>Optional<\/strong>\u00a0section.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, when you write a blog post, you have the option of editing the permalink for an individual post. Just click the\u00a0<strong>Edit<\/strong>\u00a0button (underneath the Title field).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_edit_permalink.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Then type in whatever is appropriate (and hasn&#8217;t been used yet). Generally you want to make it as simple and short a word, or words, as makes sense. In the example below, we just added some more words.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_edit_permalink_forever.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"building-your-custom-menu\" class=\"sectionedit7\">Building Your Custom Menu<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level2\">\n<p>Start at your site&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>Dashboard<\/strong>\u00a0and choose\u00a0<strong>Appearance<\/strong>\u00a0the\u00a0<strong>Menus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_appearance_menus.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the Custom Menus interface that appears, type a name for your menu. This can be anything you want. It doesn&#8217;t get displayed anywhere; it&#8217;s used by WordPress to identify and place your menu. Once you&#8217;ve typed the name, click\u00a0<strong>Create Menu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-218\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12291149255_c7d17e8e2d_c.jpg\" alt=\"12291149255_c7d17e8e2d_c\" width=\"800\" height=\"552\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll now be presented with a screen that includes a section titled\u00a0<strong>Menu Settings<\/strong>. This is where you&#8217;ll indicate where you want your menu to appear in your theme. The number of locations available depends entirely upon the theme you choose. In the example shown below, there are two areas available; we&#8217;ve chosen to place the menu in the\u00a0<strong>Top primary menu<\/strong>\u00a0area which we know corresponds to the header menu. You may need to experiment a bit in order to find out where your menu will appear in your theme. You can always change this location later by coming back here and clicking the\u00a0<strong>Manage Locations<\/strong>\u00a0tab.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-220\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12291149315_589ff17d81_c.jpg\" alt=\"12291149315_589ff17d81_c\" width=\"800\" height=\"550\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now that you&#8217;ve set up your menu and assigned it to a location, you can begin to add links to it. On the left-hand side of the screen, you&#8217;ll see what content is available to add. On the right-hand side of the screen, in the\u00a0<em>Menu Structure<\/em>\u00a0area, you can arrange and organize your links.<\/p>\n<p>By default, you may not see\u00a0<strong>everything<\/strong>\u00a0that is available to you to add to your menu. For example, posts can be added to menus, but they&#8217;re not usually displayed by default. To make more content available, click the\u00a0<strong>Screen Options<\/strong>\u00a0tab at the top of your WordPress screen, and then click off the check boxes that correspond to additional content.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-221\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12291706566_892887fba6_c.jpg\" alt=\"12291706566_892887fba6_c\" width=\"800\" height=\"552\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To add content to your menu, simply check it off on the left, and click the\u00a0<strong>Add to Menu<\/strong>\u00a0button.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-222\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12291306703_ef42cc9be9_c.jpg\" alt=\"12291306703_ef42cc9be9_c\" width=\"800\" height=\"551\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Your new content will appear on the right, and you can drag items in the order you want them to appear. Drag items to the right to indent them under other items. This will usually make them appear as drop-down items in your menu.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-223\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12291706636_f7878aeb85_c.jpg\" alt=\"12291706636_f7878aeb85_c\" width=\"800\" height=\"551\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can add custom links to your menu by clicking the\u00a0<strong>Links<\/strong>\u00a0section on the left. In the short form that appears, enter your link&#8217;s\u00a0<abbr title=\"Uniform Resource Locator\">URL<\/abbr>, and a text for the link. Click\u00a0<strong>Add to Menu<\/strong>\u00a0to move it to the left.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_links.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Note that you can change the link text of any item you add to your menu. This can be helpful if you have a page with a long title, and you&#8217;d like the link to not take up so much space. You can abbreviate the title in the\u00a0<strong>Navigation Label<\/strong>\u00a0section, and that shorter text will become the actual menu link.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_about.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When you are done, make sure you click\u00a0<strong>Save Menu.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3 id=\"other-notes-about-menus\" class=\"sectionedit8\">Other Notes about Menus<\/h3>\n<div class=\"level3\">\n<p>When you add a\u00a0<strong>Category<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>Tag<\/strong>\u00a0to a menu, the link will take your readers to an archive of all the posts on your site that use that category or tag. This can be a very useful feature for organizing your content when you&#8217;re using posts to share your work.