Power-user editing advice?
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Folks: I’m hoping to find (or elicit) tips for using WordPress’s editing capabilities most productively. I’m familiar with desktop html editors, and with google sites’ quite-good in-browser editor, and here at WordPress I feel like I keep stubbing my toes on features that I can’t find, or perhaps don’t exist, but hopefully have work-arounds.
If you’re a power user, what discoveries or adaptations have you found most helpful? Sample questions:
— Do power users actually use the in-browser editor, or does everybody in the know actually use something like Windows Live Writer?
— The post editor seems really small, so I assumed that people were using the full-screen version. But that doesn’t seem to have an HTML mode, essential for working on tables, and doesn’t seem to have Save. Is there some mode of working to get comfortable with that?
— I’ve got plenty of screen space. Are there particular ways of working with multi windows that make this more productive without presenting the server with colliding edit data?
OK, you probably get the picture. Certainly if there’s an FAQ, or a good article on this I’d love to see it!
Thanks, Graham
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Most so-called power users I know edit right in the webspace. Otherwise it’s a PIA when you find various incompatibilities.
You can increase the size of the post editor under Settings by number of lines. Save? Should be just to the right of your edit box. Tables, you’re on your own with the HTML.
Edit a post in only one window or you are headed for tears. You can always revert to a previous draft (below the edit box).
The best blog for tips on WP.com is http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com
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What do you mean by ‘power user’?
I use the in-browser editor, usually on the html setting. You can resize the post editor box (though for some reason only on the visual setting though the new size sticks when you switch back to html) by clicking and dragging. You’re not using the QuickPress poster on the Dashboard, are you? Click on ‘New Post’ in the top right of your Dashboard to get to the main posting page.
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Hi folks…
rosclarke> You can resize the post editor box by clicking and dragging
Ah-hah! OK… thanks for that one. That’s a sizeable improvement :-)raincoaster> Save? Should be just to the right of your edit box.
… I see that on the Edit Post page (well, a Publish panel with Publish, Update etc), but I don’t see anything corresponding to a Save feature in fullscreen mode… am I missing something?rosclarke>What do you mean by ‘power user’?
I mean a level of usage in the hours per day, editing dozens of posts or pages etc. and therefore wanting to get beyond stumbling about, not to mention wanting to reliably avoid gotchas that accidentally lose content.raincoaster> Edit a post in only one window or you are headed for tears.
Given I can’t find a way to save from the fullscreen mode I wondered if I could prompt save to happen from some other window… maybe a longshot. On a slightly different topic, presumably I *can* edit multiple different Pages/Posts in different windows with no issues?Thanks again, Graham
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Don’t use the fullscreen mode, then. I’ve never done it and I don’t see the usefulness if it offers you fewer options.
Yes, you can edit different pages and posts in different windows with no problems. But if you do that for the SAME post, you’re sure to save the wrong changes and undo what you meant to have kept. I’ve lived that.
And, in terms of power use, you’re far better off making one really good, influential post a day. Something linkworthy. Putting out lots of nothing isn’t going to build your brand. Blogs are not twitter.
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If you use the post editor for formatting, you may also find this of some use:
Which keyboard shortcuts can I use in the WordPress editor? [screencast]
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BTW, gwideman, raincoaster is really, really worth listening to on this stuff. She makes her living teaching people how to use a blog and here you are, getting her advice for free.
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Thanks all —
These have all been good tips. I would not have been aware of the custom of sending $5 to rosclarke. :-)
panaghiotisadam> [faq page …shortcut keys…]
Excellent!raincoaster>[doesn’t admire fullscreen mode]
… I think I’m coming to the same conclusion, especially now having played with the expanded edit area on the Edit Post page.raincoaster> [don’t use multi windows to edit same post/page]
OK, thanks for confirming what I suspected on that.raincoaster> And, in terms of power use, you’re far better off making one really good, influential post a day. Something linkworthy. Putting out lots of nothing isn’t going to build your brand. Blogs are not twitter.
Solid advice if using WordPress primarily for, shall we say, “power blogging”, writing for maximum size and engagement of readership. However, my initial uses for WordPress are more along the lines of collaboration platform — for capturing documentation and commentary on some mostly-technical initiatives that I’ll be engaging in with a small group of others. Ie: This likely won’t be of interest to a broad audience. We had been doing this sort of thing using google sites. However that platform doesn’t support public comments on pages or posts (ie: comment privileges require being a registered member of the site). Yet there’s no reason for these activities to be secret, while there is some possibility that unknown others might find the notes useful and have useful comments to add. Hence the move to try WordPress.
In short, this thread is more focused on power-editing than power-blogging per se.
Anyhow, thanks all for your suggestions, really useful.
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