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WordPress: How to Work with Post and Page Formats

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How to Work with Posts and Pages

Written by Becky Bruso

Computer imagecrop_WordPressIn this post we will explore how to work with posts and pages within WordPress.  The great thing is that once you learn how to get around in posts, you can apply the same concepts to a working with pages. This article will detail how to add and work with posts and pages with written instructions including images of the how-to process in action. This is a rather lengthy article, but it is the heart of where you will produce your WordPress website content.    I have also added a short desktop video which demonstrates exactly how to work with posts and pages. We will be talking about layout options as they apply to the overall look and feel of the post and will not discuss the fine details of formatting the text within the post.  This article includes audio instructions as well. I wrote and recorded both methods to provide you with the ability to pick which method is best for you to see how to work with posts and pages.  Once you have mastered working with posts, you can rest assured that you have will also be able to work with pages.  There is only one difference between posts and pages and this is the ability to categorize and tag.  Pages in WordPress do not automatically come with the ability to be categorized or tagged.   This difference between categories and tags will be touched upon later in this article. 

Video Demonstration of Working with Posts and Pages

Written Instructions on How to Work with Posts and Pages

How to Add a New Post or Page

To add a new post, go to your WordPress dashboard.  Click on Posts, then select Add New.  The Editing dashboard allows you to enter a title for your post.  The title is displayed within your post in a bigger and bolder font than that of the body of your text.  The font and its size are decided by the theme you have used for your WordPress website.  Overriding the size of the post title is a CSS customization and won’t be discussed in this article.    
WordPress Add Post Title |Page Title
Adding a Title to a WordPress Post or Page
  The wording chosen for your post or page should be headline worthy and related specifically to the topic you are writing about.    To optimize the wording for search engines, you might consider downloading a plugin like Yoast, which will show you how your page is scoring with respect to Search Engine Optimization or SEO.  The Yoast website also provides an in-depth tutorial on SEO.    

Adding Media (Images, Audio, and Video) Posts and Pages 

Every post has the opportunity for you to add media.  Media can be described as images, and audio or video.  You may set a featured image by locating the set featured image panel option and selecting the desired image.  The media library and upload to the media library will be shown in detail within this article.     The placement of the featured image varies by theme.  Below is an image of what the Twenty Thirteen Theme’s featured image looks like on the front end.  
WordPress Featured Image Twenty Thirteen
View of Twenty Thirteen Theme Featured Image Post
To show that this is theme specific, take a look at the positioning of a featured image for a custom theme.  Here you will note that the featured image is left justified versus the center justification of the previous featured image.  This is to show that this positioning of the featured image varies by theme.   Featured images are limited in whether then can be placed left, center, or right as well as being limited to the size that they can be shown as.  There is another method of adding images which gives you more control over how you can display the image within your posts and pages.  We will look at the other way to add one or more images to your posts and pages next.  
WordPress Featured Image Variation
Featured Image Set Custom Theme
 
WordPress Setting Featured Image
Setting Featured Image for WordPress Post |Page
There is only one featured image per post, but you may add any additional media you would like to support the discussion of your post.  Adding audio and video may not have some of the advanced features discussed next due to their type of media.  For example, audio may not have a size option as do image media types.    When adding other media to your post besides the featured image, you are given the opportunity to position in at the left, center, or right of your text.  Adding media this way gives you more flexible placement of your images.  In addition, you can select the size you would like your images to be displayed.   To add media, click on the Add Media Button, as shown below.  All media types may be added by using this button.
WordPress Add Media Button
How to Add Media to a Post | Page in WordPress
The theme in use for this demonstration is Twenty Thirteen.  This particular theme does have the gallery feature enabled. Galleries are a topic for another post.   We will be talking about setting up non-gallery style images within this post.  You will note that you have the option to either upload an image from your computer or select one from the library of images which you already have.   First we will work with an image already in your media library.  To do this, you will click on the media library Tab.  You will see the images in your library you have previously uploaded.  Click on the image you wish to include.  Then click on the blue Insert into post button.  
WordPress Add Media From Library
Adding Media from the WordPress Media Library
  To upload a media file from your computer, click on the upload files tab.  You will notice that there is now a select files button.  Click on this button and locate the media you wish you upload from your computer.  This option works just like your typcial file locate, select, and upload features.   Once the desired media has been uploaded, select insert into post.  
WordPress Add Media from Upload
Adding Media to WordPress via Media Upload

Positioning Media within Your Post

Now that you have added the media to your post, we will work with sizing it and positioning it to your liking.   Visually you should be able to see the image within the editing area of your post.  Click on the image you just added and you will note that you have enabled the media positioning and editing features.  In the visual below, no justification has been selected and you will see the editing options displaying just over the image in the post.    
WordPress Image Editing Options
Media Positioning Options in Post | Page
Each justification image corresponds with left, center, right, and none.  The next item in the editing bar is the pencil which is what you would click on to either change the selected image or change the size of the image.   Mouse over each of these to display your choices.  The right most “x” would be used to remove the image entirely from the post.  Click on the pencil icon to explore other image options.  Here we will add the following:
  • Caption (if desired)
  • Alternative Text
  • Alignment Changes
  • Size
  • Link to Selection
Your choice to add captions is entirely optional and up to you.  Captions will display under the picture and in the font which is determined by your theme.  Alternative text will not display, but rather is meant for SEO and to be used by screen readers.   Alignment changes can be accomplished here or within the post as described earlier.  Experiment with clicking on each alignment choice and notice how the text positioning also varies based upon your selection.  