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to assigning Custom Menus to theme areas, there is a default Custom Menu widget that you can put in the sidebar of your site. This is useful for creating smaller, customized navigation for your site.<\/p>\n<p>If you forget to click\u00a0<strong>Save Menu<\/strong>\u00a0after making changes to your menu location or content, you will lose your work!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"wordpress-widgets\" class=\"sectionedit15\">WordPress Widgets<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>Widgets are a more advanced feature of WordPress that allow you even more control over the content on your site. In essence, widgets are small containers of content that can be placed in various areas of your site. Where you can place widgets depends entirely on the theme you are using. Many (most) themes include at least one \u201csidebar\u201d into which you can place widgets. Some themes include additional \u201cwidgetized\u201d areas. The best way to find out what areas are available to you is to go to Appearance > Widgets and take a look at the areas listed on the right. Each widgetized area will appear as a box on the right. In the example show below, the theme contains three widgetized areas: Primary Sidebar, Content Sidebar, and Footer Widget Area.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_widgets.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On the right, you will see a number of widgets available to you. WordPress comes with some default widgets. Other widgets might become available when you have a particular theme activated. Finally, some plugins provide additional widgets to you.<\/p>\n<p>Widgets can present all different kinds of information. The simplest widgets allow you to add text to your site. But you&#8217;ll also find widgets with many options that you can set to display dynamic content or to interact with other services. Below is a list of the default widgets available in WordPress.<\/p>\n<p>When you&#8217;re ready to start using widgets, all you need to do is drag them from the right-hand side of the Widgets interface into the boxes on the left. WordPress will immediately save them, but you may need to set some options<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"default-widgets\" class=\"sectionedit16\">Default Widgets<\/h2>\n<div class=\"level2\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">\n<p>Archives: Shows a monthly listing of your posts.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Calendar: Shows a calendar view of your posts.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Categories: Shows a list of all of the categories on your site.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Custom Menu: Shows a custom menu that you&#8217;ve set up with WordPress&#8217; Custom Menu interface.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Links: Shows your links.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Meta: Shows links to your RSS feed and your login.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Pages: Shows a menu of all of your pages.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Recent Comments: Shows the most recent comments on your posts.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Recent Posts: Shows your most recent posts.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">RSS: Allows you to show content from an RSS feed.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Search: Provides your users with a search box.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Tag Cloud: Shows a \u201ccloud\u201d of the tags\/categories on your site.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Text: Shows whatever text you enter.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"wordpress-plugins\" class=\"sectionedit17\">WordPress Plugins<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>WordPress has a lot of functionality built-in, but occasionally you might find a specific need that isn&#8217;t a part of the default software. To accomplish this, WordPress has a plugin architecture where developers can create plugins that add additional functionality to your site. From simple photo galleries to site statistics, to automatic Twitter and Facebook sharing of posts, there is practically a plugin for whatever you need for your blog (over 23,000 at the time of this writing). To start using and installing plugins just follow these simple instructions:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">Log in to your WordPress dashboard.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level0\">\n<div class=\"li\">From the left side menu locate and click plugins.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_plugins.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">\n<p>You will be given a list of all your currently installed plugins.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"li\">\n<p>From this menu you are able to activate and disable specified plugins by using either the single plugin options located under each plugin name.- Or you may use the bulk action drop down menu to simultaneously activate\/disable multiple plugins by checking desired plugins<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Additionally you may also sort through installed plugins using the sorting options above the bulk action menu.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level0\">\n<div class=\"li\">To install a new plugin click \u201cadd new\u201d either from the plugin sidebar or the main plugin menu, you will then be redirected to a search engine where you can search using general or specific terms to find plugins. &#8211; For example searching \u201cphoto gallery\u201d brings up various plugins from different developers.