Just Beginning with WordPress Part 1 – Create a New Post

I’m creating this series of instructions for those of you just beginning to use WordPress.  There will be 3 parts to the series, including this installment, Create a New Post, Edit a Post, and Embed Media in a Post.

With this post I will provide you with the information you need to add a new post.  First things first, though.  To access your site, go to “www.yourdomainname.com/wp-admin”.   The page you see will look like this:

You will have received an email that contain your username and password.  Enter these in their fields and click “Log In”.  If, at any time, you cannot remember your username or password click “Lost your password?” below the sign in box.  This will take you to a screen that will allow you to reset your password with your email address.

Once you’ve signed in successfully you will see the WordPress Dashboard.  It looks like this:

From here, and most all pages, you can access the menu on the left side.  At or near the top, you can see “Posts”.  If you click on it, a page with all the posts will be displayed.  If you click the arrow next to the word “Posts” a submenu will appear.  From there you can click “Add New” and go to the screen to enter your new post.  It will look like this:

Now we’ll break it down a little to help you understand all the pieces that you’ll want to pay attention to.

First your title – By default, what you type here will be the headline for your post.  It will also be part of the URL.

Below the title field is the content box.

The red box is around the formatting options for what you type in the box.  The options are pretty standard.  You can highlight the text you want to format and make it bold, italic or struckthrough.  You can also make a bulleted or numbered list.  You can also left, center or right align the text.   If you would like more formatting options click the last button – “Show/Hide the kitchen sink”.  Another level of formatting options will appear.   (If you find that the area is too small for you to see comfortably, you can click, hold and drag down as much as you like, the red circled area to expand the box.  This just affects the editor and will not impact the post at all.)

In the right side menu toward the bottom, there is a box labeled “Categories”.  If you don’t choose a category, by default, WordPress will assign “Uncategorized” as the category.  If you are unsure of the category to assign, you should check with the owner of the website.  If you are the owner of the website, consider creating categories for the types of content you will be typically be entering.  To add a category, click  the “+Add New Category” at the bottom of the category box.

To Create a New Post:
1.) Type the title of the post.
2.) Enter the text you would like and format it.
3.) Choose the category for the post.
4.) Click the blue “Publish” button in the upper right side.

Some tips:
– If you are cutting and pasting from MS Word or Outlook, make sure to paste the text into Notepad or Wordpad first.  This will remove all the current formatting, but also all the extra code that can sometimes cause display errors.
– You do not have to publish a post to save it.  Above the “Publish” button is a “Save Draft” button.  This will save the post until you decide to publish it.
– There is a “Preview” button as well, so you can see what the post will look like before you decide to publish it.

If you have any questions about this tutorial please leave a comment.  I’d like to make this as clear and simple to understand as possible, so the more feedback, the better!