Sizing Media within Your Post

The size of the image within your post can be selected next.  When images are uploaded to your website, they are automatically created in three sizes.  These are the sizes which are specified under the dashboard option Settings, Media.  You will be able to select the image size you want to feature within your post or page.  Some themes may restrict the sizes you can select from, but there is also the ability to set a custom image size if the sizes presented to you do not meet your needs and you wish to show your images in a larger or a size in between that which is shown in the drop down list box for size.  
WordPress Image Detals Options
Advanced Media Options in WordPress

Link To Media Options

You may link to the media file itself, an attachment page, custom URL, or none.  Typically, I would select none unless the website you are working with is more image centric.  In this case you might explore the other image options.  We will look at all these image options as well as the advance options in a future posting series.   Once you have made your final selections, click on the blue Update button.   The next screen image will show you what the choice of both the featured image and the addition of the extra image to your post will look like.  Again, this view is based upon the Twenty Thirteen Theme.
WordPress View with Featured and additional image
Website View of WordPress Post with both featured and additional image

Publish Options

By default, the publish options for your posts has been set to a status of published and visibility of public once you hit the publish button.  Prior to this, it is set as Draft and visibility pubic.  The publishing options may be found to the right of the editing area unless you have selected a one column view of the editing dashboard.  In this case, the various options will be stacked upon one on top of the other.  
WordPress Visibility Options
Changing Post | Page Visibility Options in WordPress
It might be wise to change the visibility of your posts to private while you are in editing mode so that it will not be unveiled publicly until you have completed your work with it.  To do this, click on the Edit link next to Visibility:  Public.  You may change it to private by selecting the radio button next to private.  In some cases, where you have content you want to restrict to a specific audience you may want to password protect it.  If you opt to select  privately published by clicking on the radio button next to privately published, you will be prompted to enter your selected password for this post. You will note that under the public visibility option, you have the ability to set the post as the front page post.  You might want to do this if you have a specific message  you always want to feature at the top of your posts.  This can be changed should you later desire to feature a different post or not to feature any post at all as the first post.   The ability to feature is a post as stuck to the front page is  a post type feature only and is not applicable to pages. The WordPress publicize date options were covered in this related post:  how to schedule your writing for a future publication date.  Setting future publication dates frees you up to do other things without worrying about going in and manually updating a post or page every time you want to publish. 

Format or Layout Options

Based upon your theme, you will get the ability to select your post format or post layout.  Basic WordPress formats typically include standard, aside, audio, chat, gallery ( if theme allows), image, link, quote, status, or video.  Keep in mind that all of these formats may or may not be available in your theme.  In which case you would likely see the term Layout as an option instead of format in one of the side panel options. In the theme layout options image below, the installed theme allows for the following layouts:   default, content/sidebar,  sidebar/content, content/sidebar half page, sidebar half page/content, and full-page width no sidebar.  These various options allow you to tailor your posts individually and feature them in the best format for that specific post.   Read a more detailed description about the basic post formats in WordPress.   All of these may not be available within your theme, but some basic variation of these options will be available.  Try the various formats or layouts which are available to you to see which one works best for the specific article, post, or feature you are working with.  
WordPress Theme limited formats
WordPress Theme Replacement of Post Formats with Layout Options

Category Options (Posts only)

Categorizing your posts is a great way to give your website visitors different paths into viewing the content you publish.  Categories can be used to create menus, and sidebar navigation.   You select a category for your post by expanding the categories panel.  You may also add a new category from within your post.  Take a look at a related in-depth post which discusses How to maximize WordPress categories.

Tag Options (Posts only)

Tags provide you with an alternative way to add additional classification information to your posts.  Tags may be used to create a sidebar widget for navigation into your content by its specific tag.  If you look at the sidebar of this website, you will see that WordPress is a tag I have used extensively throughout.  The great thing about tag clouds is that they will grow the size of the tag in your tag cloud as the you add more content for that specific tag.  You might be wondering why you would want tags in addition to categories.  Tags are used when you want to describe your post in more details.   Below is a sample of a tag cloud from The BizPal Company which is clickable by website visitors to allow them a path  into the content  tagged with that specific label.
WordPress Tag Cloud
Tag and Category Cloud Example on WordPress Widget Sidebar
  There is no limit to the number of tags you can add to a post.    In my example, I might also refine my WordPress tagged posts by further classifying them as posts, pages, and more.  The classic example used by WordPress is with a recipe post.  Suppose you have a brownie recipe and it is found in categories of both baking and deserts.  You might want also to tag it with walnuts, chocolate, and brownies.  This would allow website visitors who are looking for both chocolate and baking in general to better find information offered on both.   