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"level0\">\n<div class=\"li\">Once you find your desired plugin to install it hit \u201cinstall now\u201d, which will automatically install the plugin and prompt you if you would like to activate it now or return to the menu.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_install_now.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After installing your plugin be sure to visit the developers&#8217; website if you have any additional questions about how the plugin works, as some plugins may require certain codes or other actions to be used properly.<\/p>\n<p>Some plugins will have their own settings page located under the\u00a0<code>'Settings<\/code>&#8216;, other plugins will break out their own menu item on the lefthand side of the Dashboard. The best way to understand how to use a plugin is to make sure you&#8217;ve read the documentation available on the plugin&#8217;s website as every plugin behaves differently and sometimes it won&#8217;t be explicit how the plugin interacts with your website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"wordpress-themes\" class=\"sectionedit18\">Basic Privacy<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>WordPress is a platform intended to allow you to share your thoughts and ideas freely and easily with the world. However, there are options to publish to a more limited audience.<\/p>\n<p>The first way is to limit who can find your website. That is done by keeping search engines, like Google, from seeing (known as indexing) your site.<\/p>\n<p>To do this, we&#8217;ll start at the\u00a0<strong>Dashboard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_dashboard.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Navigate to\u00a0<strong>Settings > Reading<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_reading.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Normally the box next to\u00a0<strong>Search Engine Visibility<\/strong>\u00a0is unchecked. If you decide to check the box, it will \u201cDiscourage search engines from indexing this site.\u201d It will depend on the search engine to honor your \u201crequest\u201d. Some search engines will simply ignore it. Obviously this is not a sure-fire way of keeping your blog private.<\/p>\n<p>You also have options on individual posts to keep them private, so that only people who are logged in to your site can view a given post. You can also password protect posts with a password you supply. Choose the\u00a0<strong>Private<\/strong>\u00a0radio button to keep a post hidden behind the login, or choose the\u00a0<strong>Password protected<\/strong>\u00a0button and then type in the password you wish to use. Click on\u00a0<strong>OK<\/strong>\u00a0when you are finished. Then be sure you click the\u00a0<strong>Update<\/strong>\u00a0button to save your post with the new settings.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_post_privacy.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There is a plugin called\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/more-privacy-options\/\" href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/more-privacy-options\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">More Privacy Options<\/a>\u00a0that allows you to fine-tune privacy settings on your site.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"discussion-settings\" class=\"sectionedit4\">Discussion Settings<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>What makes WordPress a powerful platform is that not only can you create a dynamic website, but you can also allow dynamic discussions about the content with your visitors. Comments, the bread and butter of the discussion, can add to the overhead of your website management. You have to keep up with responses to your commenters or they will think you aren&#8217;t paying attention. Comments also can come, unfortunately, in the form of Spam. We will give you some additional information about dealing with Spam in another section. For now, here&#8217;s how to manage\u00a0your Discussion Settings.<\/p>\n<p>Start at the\u00a0<strong>Dashboard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_dashboard.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Navigate to\u00a0<strong>Settings > Discussion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_discussion_settings.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The two main forms of discussion on a website are enclosed &#8211; \u201cAllow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)\u201d and \u201cAllow people to post comments on new articles\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Comments are self-explanatory. People come to your website, read an article, and as long as you allow comments, people can write whatever is on their mind. Commenters must leave their name and email address (if you leave that setting checked). You can also require users to be registered to your site to comment. They would then need to be logged in to submit any comments. By default you will get an email sent to the admin account of the WordPress site when someone posts a comment, or when a comment is held in moderation. You can uncheck those boxes if you do not wish to receive those emails.<\/p>\n<p>A comment will appear on the article (post or page) only after you approve it. If you have approved a comment author once, they will be automatically approved the next time they leave a comment on your site. If you uncheck the box labeled \u201cComment author must have a previously approved comment\u201d, then all comments will appear automatically.\u00a0<strong>We don&#8217;t recommend this setting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You also have some control over comment moderation regarding how many links a comment contains (spammers like to put links in their \u201ccomments\u201d). You also can filter out words, URLs, email addresses, to hold them in moderation. You can then approve them, spam them, or trash them.