WordPress basics

WordPress basics

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This article includes information about the fundamentals of operating your CMS (content management system website) website, including logging in and out, and a quick tour of the dashboard. Your website is built with the very popular and stable WordPress CMS, this secure system powers over 70 million websites throughout the word (over 28% of all websites are built in WordPress).

Logging in and out

Begin by logging into the “administration area” or the back end of your website. Visit your site’s login page by navigating to yourwebsite.co.nz/admin.

Enter the provided username and password, and press Log in. You will be redirected to the back end of your website.

The dashboard is where you can access all areas of the back end of your website. Whenever you are logged in, you should see a black bar up the top of your screen. This is called the Admin bar, and this lets you navigate to the front end or back end of your website.

Logging out

To log out, simply hover your mouse over the Howdy, your username button at the top right of the admin bar. A menu will appear. Click on Log out and you will be logged out.

The dashboard

The dashboard is where you can access all back end features of your website using two easy to navigate menus. The admin bar is visible at all times on the back end and front end of your website (when you are logged in). The admin sidebar is on the left of the screen in the dashboard and has the majority of sections you will access.

Admin bar

The admin bar is always visible when you are in the dashboard, always at the top of the screen dashboard, as well as visible on the ‘front end’ (your public website) of your website only to you. The admin has three main components to be aware of:

  • Site name button – when you are on the dashboard, pressing this button takes you to the ‘front end’ of your website.
    When you are on the ‘front end’ of your website, pressing this  button takes you to the dashboard.
  • ‘New’ button – hovering over this button provides you with a range of links for creating new items, such as web pages, blog posts, or to upload new media.
  • Profile button – hovering over this button provides you with links relating to your account, such as editing your profile, and logging out.

Hintwhen viewing pages (in the front end) while logged in, the admin bar will also include Edit Page, and Edit with Visual Composer buttons, which will take you to the simple editor or visual composer editor to edit the current page.

Admin sidebar

The admin sidebar contains links to multiple options, hover over each button for more links related to that option. The main buttons that may be of use are:

  • Dashboard – links directly back to the main page of the dashboard.
  • Posts – links to the blog posts section – where all blog posts can be accessed.
  • Media – links to the ‘media bin’ – where media you upload is stored.
  • Pages – links to the web page section – where all web pages can be accessed.
  • Commentsif comments are enabled, this links to the comments section – where comments can be moderated.
  • Profile – links to your account’s profile – where you can change your account details, including email address and password.