Changing or Editing an Existing Post or Page

To edit or change a post which you have already created and perhaps published, go to the dashboard and locate All Posts.   The beauty of this feature is that it operates exactly the same way for WordPress pages.  Thus, if working on scheduling pages, click on Pages, then select Add New (if you are adding a new page) or All Pages ( if you are working with an existing page).   The Publish panel section looks exactly the same on posts as it does on page with the exception of being able to add categories and tags to pages.  You can only add categories and tags to posts, not pages.  Once you have done your desired changes, you would click on the Update button to the far right of the post or page if you have a 2 column view or stacked up down under the editing area, if you have a 1 column view selected.  You might recall the ability to have a 1 column or 2 column editing panel is enabled and disabled up on the right hand side of your screen under screen options.    

What can go Wrong with Adding and Editng Posts and Pages ?

When editing a post or a page, you may not see the options I described above.  In this case, the difference can be based upon  a couple of factors.  You might have your screen options set differently.  If you locate the screen options in the upper right hand corner of your post or page editing dashboard and click on this; you might find that tags and/or layouts/featured images may not be checked.  In this case, you would not see the editing panels to your right or stacked up below the editing areas.  To enable these and allow for viewing while editing, simple check in the box next to the feature you wish to enable.  Keep in mind that you will not find categories or tags as a screen option on pages, unless  there has been a custom plugin installed for this purpose.   In some cases, these options might differ based upon the theme you have activated.   Once such difference, as noted earlier, is the panel being shown as layouts versus formats for posts.  

WordPress: How to log into the back end of WordPress

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Logging into your WordPress Back End Site

There are two sides to every website, the front-end which is the location visible to the outside world, and the back-end. The back-end is the workhorse and can be likened to the back room of your store or back office. It is that area where you do all your work and don’t necessarily want to make it public. In this post, we will explore how to find and bookmark the login link for your WordPress website.   This post will follow my practice of providing you with both written and visual instructions.   When I work with clients, a lot people have been given access to the back-end of their WordPress websites, but either don’t recall how to get back to it or even what to do when there. This post will address the How to get back into it. You will want to create a bookmark for yourself once you find it so that you can always go back to it with ease.

Demonstration of How to Log Into the Back-end of your WordPress Website

Don’t forget to bookmark the link in your browser!!

How to Log Into the Back-end of your WordPress Website

If you have a WordPress Website, the way to log into the back-end is pretty much the same across the board for you to be able to get access to change or add to your website. Go to the home page for your website.  In the top browser bar where you see your domain name, type in wp-admin and then hit enter.  Please note that your installation may not say WordPress, but there is not a need to be concerned if this is so. 
WordPress Sample Home
WordPress Home Page Example
Be sure that the web address (URL) already displays the “/” at the very end of the address.If this wording is confusing, read on for an example and visual of this.
wordpress home wp-admin
WordPress Login Browser Address Example
There is not a need to change any of the information that is already displayed in the browser URL address.  The browser URL address refers to the http:// something.com area which is displayed.   So, if your website’s name were “Something”, what the entry would look like after typing in the wp-admin, would be http://something.com/wp-admin or it could also be http://www.something.com/wp-admin This should get you to the log on screen for your WordPress website.  Email addresses are used to set up users within WordPress.  Each email address may  only be associated with one user id.  Your username would have been setup by you or your developer when the website was being built.   If you have forgotten your password, it can easily be reset.
WordPress Login Screen
WordPress Log In Screen Example
Once you are at the WordPress Log on screen, I would suggest bookmarking it in your browser so you may easily find it in the future.

How to Reset your WordPress Password

Once you are on the screen which prompts you to log into you WordPress website, you will note that just below the box which requests your login information, there is a very tiny link below which says “Lost your password?”
WordPress Reset Password link
WordPress Resetting Password
Simply click on this link to reset your password.   You will need to have the email address which was setup for you to access your website.    A re-set link will be emailed to you to start the password reset process.  

What can go wrong with a WordPress Password Reset Request?

Perhaps you don’t have the email which you or your developer setup your WordPress website with. In this case, you will need to contact your hosting provider to assist you. Chances are you can enter your WordPress website’s backend through the hosting provider’s account interface screens.

WordPress: How to Add and Work with Plugins

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power-plug-309142_1280Today’s topic will be to show you how to install plugins on your WordPress web site.  We will learn how to install a couple of very basic plugins.  Plugins allow you to add features to your web site front and/or back-end.    First we will review what plugins are.  Then we will go over the how to install two very basic plugins.  As with my other WordPress how to’s, I have included the video instructions on doing this, together with a what can go wrong feature. 

