Help

Don't Panic
Here will be some help. It is going to be really helpful!


While we work on it, you could have a look at this WordPress Quickstart for Faculty. It’s written for faculty who are running a class blog, but managing your posts and pages works exactly the same here.

You could also take a look at the official WordPress documentation. It might be especially helpful to review some of the Administration Panels. But don’t worry about any of the really technical stuff — ITS will manage all the software for you.

draft help documents

Help us improve them with your questions and comments

Accounts and Passwords

Login

Changing Your Password

On sign-up, you will be emailed a random password. To change your password to something more memorable:

  • Login
  • Click the Users tab in top menu, on far right
  • Click on Your Profile name to go to “Your Profile and Personal Options”
  • Change password at bottom.
  • You mush enter your new password twice.
  • Note: The Good/Bad tool measures the strength of your password, but it’s role is only advisory. (However it’s advice is useful.)

Lost Password

  • On the login screen below the login window, click on “Lost your password?”
  • Enter your user name or your email.
  • You will receive a new random password to the email address you are registered with.
  • Note: Because it is machine generated, this email could end up in your spam folder.

Creating and Editing Content

Posts vs Pages

There are two ways you can add new content into your Wordpress site: as a “post” and as a “page.” These terms are a little confusing, since the result of both is a web page, so

Posts are used for news updates and blogging. They’re archived chronologically based on the day they were published, and are also indexed by Categories and Tags. Because they’re archived in several ways, posts are ideal when you’re publishing very frequently, or when you want to publish a large number of separate pieces.

Static ages are stored without categories or chronological order. They are only indexed by the URL you give them. This makes static pages useful for publishing smaller sites, with information that doesn’t change very often.

If you’re using your site mostly as a small collection of unchanging web pages (a “normal” old school website, if you will), then you’ll mostly be editing static pages. When writing new content, Wordpress defaults to writing a post, so check to make sure you’re writing a Page

The Visual editor vs The HTML editor

Editing an existing page or post

Adding Images

Making a new page

Writing a new blog/news post

Customizing your Site

Home page

Making the blog your home page

Making a sub-page

Sidebar Widgets

Changing the theme

Custom designs