WORDPRESS MANUAL

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OLATHE DISTRICT SCHOOLS

This material was developed for the exclusive use of Olathe District School staff. Copies may be made for instructional purposes in Olathe District Schools only. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without written permission from Olathe District Schools.

Table of Contents
What is WordPress? WordPress Access Wordpress Dashboard General Options Write and Manage Blog WordPress Toolbar Upload Images Photo Gallery Categories Comments Create a Static Page Blog Design Create Another Blog Notes Page Glossary Sources 3 3 7 8 10 11 12 14 17 18 19 20 23 24 25 26

Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

WordPress
What is WordPress?
WordPress is open source blogging software which contains features designed to make your experience as a publisher on the Internet as easy, pleasant and appealing as possible. A "blog" is an abbreviated version of "weblog," which is a term used to describe Web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. A blog is a frequently updated, personal Web site featuring diarytype commentary and links to articles on other Web sites. WordPress is an Internet application which means you can work on your Web site on any computer that has Internet access. It also does not require a special login or password. You will use your normal Novell login and password to access the program.

WordPress Access
1. Open the Internet by clicking on the browser icon 2. In the address bar type in http://teachers2.olatheschools.com

Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

3. Login to work on your Web page in the area called Teacher Login. Use your regular Novell Login. Press Enter or click Login.

4.

Click Convert Website tab.

5. A disclaimer page will appear which gives further information about your current Dreamweaver page and what to expect if you decide to convert to WordPress. If you are sure you would like to convert click Convert to Wordpress Now link

Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

6. You will receive a message that the conversion to WordPress was successful and you need to sign out and log on again.

7.

Click Yes on the Pop-up Security Information box

8.

Sign in using your regular Novell Log-in and Password

Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

You will see this screen when you log in.

Click Continue to this website. After

the program has been moved to the new teacher server this screen will no longer appear.

9.

Click Website

Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

10. The next screen will show the address of your site. Click on the pencil icon to edit the site. The WordPress Dashboard, the area that allows you to work on your Web site will be displayed. This area allows you to set up a separate Web site if you sponsor an activity. Directions for setting this up are on page 19.

Click pencil icon

WordPress Dashboard
The WordPress Dashboard is the control center for your Web site. This area contains links which allows you to post new information, edit existing information, change the look, define users, view and edit comments, and change profile information. A tab called FireStats allows you to view Web site statistics: who is visiting your Web site, most popular page, area the viewer is living in, etc.

Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

General Options
1. On the Dashboard menu bar click the Options Link

2. The options tool bar is displayed. Click on General to change the Web site title and motto line.

1. Blog Title: The name of your blog.

This can be changed by returning to Options. 2. Tagline: Enter a slogan or motto that describes you or your blog. You can also leave this blank. 3. Membership: By default this is left blank.

1 2 3 4

4. E-mail Address: Your district e-mail address is automatically shown here.

Date and Time Settings The date and time settings are set to default values. Select the first day of the week you would like the calendar to display.

Click the Update Option button when you have made all changes

Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

The other links on the tool bar are set by default. However, if you wish to personalize your blog further you may change the default values. Each link contains information showing you how to do this.

User Profile: This area lets the user configure personal information. Click the Users Tab on the
WordPress Dashboard.

The users profile screen is displayed. Click on Edit. If you want to add specific users scroll down this screen to the add users area.

The next screen displayed allows the user to edit personal information displayed on the Web site. Click the Update User button at the top right or bottom right of the screen when finished editing the information.

Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

Write and Manage a Blog

In the Dashboard menu click on Write to display the page where you will write, organize and publish your post.

The Write page has two tabs. If you want to create a blog post page choose the Write Post tab. If you want a Static Page, one that appears as a separate page in your blog, choose the Write Page Tab. More information about Static Pages is on page 15.

1.

Add Title of Blog Here

2.

Add content here

3.