What are WordPress Plugins?

According to WordPress.org, plugins are ways to extend and add to the functionality that already exists in WordPress.  The word “extend” is really a tough definition to absorb if you aren’t of the tech world.  I prefer to use examples of types of functionality that can be added.  I also like to talk about the use of the word “extend”.  Typically in tech speak, extend has been used to describe additional software code which works without breaking the original code and adds functions which were not available in the original code.   The plugin code must also play by the rules of the original code.  And finally, the plugins must do all this really great stuff without slowing down the processing and load time of the pages/posts of your web site.    Some examples of plugins which are used on various web sites are e-commerce stores, social media share /follow buttons, events calendars, adding editing features, and enabling downloadable files.  Chances are whatever features and functions you want to add to your web site to allow your users to do; you will find a plugin for it. 
TinyMCE Plugins
TinyMCE Advanced and TinyMCE Spellcheck Plugins
The plugins we will install today will allow you to extend (there is that word again) or add to the basic editing settings you have with the core WordPress Installation. 

Video Demonstration  of How to Install a Plugin

Written Instructions of How to Install a Plugin

I selected this plugin as it will really add to your ability to edit your posts.  With the generic install of WordPress, you get a very limited ability to edit. 
WordPress Editor Settings
WordPress Editor Settings | Toggle on
For example, you have the ability to do only the following editing items in the visual mode:
  • Make Text Bold
  • Make Text Italic
  • Strike through Text
  • Create Bulleted Lists
  • Create Numbered Lists
  • Add a block quote
  • Add a horizontal line
  • Justify Text Blocks Left
  • Justify Text Blocks Center
  • Justify Text Blocks Right
  • Add and Edit Links
  • Add a “More…” Tag
  • Make text Paragraph, headers, or preformatted
  • Underline Text
  • Justify Text
  • Change Text Color
  • Paste as Text
  • Erase Formatting of Selected Text
  • Add Special Characters
  • Decrease Indent
  • Increase Indent
  • Undo Edit
  • Redo Edit
  If you are not seeing all the options I have described, click on the Toggle Toolbar Icon as shown and you will note your editing features expand to include all of the ones I have described.  These next images show you what the editor looks like without the toggle toolbar button clicked. WordPress Basic Editing Features | toggle off Then, with the toggle toolbar button clicked.

Installing a Plugin

To install a plugin go to the Plugins on the dashboard, click on Add New.
WordPress Add New Plugin
WordPress Add New Plugin
  We will look for TinyMCE and install the TinyMCE Advanced First.
WordPress Plugin Search
WordPress Plugin Keyword Search
  Once you have typed in TinyMCE and hit enter in the search bar, you should see the TinyMCE Advanced Plugin. 
WordPress TinyMCE Advanced Plugin Found
WordPress Plugin Found
  Click on the Install Now Button, then click on the Activate Plugin Link. You will next need to select the editing options you want to add to your post and page editing area. This Plugin has added a dashboard menu item for TinyMCE Advanced under the Settings Dashboard Item. Click on Settings on the dashboard, and then TinyMCE Advanced to begin the setup.
WordPress TinyMCE Advanced Adding Unused
WordPress TinyMCE Advanced Editor Settings | Adding
  Here we will simply drag and drop the buttons which are located under the unused buttons section to the Editor Section.  I would suggest adding all the available features.  Save your changes when done.  I would not select any of the advanced options at this time unless you feel very strongly about your formats loaded with your theme.  If so, the select to load the CSS classes used in the Editor-style.css but know that you will then need to go to the text tab and need to get into the nitty-gritty of HTML if you want to add any fonts other than those which your theme says are okay.  After saving the settings,  go back into edit a Post or a Page from the dashboard, and take a look at your expanded editing options.    It is important to note that editing behaves the same for pages as it does posts with respect to the editing options we have just added.  Below is an example of our newly expanded options. 
WordPress Editor Settings Expanded
WordPress Editor Settings Added with TInyMCE Advanced Plugin
  Next we will install the TinyMCE Spellcheck.  Go back to the Plugins on your Dashboard and select Add New.  From here search for keyword TinyMCE Spellcheck.  Once found, hit install Plugin, then activate, you will have completed the setup for this plugin.  You may confirm this by going to your post or page edit or adding area and note that the spellcheck editing feature has now been added to your editing settings. 
WordPress TinyMCE SpellCheck Plugin
WordPress Adding Spellcheck Option with TinyMCE Spellcheck Plugin
Now you are all set to expand your editing abilities for posts and pages and you have some basic knowledge about what plugins are and how to  find and install plugins.     

