Last week we discussed things to do after you finish installing WordPress, and one of the items on the list was installing a theme. So to follow up, this week I’m going to explain how to choose the right theme for your site. This is a popular topic at WordCamps everywhere, and speakers take a variety of different approaches to discussing it, however I feel like the majority of them miss the most important part — a part you’ll know by the end of this article. In the world of WordPress, there are two different types of themes: Free and premium. While our focus is […]
After the Install: Version 4.0
Having had the privilege to speak at numerous WordCamps over the last few years, one of the presentations I’ve done, which has always been well received, is called “After the Install.” I retired it after about 1.5 years, but the editor here at Torque decided it would be a good time to revise it in a written format, and I readily agreed. So before you get behind the wheel of your freshly installed WordPress site, and while it still has that new install smell, here’s a list of a few things you should do. One last little thing before we […]
The Ultimate Guide to Pages, Posts, Categories, and Tags
WordPress, by default, provides two basic types of content: pages and posts. For the majority of users, that is all they’ll ever need. Every semester in my class, I notice a great deal of confusion when it comes to differentiating between pages and posts, and then categories and tags. So, in this article we are going to clearly define the differences, and show you when you should (and shouldn’t) be using each. As mentioned previously, WordPress offers two main types of content for your website, pages, and posts. These are the main methods by which your content is displayed to […]
Understanding User Roles for WordPress Beginners
Off the shelf, WordPress allows you to assign a number of different user roles to people who use your website in one capacity or another. Now for the newest of users, this may not seem like such a big deal, but after a catastrophic event — like the office manager accidentally wiping out the company website right before the president gives a big press conference and directs everyone to your site to get all the details on your new, game-changing product — maybe you’ll understand its significance. But, if that person had only a certain level of access to the website and wasn’t […]
What to Expect from Your First WordCamp
With fall right around the corner here in North America (I know it feels way too soon), it seems that WordCamp season kicks into high gear. This year is no exception—with over 20 WordCamps currently scheduled to happen between the end of August and the beginning of December. And with all those WordCamps, comes lots of knowledge, confusion, and sometimes frustration for a first time attendee. That alone could cause people to miss out on a great opportunity to learn, network, meet new people, and even build new business relationships. But I am in a unique position to give you a […]
Why You Need Child Themes and How to Use Them
If you’re new to WordPress or the WordPress ecosystem — whether it be by being friends with someone who uses it or by attending your first WordPress meetup or WordCamp — there’s a term that will come up that will in all likelihood confuse you. That term is ‘child theme.’ I’ve taught numerous classes and workshops on WordPress, and as soon as we get to the section on Themes, someone always raises their hand and asks what a child theme is. For someone familiar with WordPress, a child theme makes sense, but for someone new to the wonderful world of WordPress, […]
The State of WordPress Education
In his annual State of the Word address, Matt Mullenweg gave a number of interesting statistics relating to WordPress over the last year. Some were good, but others, not so good. On the “good” side of the ledger was the increase, of 2.2%, of total sites now using WordPress, a number that brings usage up to 18.9%. He also mentioned that overall awareness of the WordPress brand in the USA is at 29.3%—very impressive. But the stat that really stood out to me was on the opposite side of the spectrum, the “not good” side of the ledger: Of the […]
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