Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Using Wordpress To Set Up Your New Blog

By Don Bethune

The popularity of WordPress, commonly called WP by frequent users, has grown recently as this content management system becomes the best and easiest way to post blog content. Due to the use of PHP and HTML coding, some feel intimidated using it, especially those how really donat know anything about web page coding. If you just take a little time to learn the basics, however, WordPress is a lot easier than you might think.

There are two basic components to WordPress, the free blogging service and a self hosted element. If you do not know anything about HTML coding, or if you donat have access to PHO or MySQL resources, you would probably want to use the hosting service, and an account can be set up in minutes. When you use the free hosting service, you donat need to know anything about coding at all!

If, however, you are more familiar with coding, you can use your own host and take advantage of the well-known a5 minute installationa that WordPress offers. The items you will need are a ready database and the ability to set up access with user names. If you encounter any problems either while downloading the software or while it is being used, you can get help by checking out the Codex or the user forum.

Once a user sets up WordPress, he can begin to customize his new blog (short for weblog) or begin posting right away. Use of the control panel, known as the dashboard, of both the hosted WP blogs and the WP script is similar and users will be able to switch between the two. Although blogs hosted in WordPress.com will not have all the features of WP the script, they both share the same basic functions.

Once you set up your dashboard, you can begin posting right away. There are several links available on every navigational bar: Write, Manage, Design, and Comments. When you click on awrite,a you will be taken to a posting page that offers you a variety of formats. It will resemble an email text editor, and you can choose different fonts and styles. You will also be allowed to insert pictures and web links. For those new to blogging, you can also just type in the text without doing anything else.

It is not necessary for new users to know anything about coding in order to create posts. For those who are more experienced, however, they will have the ability to create HTML codes through WordPress. Instead of just typing in text on the posting page, you can select HTML tags, and the visual editor will apply your choices. If you make an error in your code, WrodPress will automatically correct it, but your format may not be exactly what you wanted. So take care to input the correct codes, and be sure to remember which mode you are working in so you donat end up with codes that need to be cleaned up later.

After youave typed up your new post, simply hit the apublisha button and your text hits the internet immediately. You can refresh your page and see the posting right then. If you would rather save the post for posting later, just hit the asavea button instead, and WordPress will not post the text right away, allowing you to come back and edit it later.

Publishing a post on a blog hosted at WordPress.com or on a blog using the self hosted WordPress script is easy as well as efficient, once the blog is set up, and users will quickly become adept at doing so with a little practice. - 15359

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