Getting Started With Building a WordPress Website

[Mind Body Balance Studio]

Hello,

 

I currently have a basic website built from a very very easy to use template but I would like to update my website in WordPress.  I'm struggling on getting started because I am confused about Pages, Posts, Blog, CMS....  I read somewhere that WordPress pages are not to be confused with website pages and that just confused me even more!  I have been looking online for a Dummies Guide to Building a WordPress Website.  I have found many Wordpress tutorial sites but none of them give me what I need and alot of them are fill with jargon I don't yet understand.  Also, everything seems to refer to blogs and posts and I don't want to do a blog, I want to do a website. I have not found anything that simply tells me how to create a website using WordPress.  I know Mike Little is running a WordPress for Beginners course in September but that's too far off.  Does anyone have any suggestions??

 

Thanks

 

A Damsel in Distress....

 

 

[Roy Johnson]

Hello Damsel

I can understand your distress, because I was in the same position myself not long ago.

At the risk of being over-ruled by the experts in this group - here are some pointers.

WordPress was originally designed for blogging - but it is now so powerful it can produce a fully featured web site.

So you can ignore the term blog and go ahead with your web site, using WordPress

The pages you create are called 'posts' in WordPress language - but there are also more or less the same thing called 'pages'

Pages are generally used for static information that will not change. Posts are more dynamic - but don't fret about the distinctions right now - just use 'posts' for the time being

The Content Management System is the heart of WordPress

CMS means that information is stored in a database, and the PHP coding (that you don't need to know about yet) drags the stuff up out of the database and displays it on screen

The way it is displayed is controlled by your chosen template

and of course the details of visual presentation are controlled by Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

My web site has nearly 1,400 pages (posts) and WordPress deals with them all with no problems

http://www.mantex.co.uk

In fact one part of the site deals with CMS issues

http://www.mantex.co.uk/articles/reviews/technology/cms-technology-reviews/

It's true that WordPress uses a lot of jargon terms - you can blame Mike Little for that when you meet him :-)

But for now, just try to learn your way round the dashboard.

Hope that helps

Roy Johnson

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From: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com [manchester-word...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Mind Body Balance Studio [in...@mindbodybalancestudio.co.uk]
Sent: 29 July 2012 12:16
To: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [MWUG] Getting Started With Building a WordPress Website

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[Mind Body Balance Studio]

Thanks Roy, but there's so much more I need to understand in order to be able to transfer all the content from my current website (which I (very easily) did myself). I need to understand how to build it with parent and child pages - or are they posts??  How to change a page layout, how to insert videos and photos.... I also don't want a comments box on every page.....  I'm tearing my hair out trying to decipher something that I was told is very simple to do.  WordPress seems very technical so if your technical skills are somewhat basic compared to the WordPress pro's you don't really have much of a chance - without a simple 'How To' guide.  I'm wasting loads of time trolling the internet trying to find a simple guide. The WordPress.org and WordPress.com guides are infomatiuon overload and still quite technical.  How did you learn how to do it?  

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From: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com [manchester-word...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Roy Johnson [r...@mantex.co.uk]
Sent: 29 July 2012 12:51
To: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [MWUG] RE: Getting Started With Building a WordPress Website

[Roy Johnson]

I think the general rule is that you should take each of these issues one step at a time

If you try to master all the features of WordPress in one go - you'll get cognitive indigestion

1. Page layout - that is largely determined by the template you have chosen - and remember that unlike an ordinary HTML web site, all your pages will be more-or-less the same

2. Inserting pictures and videos - this is done from the editing screen for a post - and the pictures or videos go into a media library - everything is kept separate by the CMS system - so that they can be re-used if necessary in other posts

3. Comments - these should be part of every post - go to COMMENTS on the dashboard

4. Learning WP - I agree - the WordPress tutorials explain things - but they use their own jargon - and that makes it hard for a beginner

I suggest that you get yourself a "Dummies" type guide

or you could watch some of the videos on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNZDAI2UDn8

this tutorial actually explains the differences between posts and pages - and shows how to add images

These have the advantage that you can SEE what you should be doing

cheers

Roy

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From: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com [manchester-word...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Mind Body Balance Studio [in...@mindbodybalancestudio.co.uk]

Sent: 29 July 2012 13:07

[Gyp the Cat]

Hi Damsel,

I would heartily recommend you getting a Wordpress installation to "have a play".