<\/p>\n<p>There are also forms of discussion called link notifications. Spammers like these too. Here&#8217;s an article on the\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/beginners-guide\/what-why-and-how-tos-of-trackbacks-and-pingbacks-in-wordpress\/\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/beginners-guide\/what-why-and-how-tos-of-trackbacks-and-pingbacks-in-wordpress\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">What, Why, and How-To\u2019s of Trackbacks and Pingbacks in WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes it&#8217;s nice to have visual representations of the people who are commenting on your blog. These are called\u00a0<strong>Avatars<\/strong>\u00a0and can be found under\u00a0<strong>Settings > Discussion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_avatars.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>WordPress uses a common universal system of avatars called\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/gravatar.com\/\" href=\"http:\/\/gravatar.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Gravatars<\/a>\u00a0(Globally Recognized Avatars). The system requires you to sign up with your email address. You can upload a graphical representation of yourself (a picture or other graphic). From then on you are identified with your Gravatar on any blog that you use that email address with.<\/p>\n<p>In the WordPress Discussion Settings, you have a few options. Whether to show Avatars at all, the \u201crating\u201d allowed to be shown, and what the default Avatar will be if a user does not have a Gravatar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"managing-comment-spam-with-akismet\" class=\"sectionedit6\">Managing Comment Spam with Akismet<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>SPAM! Everyone hates it in their email. If you&#8217;re new to WordPress and blogging platforms, spam exists in the form of comment spam &#8211; people (or vermin) leave comments promoting their services or schemes, on a post or page.<\/p>\n<p>So how do you deal with comment spam when it can come in even more often than email spam? Do you have to delete every comment that comes in? Well, the answer to the second question is \u201cno\u201d, and the answer to the first question is, with a plugin called\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/akismet.com\/\" href=\"http:\/\/akismet.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Akismet<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To get started we need to install a plugin. To do this, we&#8217;ll start at the\u00a0<strong>Dashboard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_dashboard.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Navigate to\u00a0<strong>Plugins > Installed Plugins<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_a_plugin.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At or near the top of the list of plugins that are automatically installed in a new WordPress installation, is\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/akismet\/\" href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/akismet\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Akismet<\/a>. It is not activated, so part of the process of getting Akismet is\u00a0<strong>Activating<\/strong>\u00a0the plugin. Before you activate it, however, you need to get something that will be somewhat strange for most people. It&#8217;s called an\u00a0<abbr title=\"Application Programming Interface\">API<\/abbr>\u00a0key.\u00a0<abbr title=\"Application Programming Interface\">API<\/abbr>\u00a0stands for Application Programming Interface, and it&#8217;s a way for programs and services to \u201ctalk\u201d to each other. The Akismet plugin requires you to get an\u00a0<strong>Akismet\u00a0<abbr title=\"Application Programming Interface\">API<\/abbr>\u00a0Key<\/strong>, which is simply a \u201ccode\u201d that you supply when activating the plugin. The key is free if you use it on a personal WordPress installation, and it&#8217;s\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/akismet.com\/wordpress\/\" href=\"http:\/\/akismet.com\/wordpress\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">available on the Akismet website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_akismet.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once you arrive on the Akismet for WordPress site, click the\u00a0<strong>Get an Akismet\u00a0<abbr title=\"Application Programming Interface\">API<\/abbr>\u00a0key<\/strong>\u00a0button.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_akismet_signup.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you have an account at\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"http:\/\/wordpress.com\/\" href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">WordPress.com<\/a>\u00a0you can sign in with that login and get your key. Otherwise, fill in an email address, a username, and a password to use for a new account. Click the\u00a0<strong>Sign up<\/strong>\u00a0button to proceed.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_akismet_plan.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Type in the\u00a0<abbr title=\"Uniform Resource Locator\">URL<\/abbr>\u00a0of the site you&#8217;ll use Akismet on and click on the\u00a0<strong>Sign Up<\/strong>\u00a0button under the Personal plan (that is if you want it to be the free version). When you get to the next page, the recommended contribution is $36. You can adjust the slider down to $0. The smiley face will begin to frown, but at least your key will be free.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_akismet_plan_info.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Also fill in your name and click\u00a0<strong>Continue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_akismet_api_key.