How to Decide if a Plugin Should be Installed                

To evaluate a potential plugin, I look at how many installations there are already for that plugin and whether or not the plugin is compatible with my current version of WordPress.   These two items are the must have’s for a plugin to be considered.
WordPress Plugin Selection Criteria
WordPress Add Plugin Criteria
Next, I will look at the ratings of the plugin by clicking on more details within the plugin add new display screen.  This will show you how may people have given this plugin a 5 star, 4 star, or lesser start rating.   This should be enough information to go on to move forward, but if you have a particular need to see some specific detailed information; you can also take a deep dive into the types of issues which others have reported when using this plugin.  

What Can Go Wrong When Installing a Plugin

Sometimes you might take a chance on a plugin and install it only to have it fail.  You might wonder, how will I know if It fails? Unfortunately, a failure of a plugin will be really obvious.  It will break your site.  It will show up typically as a screen that has a lot of orange and code words on it like the one below.  Typically, with a plugin failure, you can simply scroll down below this table of information and find and deactivate the plugin.  This should cure most ills with failed plugins.    
WordPress Broken
Plugin Site Break Example for WordPress
If you ever experienced this sort of problem, you will know why it is so important to work with and install those plugins which are
1.) Highly used by a large number of WordPress Sites. 2.) Compatible with your WordPress version. 3.)  Recieved the highest  ratings. These three pre-checks can save you a bit of grief when adding plugins to your site.   
You might also Google with a search for “the best plugin to …” and add whatever function you might be looking to add.  There are numerous WordPress bloggers in the community who write about the best they have found.  Stand on the shoulders of giants and learn from what they have to say about these plugins.      

Why Use WordPress, Anyway?

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WordPress for Web Site Building

Written by Becky Bruso

A while back I wrote a short article with a link to support why WordPress is suitable to use as a tool to build any web site.  This earlier article can be found at this link. Today, I want to elaborate on this and talk more about why WordPress is a great tool to use to build your web site.

WordPress Helps You Stand on the Shoulder of Giants

I have always been a believer in finding what already works and leveraging this.  Especially when it comes to building code for a web site.  The decision factor for me has always come down to this:

Should I spend hours to try to learn to code this by hand? 

or

Can I find code which already exists to handle this task?

The cost benefit analysis is clear: finding and leveraging what already works allows me (and you) to move on to other tasks that need my (your) attention. And as we all know, in a solopreneur or self-employed or small business, these to-dos are many and never-ending.

Expert Support for Leverage of WordPress

003871673_Female Rock ClimberI recently listened to a podcast by Seth Price,VP of Sales & Marketing at Placester ( providing social media and content marketing advice and counsel to tens of thousands of real estate professionals & brands) on October 13, 25015. In this session, Seth inteviewed Michael Brenner, Head of Content Strategy at NewsCred and formerly of SAP, (find out more about Seth this podcast  here. ) This episode was jam-packed with tons of content marketing know how, tips, and insights which I would encourage you to go listen to or read about. For this writing, I want to hone in on what Michael said about WordPress.  He really framed some hardline figures about the real dollar savings you get when you leverage an existing solid long-standing community based software tool like WordPress. Micheal Brenner nailed the concept of standing on the shoulder of giants when he explained about content management tools.
WordPress has a decade of experience with over one million lines of code in place, in an open source fashion. The cost of entry for a publishing platform such as WordPress is so high. It would cost over 2 million dollars to reinvent the wheel and replicate what WordPress already has in place. LEVERAGE LEVERAGE LEVERAGE!! -Michael Brenner
Unless you have the money to reinvent the wheel, the best return for you money is to take Michael’s advice.  I have always thought about it this way as well.  It is great to hear that experts have the same opinions. 🙂 

WordPress Usage Statistics

WordPress implementations W3Tech.com Chart
Chart Sourced from W3Tech.com
The web site W3Tech.com provides a number of statistics about WordPress Implementations.  At the left is a clip of statistics they have gathered regarding the usage of  WordPress by web site size. If you take a look at the W3Tech.com site, it provides a wealth of information published about WordPress Implementations and also has a WordPress Market Report which is available for purchase.  This will really help frame the scope of WordPress usage today and its growth rate for the future. Some good supporting reading about WordPress and its history can be found at the WordPress site.    WordPress has been around since 2001 and as of April of 2015 there were 2,774 themes.  Since this time, there have been countless more themes added. The WordPress community consists of developers who create themes; plugins; widgets; and not the least of which, is the core WordPress body of code upon which all of these elements are built. The core code of WordPress is just like the foundation of your home; it pretty much stands no matter what sorts of renovations you add to it.  Themes and plugins are just such renovations.  Themes control the core look and feel of your site.  Thus, WordPress sites can change themes, just like you would change the paint and wallpaper in your home,  without altering the core behavior of a web site.  This provides an infinite number of possibilities for colors, styles, fonts, imagery and other display features (newpaper, gallery, articles, blogs, etc)  for your web site. Then there are the plugins.  These are semi-independent software packages of code which can be added to any WordPress web site.  They allow web sites to add,with relative ease, functions like searching a web site, social media sharing, and forms to fully e-commerece enabled stores with payment processing through payment gateways like PayPal. The majority of the themes and plug-ins are free to download and use.  The WordPress community who consumes these themes and plugins can rate them in the same way that ebay allows buyers and sellers ratings.  These ratings can and should guide your usage and download of these and direct you to the most popular and maintained themes and plugins; steering you away from those which might behave badly.