A lot of people who are familiar with building websites (like you have) and have used Microsoft Office usually don't struggle with the basic functionality.

You will build on that functionality as you learn more.  Some of the things you have mentioned may become a lot clearer as you see it in action.

I get the impression you may be under a tight timeframe, but having a play is still worth doing in my humble opinion :)

Let us know if you need any assistance.

Gyp

[Richard Ibbotson]

On Sunday 29 July 2012 11:16:51 Mind Body Balance Studio wrote:
> website. I have not found anything that simply tells me how to
> create a website using WordPress. I know Mike Little is running a
> WordPress for Beginners course in September but that's too far off.
> Does anyone have any suggestions??

Wouldn't like to claim that I have an advanced understanding of
Wordpress. I had a good look round Amazon and found some books to
read. Google search might be useful. After that I went to a few MWUG
meetings in Manchester.

Worked for me :)

--
Richard

http://www.sheflug.org.uk
http://sleepypenguin.homelinux.org/blog/

[Doug Lawrence]

Hello Damsel

Have you attended any of the Mike Little's WordPress courses at Madlab?

Beginner's course, September 22, 2012End Date: September 23, 2012: http://omniversity.madlab.org.uk/booking/?regevent_action=register&event_id=47&name_of_event=WordPress+for+Beginners

Intermediate WordPress, October 20, 2012End Date: October 21, 2012: http://omniversity.madlab.org.uk/booking/?regevent_action=register&event_id=48&name_of_event=Intermediate+WordPress

I've been on the "Beginner's" and it was excellent, and will attend the "Intermediate" work allowing.

Regards

Doug

[Parbat Bhatiya]

add me on skype : linuxwebhost

i will help you there

thanks
parbat

[Mike Little]

Hi Shannon,

I know WordPress can be a bit overwhelming at first, but as you've managed to build your own site with a different system, I know you can conquer WordPress.

I'm going to disagree with Roy, and say that to convert your existing site to WordPress you only need to use Pages, as you've figured out. For now, ignore Posts completely and forget about the word 'blog'.

From the dashboard (when you first sign in), first go to Settings -> Discussion -- point your mouse at "Settings" and click "Discussion" from the fly-out menu. In the "Default article settings" section at the top uncheck the "Allow people to post comments on new articles " checkbox. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes. This will turn off comments for all new pages.

Next you want to create your home page. Go to Pages -> Add new --  again, point your mouse at "Pages" and click "Add new" from the fly-out menu.

Type "Home" in the title area. Then add some content below -- you have very basic tool bar buttons there for bold, italic, numbered lists, links and so-on, don't worry about getting everything right, you can come back to it later. But for now click the blue Publish button. 

Next, go to Settings -> Reading. In the "Front page displays" section at the top, click the radio button for "a static page". Then select "Home" from the drop-down list.  Click the blue "Save changes" button.

Click on your site's title in the top gray toolbar. This will show you your site's home page, which will now show the content from the home page you created with now blog posts or sidebars. There will be an entry for Home (and probably one for Sample Page) in the menu below the header image.

Lets add a second page. Next point your mouse at the "+ New" item in the toolbar  at the top of the page, then click "Page" from the crop-down menu that appears. Type the page title, perhaps "Mind", again don't worry about content, and click the blue "Publish" button. Once more click +New -> Page from the toolbar. Type the title: perhaps "Hypnotherapy", and this time look at the "Page Attributes" section on the right. Under "Parent", select the "Mind" page from the drop down. Now click Publish. You've just set the Mind page as the parent of the Hypnotherapy page.

Go look at your site again, and now you should see the "Mind" item in the menu, hover your mouse over it, and you will see the "Hypnotherapy" page below. Hypnotherapy is a subpage or child page or Mind -- when you set Mind as the Parent of Hypnotherapy you created that relationship. The menu will automatically reflect that relationship.

That should give you enough to at least get all your page hierarchy created. Don't worry too much if you menu grows over two lines, that can be sorted out later.



Mike

-- 
Mike Little
http://zed1.com/

[Mind Body Balance Studio]

Ahhhhhhh!  Thanks Mike!  :-))  Phew!    (I also found a clip on You Tube that pretty much explained the same, but was for a specific theme which is one I don't intend to use).  I have now created some pages and done away with the comments.  I'm going to go ahead and get the page hierachy created as you have suggested, then add all the information, pictures etc on each page, so it's all in.  Once I have done that will there be a way to change the font - ie: type and size?

