WordPress Basics - Pages
This post is all about WordPress pages for anyone who is just learning about how to use WordPress.
What is a page?
Here's an explanation straight from the WordPress Codex:
In WordPress, you can write either posts or pages. When you're writing a regular blog entry, you write a post. Posts automatically appear in reverse chronological order on your blog's home page. Pages, on the other hand, are for content such as "About Me," "Contact Me," etc. Pages live outside of the normal blog chronology, and are often used to present information about yourself or your site that is somehow timeless -- information that is always applicable. You can use Pages to organize and manage any amount of content.
Let's get started
To add or edit a page to your website, go to the dashboard in the administration area and click "Pages" on the left.
You will see a list of pages already made. Hover your mouse over one of the names to get options to edit, quick edit, trash, or view the page. Usually you will want the edit option.
Creating a page
You can create a new page with the "Add New" button at the top of the screen.
When you are adding or editing a page you will see a screen like this:
This page has:
- a title field (which is the page title)
- a box for you to type in the content of the page (text, pictures, links, etc)
- a button to either publish or make a draft (save the page for later)
- plus some other options you probably won't need often
Making your page look better
The large area for the page content has options much like Microsoft Word such as bold, italics, bullet lists, numbered lists, quotes, text alignment, and more. Consider using these, they help make your page more readable and organized instead of just a bunch of words.
Adding pictures
If you want to add pictures to your page just place your cursor where you want the picture to appear (between text, at the end of the page, etc), then click the image button next to "Upload/Insert" which is below the title field of the page. You can now browse, write captions, align left/center/right, and add the image to the page.
Preparing your page for the world to see
You can preview your page's progress by clicking the "Preview Changes" button at the right hand side of the screen. It's good to preview before publishing your page live for the world to see, that way you can fix things like typos before anyone sees them.
When you are ready for the world to see your work click the blue button on the right of your screen that either says "Publish" for new pages or "Update" for pages that have already been published.
If you want to save your work and come back later to finish then find the "Status" option on the right of your screen, click "Edit", and choose "Draft" from the drop-down menu. Then click the blue button below to save.