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re finished with the sign up process for your key, and it will be displayed on the page for you (we&#8217;ve blurred ours out). Now follow the steps that they show you for using your new key. You will enter the key in either the Akismet area under Plugins or JetPack (if you have that installed).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"ios-android-app\" class=\"sectionedit21\">iOS &#038; Android App<\/h1>\n<div class=\"level1\">\n<p>You can download the WordPress app from the\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/wordpress\/id335703880?mt=8\" href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/wordpress\/id335703880?mt=8\" rel=\"nofollow\">iOS App Store<\/a>\u00a0or the\u00a0<a class=\"urlextern\" title=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=org.wordpress.android&#038;hl=en\" href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=org.wordpress.android&#038;hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow\">Google Play Store<\/a>\u00a0for your mobile device.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4 id=\"video-setup-tutorial\">Video Setup Tutorial:<\/h4>\n<div class=\"level4\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"vshare__none\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/08jCbFq8yAk\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<h4 id=\"screenshot-setup-tutorial\">Screenshot Setup Tutorial:<\/h4>\n<div class=\"level4\">\n<p>When you open the WordPress app, tap on\u00a0<strong>Add Self-Hosted Site<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wordpress_app.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Then, you will be able to enter your WordPress site credentials:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wordpress_app_login.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>These credentials come from your Installatron page of WordPress. To access these credentials, first open Installatron:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/installatron-new.001.jpeg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-347\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-347 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/installatron-new.001-e1460060588356-1024x517.jpeg\" alt=\"installatron new.001\" width=\"648\" height=\"327\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next, click on your installed instance of WordPress:<a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wp_my_blog-e1460752849452.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-390\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wp_my_blog-e1460752849452-1024x520.png\" alt=\"wp_my_blog\" width=\"648\" height=\"329\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>From here, you can access your WordPress site credentials. You may consider making these your OUNetID (4\u00d74) login and password to easily remember this information:<a href=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wp_installatron_credentials-e1460752923993.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-391\" src=\"http:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/wp_installatron_credentials-e1460752923993-1024x604.png\" alt=\"wp_installatron_credentials\" width=\"648\" height=\"382\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>With these credentials, enter them into the WordPress App along with the url for your WordPress website and select\u00a0<strong>Add Site<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wordpress_app_add_site.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On the next page, you will see all of the WordPress websites you have added to the WordPress App. Select the site you just added:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_app_domain.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On this page, you can navigate your post, pages, comments, and more! To start a new post, tap on the\u00a0<strong>Pencil Icon<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_start_post.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On this page, add your\u00a0<strong>Title<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Content<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_post.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_sample_blog_post.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can also edit the properties of text by selecting the text and the different\u00a0<strong>Text Property Buttons<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_select.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_bold.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To view the progress of your post, select the\u00a0<strong>Preview Icon<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_preview.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_final_preview.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When finished, select\u00a0<strong>Publish<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_publish.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now when you visit your WordPress webpage, you will see your new blog post!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mediacenter\" src=\"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/support\/_media\/applications\/wp_my_blog_published.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WordPress is an open source blog application. WordPress forked from b2\/cafelog in 2003, and WordPress Mu multiple website functionality has been integrated since 2010. Today WordPress is the most used blog application powering millions of blogs and being used by tens of millions of people every day. Installing WordPress WordPress is an open-source publishing platform [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/domains.skidmore.edu\/docs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}