WORDPRESS ESSENTIALS

September 27th, 2020Asad Ansari

WordPress, what’s the fuss? 😕

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● The most popular, free, and open-source content management system (CMS). Powers almost 38% of all websites.1

● Has a very low learning curve but it is very powerful.

● Companies like Disney, Microsoft, Sony, and Target use WordPress for some of their websites.2

● You are here already, so I don’t need to convince you. Let’s get started! 😉

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Getting started with WordPress + Bitnami 💕

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● Bitnami provides a one-click install solution for

WordPress.

● This enables you to run WordPress locally on your

computer without having to learn how to setup a server

and install complicated software.

● Having a local copy of WordPress will enable you to

explore the platform without worrying about

compromising a live website.

● You can also sign up for a WordPress website at

https://wordpress.com/ but this has limitations that can

only be overcome by paying for hosting and a domain. The

bitnami solution is free and gives you complete control!5

● To get started go to https://bitnami.com/stack/wordpress

● I have also provided a PDF document with detailed instructions for both macOS and Windows. You can download it here.

● Having a local copy of WordPress will enable you to follow along but it is not necessary for this workshop.

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● But we still need a child theme. Why you ask? Good

question. 😎

● Child themes are used so that we can update the parent

theme without worrying about breaking our website. The

child theme inherits everything from the parent theme

and builds our customizations on top of those inherited

features.

● Without a child theme it is possible to run into a scenario

where every update to your parent theme results in a loss

of all the customizations to your website. With a child

theme the customizations are retained and the updates

are inherited. Always try use a child theme!14

● First we need to download the child theme from the

following link:

https://creativethemes.com/blocksy/docs/getting-started

/child-theme/.

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● One last thing!

● Blocksy comes with a plug-in that enables advanced

customizations for our website. The plugin is called the

Blocksy Companion. On the next slide I am going to show

you how to install this plug-in.

● The install process for all other plug-ins is very similar.

There are some rare exceptions.

● To get started go to

https://creativethemes.com/blocksy/companion/ and

download the plug-in.

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● Let’s recap!

● We installed the Blocksy theme and it’s associated child

theme.

● We also installed the Blocksy Companion plug-in which

gives us some additional features.

● To learn more or to download any of the files associated

with the Blocksy theme you can always visit

https://creativethemes.com/blocksy/.

● Next we will import a starter site and learn more about

WordPress.

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WordPress: Pages, Posts, Users? 😕

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● WordPress Pages vs. Posts.

● Pages are used for static content. For example an “About”

page.

● Posts on the other hand are used to display dynamic

content. Posts by default show a publishing time, an

author, a category and tags. Posts are perfect for

announcements, news, and events.

● A page can contain a collection of posts. This is probably

the most common way of using posts. In the next few

slides I will show you how to create new pages and posts.

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● Administrator – Somebody who has access to all the

administration features within a single site.

● Editor – Somebody who can publish and manage posts

including the posts of other users.

● Author – Somebody who can publish and manage their

own posts.

● Contributor – Somebody who can write and manage their

own posts but cannot publish them.

● Subscriber – Somebody who can only manage their

profile.

Source: https://wordpress.org/support/article/roles-and-capabilities/

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● Let’s recap!

● We installed a theme called Blocksy, and we also installed the

associated child theme.

● We installed the Blocksy Companion plug-in that gives us a

few extra features.

● We learnt the difference between pages and posts.

● We created a new page and new posts and added them to the

menu.

● We explored the Media Library.

● We created a page containing a collection of posts.

● We learned how to add new users to our WordPress website.

Thank you for attending. 😀😊I hope you learned something!

If you have any questions. Don’t hesitate to

reach out!

Asad Ansari

asad[.]ansari[at]mail[.]utoronto[.]ca

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