More About Web Site Creation with WordPress

From time to time, I will re-post information about WordPress and why using it makes sense.  I do want to caution you however, that it does take some skill to put together a web site with WordPress. Bottom line is that it pays to have someone who is familiar with the landscape guide your way through the various WordPress options that are out there.  It will save you countless hours of trial and error in your learning and setting up a WordPress web site.  
The BizPal Company, LLC is able to assist you with any web site decision from early start-up to completion.  We offer services to either teach you how to build it yourself or we will build it for you.  Contact us today to discuss your options.

WordPress: Post and Page Future Publish Features

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How to Schedule a Post or Page for a Future Publication Date

Written by Becky Bruso

In this post we will explore how to schedule a future posting date for WordPress posts and pages.   This article will detail how to schedule these with written instructions including images of the how-to process in action.   I have also added a short desktop video which demonstrates exactly how to add and change  scheduled posting dates for posts and pages.  It includes audio instructions as well. I wrote and recorded both methods to provide you with the ability to pick which method is best for you to see how scheduling works.   WordPress Posts and Pages have an awesome feature which allow you to write your content now and set it up for automatic publication at a future date.  This frees you up to do other things without worrying about going in and manually updating a post or page every time you want to publish.
Setting aside one day to write, edit, and schedule your posting efforts for a specific time period can free you up to do a lot of other business activities.  This will help you plan and organize your content and content updates to enable you to align with your strategic promotions and efforts. 
Let’s take a look at how to add a future scheduled date to a post or page.

Video Demonstration of Scheduling Posts and Pages for Automatic Future Publication Date

Written Instructions on How to Schedule Posts and Pages for Automatic Future Publication

To change the publication date or set the publication date to a future date, go to your WordPress dashboard.  Click on Posts, then select Add New (if you are adding a new post) or All Posts ( if you are working with an existing post).   The beauty of this feature is that it operates exactly the same way for WordPress pages.  Thus, if working on scheduling pages, click on Pages, then select Add New (if you are adding a new page) or All Pages ( if you are working with an existing page).   The Publish panel section looks exactly the same on posts as it does on pages.
WordPress - Post and Page Publishing Options
Post and Page Publishing Options
  Once within the post editing screen, you will note there is a Publish panel section which is usually to the right of your post or page editing screen. By default, posts and pages are set up to be published immediately upon clicking on the Publish button.  You can change this behavior to be more in line with your individual posting schedule.
WordPress-Schedule post or page
Scheduling Post or Page for Future Publishing Date
If the publish panel section is not visible, go to the upper right hand corner of your editing screen and click on screen options.  Under screen options, you have the ability to select whether you want your editing screen area to be one column or two columns.   The image below shows you where and how to change from 1 column to 2 columns.  These options only apply to your private editing area and not to the visual presentation that your web visitors will see on the front end of your web site.  
Wordpress publish options stacked into 1 column
Screen Options – 1 or 2 column editing view
Now that the screen options are set, let’s take a look at setting up a future publishing date.  You may select the month, day, year, and time of day you wish your post or page to be automatically published.   After you have selected a future publication date by clicking on okay, you will note that the Publish button changes to say Schedule.  Click on the button that says Schedule to confirm your future publication date.  
WordPress Schedule Post or Page Publishing
Schedule A Post or Page for a Future Publication Date
You will note that the button has changed from saying Publish to Schedule.  Click on the button that says Schedule to confirm your selected publication date.   Once this date is selected (by clicking on Schedule), your post or page will automatically be published on that date and time without any further need on your part to monitor or publish it.    
WordPress Scheduled Publish Date Change Button to Schedule
Selection of Date change to Schedule Button
After completing your scheduling selection, you will note that the button has now changed from saying Schedule to Update.   Should you need to change the publication date, you may do so by editing the post or page and going back into the published date by clicking on the edit link next to the scheduled publication date.  Once you have changed your publication date, you would then click on the Update button.  These steps are shown in the image below.  
WordPress- Change Scheduled Post or Page
Changing and Already Scheduled Post or Page
You should now have the knowledge of how to schedule your posts and pages to automatically publish when you want them to.  

What can go Wrong with Scheduled Publish Dates?

