A step-by-step guide for using WordPress

Creating a blog at UMW Blogs
To create your own blog on UMW Blogs go to the sign-up page and enter a username and e-mail address (you must use your UMW email). Once you have done this, you should receive two e-mails: the first will confirm your account and the second will include your login and password.

Creating more than one blog at UMW Blogs
Keep in mind that you can create as many blogs as your desire at UMW Blogs. However, you can only do so when you are logged on to UMW Blogs with your original login name and password. You will not need to create a new username and password each and every time you want a new blog.

Where is my blog? And how do I login?
First things first, where is your web log? Your individual blogs should be located at the address you specified on UMW Blogs. Your initial blog address is determined by the domain you choose when creating your blog. For example, if the domain you chose is "myblog" your blog address will be http://myblog.umwblogs.org. To access the administrative backend of your blog you should see a login link on the main page. If you do not see this link, for whatever reason, enter the following at the end of your url address "/wp-admin" (no quotes) - the address should look like the following:

http://myblog.umwblogs.org/wp-admin

Once you've done this, you will see two fields asking for your login and password, as pictured below.



Login and you should be taken directly to your administrative backend.

Changing Your Password

 * The first thing you should do after creating your blog and logging in is change your password to something you'll remember.
 * You can do this from the Dashboard of your blog. You should see a link that reads "Update your profile or change your password," click on it to be taken to your account profile. You can also do this from the Users tab --> Profile subtab.

The Dashboard
Once you click the “login” button, you will be brought to the Dashboard. This is the default starting page of the administrative backend. From here you can click on several different tabs that will bring you to various pages wherein you can post new articles, edit your own posts or comments, update your user profile, and view your blog, etc. This Tab allows you an overview of the recent postings, comment activity, as well as providing several links to recent news about WordPress (often containing useful info about updates, features, as well as more general information about this open source community).

Write Tab
This tab is probably the one you'll use the most. This is where blog posts are written and published. This is also where you can create individual static pages. This may be the most important tab of your blog because it is where you write posts and create pages, the very essence of any vital blog. The Write Post and Write Page tabs (which are the two subtabs of the Write tab) allow you, as you might expect, to write a post (or an article for the blog) or create a static page that is distinct from the blog posts because they remain outside of the blog's reverse chronology (most recent post at the top of the front page). Both of these tabs have the same layout and provide you with similar (but not identical) options on the right-hand sidebar.

For a more in-depth discussion of writing posts and pages and the options you have for each watch a more detailed tutorial here.

Manage Tab
This is where you can edit your posts and pages; manage your uploads (keep in mind you can not upload from the Upload subtab -uploads can only be accomplished from the write post/page subtab); create and manage your categories; import content from a variety of different blogging platforms; and export your blog content to an XML file than can be uploaded to another free hosted blog or one that you yourself host.

For an in depth discussion of both the Manage and Options tabs watch the video tutorial available here.

Comments Tab
The comments tab is relatively straightforward. This is where you can mange, moderate, or delete any comments you receive on your blog. To estblish the settings for comments or turn off comments you need to go to the Options tab -->Discussion subtab (this is where all of the settings for writing, reading, commenting, etc are controlled). Also, Spam Karma is a plugin UMW Blogs offers each and every user to control spam. If you realize that your site is getting spammed, be sure to activate Spam Karma using the Plugins Tab. Once activated, you will need to configure Spam Karma, to do this go to the Manage tab and look for the Spam Karma subtab.

Blogroll Tab (Links)
This is where you add, manage, and import links from various sources. The logic behind the name Blogroll in "blog speak" is that it represents the blogs you read regularly. These are the people you "roll with" to use a colloquialism. However, you don't need to adhere to this logic and most people use this tab to add links to their sidebar and manage them with categories they can create on the fly within the add link subtab. Categorizing your links can be very useful -the default category for links is "Blogroll," but you can easily change this to something else, such as "Links" quite easily by going into the Manage -->Categories subtab and changing the name of the "Blogroll" category to "Links" (or whatever you would like to call it) by clicking on the edit button.

Presentation Tab
The presentation tab is where you control the overall look and feel of your blog/website. If you go to the presentations tab you will see a number of images that highlight different themes you can use for you blog. Double click on any of the over 70 themes available and view your site to see if you like the new diggs.

The presentation tab is also where you can enable widgets for your blog. WordPress widgets are content elements that can be added to the sidebar of your blog or website. For example their are widgets that include del.icio.us bookmarks, flickr photos, etc. Read more here about available widgets for UMW Blogs and what they do.

Depending on the theme, you can also further customize the look and feel of your blog/website. Go here for an in-depth look at a few recommended themes that enable you to add a custom image header and other features. Read more about the Presentation tab here.

Plugins Tab
Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress. There will be a limited number of plugins made available to all UMW Blog users, depending on the added functionality you need you may activate it or deactivate the appropriate plugin in this tab. For more information about the plugins currently available read more here.

Users Tab
You can use the this tab to add other users to your blog and control the level of permissions you wish to grant them. This is also where you edit your personal profile, such as changing your nickname, changing your password, adding your IM address, and various other personalized options such as an avatar. Read more about the details of this page here.

Options Tab
The Options tab allows you to change many of the overall settings for your blog. For example, you can use the subtabs within the Options page to change the blog title, change the time zone, or add a brief description. The various subtabs allow you to control comments, reading and writing options for your blog. This also is where you control the privacy settings for your blog or even delete your blog entirely. Additionally, if you are adding plugin functionality, often times you control the settings for plugins within this tab (the plugin will often have an associated subtab on the Options page). There are many, many options housed within this tab, and it may be useful to read through this space in more detail here.

You can also watch a video about both the Manage and Options tabs here.