Web Design with WordPress 101 – Creating and Editing WordPress Posts

In this class we go over how to create and edit a WordPress post for your new blog.  If you recall, a post is a content entry displayed on a designated page in reverse chronological order. Posts are the life blood of any blog and provide a way for website owners to communicate their ideas with the world. Posts allow visitors of your website to interact with your content by enabling them to post responses to your material in the form of comments. If you are seeking to create a site that encourages discussion then creating regular posts will be a necessity.

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Web Design with WordPress 101 – Configuring Initial Settings

In Class #9 we’ll finish exploring the WordPress Dashboard and take a look at some of the settings for WordPress. In the last class we covered the majority of the tabs on the left hand navigation menu. In this class we’ll explore the remaining tabs and talk about some important considerations when setting up WordPress, including preventing hacker access and configuring SEO-friendly URL structure from the very get-go.

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Web Design with WordPress 101 – Tour of the WordPress Dashboard

In today’s class we’ll explore the WordPress Dashboard. The Dashboard is the administrator area of the WordPress software. This area is only visible to those users you give access to, and won’t be seen by anyone visiting your site. We’ll get into the specifics of the various functions offered in this area in later classes, but for today we will give you a brief overview of how the Dashboard is setup.

Let’s start by showing you how to login to the Dashboard. There are two ways you can login: the first is a link found on the sample site that WordPress generates when you install the software. You can type in your domain in a web browser to access this site. Once the site has loaded, scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for the login link. Click the login link to proceed to the login screen.

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Web Design with WordPress 101: How to Manually Install WordPress

Last class we showed you how to install WordPress through Bluehost’s one click install option. Today we’ll show you how to manually install the software.  We comprehensively cover how to create a database, upload the files, and everything else you need, every step of the way, to manually install the WordPress software to your domain.  While more difficult that the one click install method covered last class – a manual install will help you learn how WordPress works and what makes it tick by seeing the files, directories, and structure of the software in depth.

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Web Design with WordPress 101 – One Click Install for WordPress

In today’s class we’ll show you how to install WordPress on a Bluehost account. There are two ways to do this: the first is a simple one click installation that will automate the process for us. The other option is a manual installation that will require a little bit of work to set up. Bluehost isn’t the only web host that offers a one click install option for WordPress. Several popular web hosts have this option available, along with other one click installations for other useful applications. Even though Bluehost and other web hosts offer this one click install option it may be beneficial to try the manual install if you’d like a better understanding of how WordPress works.  Since we are using Bluehost for this course, I’ll show you how to install WordPress using their one click install during this class. We’ll cover the manual installation in a later class.

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Web Design with WordPress 101 – How to Register a Domain Name

In today’s class we’ll show you how to register a domain name and go over a few of the tools available for domain management found in your web host’s control panel (aka C-Panel).  This will reserve a web address such as www.mysite.com for your brand and will provide a location for you to publish your web site.

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Web Design with WordPress 101 – Selecting a Domain Name for SEO

Today we’ll talk about how to select a domain name for your website. Selecting an appropriate name for your site can go a long way towards increasing the visibility of your site on the web. In this class we’ll touch on some of the dos and don’ts of choosing an appropriate name for your website.

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Web Design with WordPress 101 – Web Hosting Basics

Welcome back everyone to the Web Design with WordPress 101 Course.

Today we’ll explore a couple of the popular web hosting choices that you can utilize to put your site on the web. I touched briefly on web hosts in the first class, but just to recap, a web host is a site that allows you to store your web site to their servers in such a way that other people will be able to access it through the internet. There are a lot of options when it comes to choosing a web host and there are certain things to consider when doing so.

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Web Design with WordPress 101 – WordPress.com v. WordPress.org

Welcome back everyone to the Web Design with WordPress 101 course.

Before we continue on to the actual course material I think it’s important to point out a distinction between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. You may have already noticed the two websites if you’ve done any searching on the web. The difference between the two is this: WordPress.com is a hosted blogging service which is used mostly for creating blogs. WordPress.org provides a download of the WordPress software that has to be manually installed on your own web server or a web host of your choice.  Today’s class will explore the difference between the two options.

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How To Use Firebug for WordPress To Design a Better Website (Even if You Aren’t a Designer)

Firebug is a browser add-on developed by Mozilla as a tool for web developers. Its original purpose was to help developers inspect the elements of their website in order to debug quickly and efficiently.  Since its inception, Firebug gone on become a valuable tool for website owners to not only debug, but test new design elements and modifications to their sites in real time.

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