I have not run into any scheduling snafus with setting up future publication dates from a web site operational perspective.   The only gotcha I can think of is that you might be creating a draft and be actively working on something which you have set a future publication date for.   This is more of an individual workflow processing gotcha.  My workaround for this scenario would be to always keep your posts and pages that are work in process, as private, and not actually schedule them until such time as you consider them to be final and ready for world viewing.   😉 

WordPress 101 – How to Maximize Categories

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Unleash the Power of Using Categories in your WordPress Web Site

Written by Becky Bruso

In this post we will explore how to add categories and the way they are used in WordPress.   This article will detail how to add categories in WordPress and will have a visual image of the process in action.   I have also included a short desktop video which demonstrates exactly how to add and use categories.  It includes audio instructions as well. I wrote and recorded both methods to provide you with the ability to pick which method is best for you to see how categories work.   Categories are one of the best features of WordPress as they allow you to organize your information for your own use and for that of your web site visitors.
A well-organized web site provides a positive experience for those visiting your web site by helping them to easily locate the information they have come to find.  It can make the difference between someone staying on your site or clicking away in frustration.  
Let’s take a look at how to add and use categories.

Video Demonstration of Adding and Using WordPress Categories

Written Instructions on Adding and Using WordPress Categories

How to Add Categories in WordPress

To add a category, go to the WordPress Dashboard, click on Posts.  Here you will see the dashboard menu selections expand to show categories.  Click on Categories, simply type the name of your category in the box and save your changes by clicking on add new category. I don’t fill in the description here unless it is one which is intended for web visitors to see as well.  I choose not to add a description and document it outside of WordPress since some themes show the category description on the front end of your web site.  This may not be desirable for you to show this description to the world, unless you have created your category descriptions with your web site visitor’s needs in mind.   I also do not add a specific name as a slug, unless I have defined a need to do so.  One will automatically be assigned by WordPress anyway.
WordPress Add New Category
Add a Category

How to Assign a Category to a Post

Wordpress - Assign a category to a post
Assign a Category to a Post
Assigning a category to a post is a snap.  In your post editing screen, you will typically see the categories panel on the right hand side of the screen.  Sometimes this is either folded up or not visible due to screen options in effect.  In the event your categories panel is folded up, simply click on the downward facing triangle next to categories and it will expand to show you the most common categories in use on your web site. If the category panel is not visible, go to the upper right hand corner of your screen and look for the words “screen options“.  Click on this to expose more features for your editing panel.  If your categories aren’t visible in your editing panel, they are most likely unchecked under screen options.  Simply check the box next to categories under the screen options choices, and your categories will now be available in your post editing panel.  

How to Set a Specific Category to Auto Assign in WordPress

Suppose you always are writing about a specific topic and want to set it up so that WordPress will automatically use that category in your posts.  There is a way you can set it and forget it by using the WordPress default category settings.  In this case, you set up a default category so that your posts are automatically assigned to your preferred category when you begin to write.
Default is computer speak for something that automatically happens without any need for you to take action.  
To set your default categories, go to Settings, Writings on your WordPress Dashboard.  Locate the default category drop down box, then select your default category.  A visual of this screen is shown below.  Be sure to save your changes before exiting this screen.
Wordpress - Set up a default post category
Setting up a Default Category for Posts

How to Create a Parent-Child Category Relationship

Let’s assume that you have a category and sub-category relationship for some of the content on your web site.  Within WordPress, you can create a parent category for sub-categories of information.  To do this, you start by adding the category you wish to be the parent just as you would any other category.  Begin by selecting Posts then Categories from your WordPress dashboard, then select add category.   Next, you will need to edit each of the categories you wish to make children.  To assign a parent, locate the drop down box with the parent title, and select the category you wish to have as the parent.  The image below shows what the screen where this is done looks like.
WordPress - Adding category parent child relationships
Adding a Parent-child Category Relationship

How to Add A Menu Item Based Upon A Category

Once you have added categories and created posts and labeled them with specific categories, you are able to use these categories as a menu item for the main navigation of your site.  To add a category to your menu, go to the dashboard of your web site, pick Appearances, then Menus.  Once under menus, you will see that you have options of pages, links, and categories to choose from as potential menu items.  If you expand the downward triangle option next to categories, you will see a list of your most frequently used categories.  If the category you want is not shown,  click on the link to show all categories.
Wordpress - Adding a category as a menu item
Adding a Category as a Menu Item
Once the category you want to add is shown, click add to menu as shown in the above image.  The item you selected automatically gets put at the bottom of the menu list and is assigned a navigation label which is the same name as your category.  You can rename the menu item title to be anything that you want.  You can also move the position of the menu item to where you would like it to be in the list by clicking on it and dragging to the desired location.  Notice that you can create sub-menu items by clicking and dragging menu items slighty indented under the item you want to be its “parent” on the menu.  In the examples, we set up vegetables as the parent category, so it follows that all the other vegetables which were assigned a parent category of vegetable would be indented under the menu item vegetable.