1. Title: Use titles that give your reader a basic idea of what they are about to read in the posts. 2. Post Area: By default the area in which you write your post is in the Visual Editing mode as indicated by the Visual tab that appears above the text. This mode gives you text formatting options which are similar to the ones in Microsoft Word. 3. Publish Post: Save and Continue Editing: Click the button to save your post as a draft. The Write Post page reloads with the post content and you can continue editing it. The saved drafts will appear as links at the top of the Write Posts page each time you work on your blog. Save: Your post will be saved as a draft. The Write Post page reloads with a new, blank textbox for you to start a new post. Publish: Click this button to both save and publish the post to your blogs front page. After you click Publish, a new Write Post page appears.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

WordPress Formatting Toolbar

Bold: Emphasizes the text Italics: Italicizes the text Strikethrough: Puts a line through the text Ordered List: Creates a numbered list Unordered List: Creates a bulleted list Outdent: Moves the paragraph or section of text to the left Indent: Moves the paragraph or section of text to the right Align Left: Lines the text up against the left margin Align Center: Centers the text on the page Align Right: Lines up the text against the right margin Insert/Edit Link: Creates a link from the highlighted text to a Web site URL you have selected Unlink: Removes the hyperlink Insert/Edit Image: Allows you to insert an image in your post. Allows you to set options for the image by setting the alignment, dimensions, borders and spacing around the image Split Post with More Tag: Allows you to split the display on your blog page. It publishes the text written above this tag with a Read More link, which takes the user to a page with the full post. ABC: Check spelling Help: Opens a new browser window that contains help items for this page. Answer Link

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

Upload Images or Files to the Post

To upload images follow these steps: 1. Click on the Write Tab 2. Scroll down to the Upload section. This area is directly beneath the Save and Continuing Editing, Save and Publish buttons.

3. Click the Browse button to open a window from your own computer that shows the folders and drives you have available to you. Chose the drive and then the folder the picture you want to upload is located in. Double click the image you have chosen.

If you have an image from a Web site or from an e-mail you would like to use save it to your computer first. 4. Fill in the Title and Description text boxes. This information is used by search engines and puts ALT tags on the images. 5. Click the Upload button. 6. In the Show area click one of the three buttons to choose how you would like to display the image in your blog post. In the Link To area choose where you would like your file linked to.

1 2

1 Show:

Thumbnail: Display a smaller-sized version of the original Full-Size: Display the full-size image Title: Display the images title, hyperlinked to the image on another page

2 Link To
File: Links the image to the original file location on your server. After the image is published it will open in its own browser window when clicked Page: Links the image to a formatted page within the blog None: The image isnt linked at all 7. Click the Send to Editor Button: This puts the image in the post when you publish it to your blog.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

WordPress allows you to reuse photos you have already uploaded. Click the Browse All tab in the upload photo area of the Write screen to see all images.

Photos take up a great deal of space if they are not resized and compressed for the Web. Use a photo editor like Microsoft Picture Manager, Adobe Photoshop Elements to edit pictures before uploading them to WordPress.

Post Options
After you write the post you can choose from extra options before you publish it to the Internet. The settings you choose are applied only to the post you are working on. You will need to choose these options each time you make a post to your blog. These buttons are shown to the right of the post window. Click the + sign to open the menus under each heading Categories: Allows you to organize your blog posts in different categories by subject. You will find instructions on how to add categories on page 14 Discussion: If you would like a comment box added to your blog make sure the allow comments box is checked Post Password: You can password protect your blog so that only people you have given the password to can read that particular blog. Enter a password in here if you want to do that. Otherwise leave this blank. Post Slug: Refers to a portion of the URL of your post. The post slug function takes the title of your blog and posts it as part of the URL extension. If you want the extension to be something different you need to enter it here Post Status: There are 4 options Published: The post is published publicly to the blog Pending Review: Used when you have multiple authors for one blog. The post shows up in the list of Drafts next to a Pending Review Header. This allows the administrator to know that contributors have entered posts that are waiting for the administrators review and approval. Draft: Saves the post as a draft and isnt published for public view until you change the status to Published. Private: Allows you to publish a post that no one else can see unless you change to the status to Published. Post Timestamp: You can change the timestamp of your post which is helpful if you want to make a future post. You can for example write an announcement or post a future assignment and schedule it to post publicly later. Select the box next to Edit Timestamp and set the date you would like your post to be published.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

Photo Gallery
Word Press has a Photo Gallery plugin which allows the user to add photo albums to their site. The photos do not need to be resized or optimized for the web as the plugin will perform these functions for you.

Create an Album
1. Click on the Manage button in the toolbar

2. Click on Photos

3. The Manage Albums or Create a New Album page will appear. 4. Type in a name for the album in the area under the title Name 5. Type in a short description in the Description box 6. If you have more than one album type in a number to show what order you want the albums displayed 7. Click Create Album

Add Photos to the Album

1. Click on Upload Photos in the Album Toolbar

2. If you have more than one album make sure you have the name of the album you want the pictures in showing in the area called Album. 3. Click on the Browse button to locate the pictures you would like to add to the album 4. You may upload up to 10 pictures to the album. The do not need to be resized or optimized as the program will do this for you 5. The files you select will be displayed under the browse button. 6. After all picture files have been selected click the Upload Photos button

3.