Thanks again for your reply.  Just what I needed!  :-))

Shannon

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From: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com [manchester-word...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Mike Little [mi...@zed1.com]
Sent: 29 July 2012 21:27
To: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MWUG] Getting Started With Building a WordPress Website

[Mind Body Balance Studio]

Thank everyone for your advice.  I feel like I'm getting somewhere now.  I may very well be ready to 'show off' what I have achieved at the next MWUG meeting!  :-))

Shannon

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From: Mind Body Balance Studio
Sent: 29 July 2012 12:16
To: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Getting Started With Building a WordPress Website

[Osama bin Murphy]

Hi Folks,

I too am just starting out with Wordpress and trying to make the adjustment from another CMS(concrete5) and am finding the following guide useful as it just deals with the idea of getting started and putting the site together with no mention of PHP, theme creation etc.

(I have no interest in the site or author and am in now way connected to them and only write of it here hoping someone might find it useful!)

http://easywpguide.com/ 

I hope this helps someone besides me :)

Mick.

[Mind Body Balance Studio]

Hi Gyp.

I have had wordpress installed from some months now and have been having a play but I'm not finding it easy at all.  My microsoft office site was a breeze compared to this.  In wordpress I am unable to change the font type or size, I can't format the paragraphs so there's not a line space when I don't want to there to be a line space.  On some of my pages I would like to have two columns of text in the middle of the page but I can't figure out how to do that.  This morning I thought I was getting somewhere following Mike L's helpful advice but I'm back to tearing my hair out again!  I don't get it.

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From: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com [manchester-word...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Gyp the Cat [g...@gypthecat.com]
Sent: 29 July 2012 14:03
To: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MWUG] RE: Getting Started With Building a WordPress Website

[Mike Little]

On 31 July 2012 17:10, Mind Body Balance Studio <in...@mindbodybalancestudio.co.uk> wrote:

Hi Gyp.

I have had wordpress installed from some months now and have been having a play but I'm not finding it easy at all.  My microsoft office site was a breeze compared to this.  In wordpress I am unable to change the font type or size, I can't format the paragraphs so there's not a line space when I don't want to there to be a line space.  On some of my pages I would like to have two columns of text in the middle of the page but I can't figure out how to do that.  This morning I thought I was getting somewhere following Mike L's helpful advice but I'm back to tearing my hair out again!  I don't get it.

Hi Shannon,

The font size and in fact the whole look of your site is governed by the theme and the stylesheet, this is the standard way of doing things on the web. 

Things like spacing between paragraphs, general font sizes, colours etc, are controlled by the theme's stylesheet.

If you want to add a heading, for example, in the middle of a page, you should mark it as a heading rather than change the font size.

If you click on the "kitchen sink" button in the editor tool bar (the one that looks like two rows of icons) it should be the right most button, you will reveal some more tools. The left most one is a dropdown allowing you to designate a line of text as a header for example. You should only use header 2 - header 6 (header 1 should be reserved for your page title).

 

Things like formatting you content into multiple columns, normally relies on that facility being supported directly by your theme, but there are other ways to do it.

 

Talking of formatting, I don't know how you manage to get the text in your emails so tiny. I can barley read them!

[Angel Utset]

I think I an in the middle of the Group regarding Wordpress experience. I do not need a beginner course, but I am not an expert neither.

 

According to my experience, choosing the right theme since the beginning is very important. Once you have decided it, either free or Premium, you can hack the style.css file and any other feature to your own convenience. Using child themes instead is perhaps the right approach, although it is difficult to do with some themes. Themes behave very different, but all of them must have a style.css. Some have additional css files. Be aware that some plugins have their own styles.

In summary, I recommend to “experience” Wordpress starting from a specific theme, the one you like enough and feel comfortable with it.

 

A.

 

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[Mind Body Balance Studio]

Thanks Mike.  I know what you mean about the text size in my emails.  I have an online version of Outlook (associated with the email address for my Microsoft 365 site) and despite changing the font size to a bigger one before sending the email it still sends it tiny.  I can't wait to get away from Microsoft!

Shannon

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From: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com [manchester-word...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Mike Little [mi...@zed1.com]
Sent: 01 August 2012 12:03

To: manchester-word...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MWUG] RE: Getting Started With Building a WordPress Website