How to Add Category Lists to Sidebars and Footer and Widget Areas

WordPress has some built-in features for categories.   It allows you to add your categories to other screen areas of your web site with little more than a click and drag and drop.  You also get the choice of how to display these.  You can select from a traditional list format, hierarchical format, and/or drop down list box format.
WordPress -category sidebar display choices
Category Sidebar Options
Next, I will talk about the three ways you may display your categories.  As already noted, these are as a hierarchy, as a drop down list box, or as a post count.  This example following in the next paragraph will look at adding categories to the right sidebar. To add categories to other areas of your site, go to the dashboard, select Appearance, Widgets.    The image to the left shows the three options you have to select from.  You will have the option to place categories on any of the sidebar areas your theme uses.  The behavior is the same no matter which widget area you select. The first image beneath this paragraph shows what the front end will look like when the parent category choice was selected and displayed as a hierarchy.  You will note that each parent category is shown with its “children” listed underneath it as a series of links.  In the example below, the uncategorized categories have been included.  If you don’t want to have your posts default to uncategorized, I suggest you set a default category for posts as I described above.  You might also consider deleting the uncategorized category so that it doesn’t show up in your widget sidebars if you opt to set up your widget sidebars as I just described.
Wordpress - Category Sidebar Hierarchy List Web Site Display
Category Sidebar Hierarchy List Web Site Display
The next image shows what the choice of using a drop down list box in the sidebar area will look like.  You will now see that the listing has been hidden until a web visitor clicks on it to expand the categories available.  
WordPress -Category Sidebar Drop Down List Web Site Display
Category Sidebar Drop Down List Web Site Display
The option to display as post counts is just like the hierarchy in that it shows up as a series of links.  The difference between this and the hierarchy is that this option will keep a tally and count the number of posts in your given categories and display this count as part of the link information. Whichever you select and where you place it on your sidebar widget or footer areas are entirely up to you!

 

What Can Go Wrong When Trying to Use Categories in Menus?  

I always like to include a what can go wrong section as the instructions I have provided work when WordPress is installed and templates and coding follow WordPress Best Practices.    Best Practices would mean that the web developer you used to create your web site followed the recommended approach to use a child theme if doing highly customized coding for your web site.  I realize this has no meaning to you as coding is not your thing.  It does come full circle; however,  when you try to follow instructions like I have provided here and your web site doesn’t behave the same way. I have run into issues with highly customized web sites where adding categories to the menu is not possible in the way I have described in this article.   I suspect the real reason behind this is that the web developer who built the site didn’t follow the Best Practices I outlined above.  The end result for the web site owner is completely frustrating as they are not able to take advantage of a very powerful feature which should be part of WordPress.

WordPress: Add a Video to a Post or Page

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Two Ways to Add Video to Posts and Pages

Since video is just another media type, to add video to your posts and pages, you could proceed as you would to add an image. But there are two ways to add video to posts and pages.  The first way is to simply use the media add from the WordPress Editor and select or upload your video.  The second way is to embed your video from a published YouTube Video Channel or other video channels. The bonus with uploading to your YouTube Channel is that you will get double exposure for your video. Your web visitors and YouTube Video surfers will both be able to find and view your video.

Embed a YouTube Video Into a Post

To embed a video into a post or page, you must ensure that your video has already been published on a video site such as YouTube. This how-to only details the way to accomplish this with YouTube, but it is possible to embed videos from a wide variety of sites.

Step 1 Upload Your Video to YouTube

•  On YouTube, click the upload button in the upper right hand corner •  Select the video from your computer to upload •  After completion of upload, set the rights to your video to public viewing/sharing •  Select sharing, then embed This now shows you the code you will need to copy to your website Example Embed code to copy Embed Code Example

Step 2: Copy and Paste the Embed Code from YouTube 

•  Still on YouTube, copy the embed code Link and use it in your post or page in WordPress •  Moving back to WordPress, switch to text Edit (shown in next image) in your page, before pasting the embed video link from YouTube. Step 1:  Change to Text Mode in the WordPress Editor   Editor Text Tab Start by clicking on the code tag from the editor menu as shown below: code tag button • Then paste in your embed code (it looks similar to the box above, but will be the link to your video) • End the embed entry with an  end code, </code>   • Press the Publish Button to save your changes.   Example of Embedded Video in Text Mode Editing Embed Code w tags Example  

Final Step:  Save your changes by clicking on the Publish Button 

And Voila, you have embeded a video from an external channel onto your site!  Like the one below. 

What can go wrong with pasting in the embed code to your video?

In the training sessions I run for WordPress, I have run into some inconsistent behavior when pasting in the embed code for videos into the visual editor. The end result is that in some of these installations, WordPress allows you to paste in a video link and it automatically turns it into an embed code. In other cases, it will not do so.  This is why the method I described here is what I use, because it will always work.   These instructions will show you a foolproof way to handle adding an embedded video into your site from another site.

Other Video Resources for Embedding Videos in you WordPress Website

This is a link to a list some other video sites which can be embedded in a WordPress site.