2.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

Edit Album Information

Once the photos have been uploaded to the album you can return to the photos and add individual descriptions as well as put them in a certain order.

You can also add alternative text to each photo by typing in a description by the name of each photo at the bottom of the Edit Album Information page.

1. Click on View the site 2. Click on the displayed photo 3. All the photos in that album will be displayed

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

Click on a photo and it will be displayed in its normal size with its name and description Click Next Photo at the top of the photo to go to the next photo Click Name of Album (ex: Kindergarten Field Trip) above the photo to return to the expanded version Click on Albums link to return to the Photo Gallery page

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

Categories
This creates an organizational structure for the blog. Each blog that is assigned a category is grouped with other posts of the same category. This creates a directory of posts for your reader and makes items easier to locate. Categories are also called Tags.

Create a Category and Subcategory

WordPress by default defines 2 categories: blogroll and uncategorized. To add categories do the following:

1. Click Manage tab on the Dashboard tool bar. The Manage Tool bar will be displayed. 2. Click Categories on the Manage Toolbar 3. The Categories page appears

4. Click add new

5. Type new category name 6. Leave the default at none 7. This is optional. You can add a short description if you wish. 8. Click Add Category

Categories can be edited or deleted by returning to the add category page and clicking the Edit link in the Action Column to the right of each category.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

File Posts in Categories and Subcategories

1. Click the Manage Tab on the Dashboard Menu Bar 2. Click the Edit link for the post you would like to categorize 3. Click the + sign in the Categories section on the right hand side of the page to view the list of categories 4. Click the box by the category you want to assign the post to. You can assign the post to more than one category. 5. Click the save button under the post.

Manage Comments
Click the Comment tab on the Dashboard tool bar. This will show all the comments for your blog.
This screen allows you to view, edit or delete comments. If you have set your comment options so that comments are not published until you approve them this is the area you will approve them.

Set Discussion Options

1. Click the options tab on the Dashboard Toolbar 2. Click Discussion on the Options screen that appears

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

On the discussion page you can set options for the comments displayed on your blog. Most are set by default by WordPress but they can be changed by unchecking the box. Once you have set the options be sure to click the Update Option Button.

A comment awaiting moderation will not show up on the blog until you approve it.

Create a Static Page

Static pages in your blog are pages that appear as a separate page rather than a post. You can create an unlimited number of static pages and they use nearly the same process of writing as a blog post. 1. Click Write on the Dashboard menu bar. When the Write screen appears click on Write Page.

1 2 3 4

2. Type the title of your text 3. Type the body in the Page Content text box

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

4. Set the options for the page using the option boxes listed at the right hand side of the page a. Discussion: Select if you want comments allowed on this page b. Page Status: Select Published, Draft or Private c. Page Password: Enter a password here if you selected Private in the Page Status option d. Page Parent: Select the page parent from the drop down menu if you would like to make this a subpage of another page you have created e. Page Slug: Enter a Page Slug if you want something other than the title f. Page Template: Select the template you wish to use for this page from the drop down menu g. Page Author: If there is more than one author for the blog, you can choose the page author in this option h. Page Order: Enter a number in the text box that reflects the order in you would like this page displayed in the listing of pages on your site. 5. Click the Publish button if you are ready to post the page to your site. Click Save and Continue Editing button or the Save button if you want to save it as a draft.

Blog Design
WordPress has a default theme which is what you have viewed while working on your blog. Templates are being designed for the Olathe School District so there will be a consistent look for the teacher Web pages. Until that time you may choose from available WordPress themes. 1. On the Dashboard menu bar click the Presentation tab 2. Click the Themes tab when the Presentation screen is displayed

3. The default theme will be the one that is shown under Current Theme. 4. View the available themes and click on the one you like. The theme is applied to your current blog. View the new theme: click on View Site at the top. 5. Change the theme: Click on the Presentations tab and change the look.

Widgets
Widgets are extra menu items such as a calendar, photos etc. that you can add to the default themes sidebar. Widgets can be added changed or rearranged easily using the following steps.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

1. In the Presentation Menu click on the Widgets tab

2. The widget default sidebar will appear. Each theme has a slightly different arrangement but the usual sidebar items include a search box, a list of recent posts, and the links you have defined.

3. Scroll down the page to view Available Widgets section which contains the widgets for the selected theme.

4. Click on any of the available widgets and drag into the Sidebar box. You will see that the default Sidebar disappears. The widgets will appear in the order that you place them on the sidebar. They can be rearranged by clicking and dragging them to the order that you want. 5. When you have all the widgets you want to use in place, click the Save Changes button in the top right hand corner of the screen.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

6. WordPress reloads the Sidebar Arrangement page with a confirmation message at the top that says Options Saved View Site

7. Some widgets have a configure icon which allows you to customize the widget options.

8. Click on the icon and a configure box will appear. When you have changed the options to what you want, click the X in the top of the box. The options will be saved. Once you are finished with configuring all widgets, click the Save Changes button in the top right hand corner of the screen. Anytime you want to rearrange the Widgets, add to them or delete them return to the Presentation tab, Widgets Tab.

Common Widget Options

Archives: Contains hyperlinks to your post archives by month, from the most recent month to the earliest month. Categories: Displays the categories you set up for your blog in alphabetical order, hyperlinked to the posts in the categories. You can configure this to show up to 9 but 1 is all that is necessary. Recent Posts: Displays the title of the most recent posts, hyperlinked to the post Links: Displays the links you set up in your blogroll Text: Allows you to insert your own text in the Widget Configuration so you can display your custom items in the sidebar display. You can configure up to nine from the drop down menu. RSS Feed : Allows you to display post links from other sites. You can configure up to nine.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

Create a Another Blog with the Same Log-In

If you sponsor activities you may want a Web site whose URL names the activity. WordPress allows you to create a Web site with such a URL. You would link this additional Web site from your main blog page. If you want it linked from the school Web page you will need to give the school webmaster the URL. 1. Log into http://teachers2.olatheschools.com

2. New Blog Title: Type in the title of the new blog 3. New Blog Address: Type in the name of the folder that will be on the teacher server. The name must follow URL format: all lower case letters, no spaces, no special characters and must be brief 4. Click Create Blog button 5. The new blog will be listed in the list of blogs you maintain

6. To work on any of the blogs you maintain you can click on the pencil icon or click on the Web address. In edit mode put the cursor on the heading. It will list the blogs you maintain.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

NOTES:

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

Glossary
Blog: short for Web log, a blog is a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; (verb) to write a Web log. Blogger: a person who owns or writes for a Web log. Blogroll: a list of links in the sidebar of a blog, often linking to other blogs. Categories: method of organizing blog entries by assigning each entry to a predetermined topic. Each topic (category) will link to a list of entries, all with related content. Discussion group: an online forum for individuals to discuss various topics amongst each other. People add their comments by posting a block of text to the group. Others can then comment and respond. The term discussion group encompasses bulletin boards, listservs, mailing lists, and newsgroups. Feed Reader: a Web application which aggregates syndicated Web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy viewing. Hits: Number of users visited HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language: the language used in writing a web page Permalink: Permanent link. The unique URL of a single post. Use this when you want to link to a post somewhere. Post: the term used to refer to an individual story or article on a blog. The article or contribution you make to a blog. A blog usually consists of multiple posts. RSS: acronym for Really Simple Syndication. It allows users to get free, automatic feeds to a single Web page from such sources as blogs and news services. Subscribe: The term used when a blogs feed is added to a feed reader like Bloglines or Google. Some blogging platforms have internal subscriptions that allow readers to receive notification when there are new posts in a blog. Thread: a series of posts either on a specific topic or, in the case of an "open thread", on multiple topics, or any topic at all TrackBack/ PingBack: A system that allows a blogger to see which other bloggers have referenced or written about a particular post. The system works by sending a ping between the blogs, and therefore providing the alert. URL: the address of a Web site Wiki : a Web site (or other hypertext document collection) that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content. "Wiki" also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a Web site.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual

Sources

Sabin-Wilson, Lisa. WordPress for Dummies. Hoboken NJ: Wiley Publishing, INC, 2008.

Podz, 1 Jan 2008. The Tamba2 WordPress Guides. 2007. subnoto. <http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/>.

1 Jan 2008. "Getting Started with WordPress." <http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page>.

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Olathe District Schools Instructional Technology Department Word Press Manual