WordPress instructions are unclear; how do I EASILY find out what I need to do
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Hello, I need your help. I am new to WordPress and blogging.
I followed the steps for setting up a basic blog. It seems that I did manage to set it up. However, it took hours to figure out how to get the thing to work. I am having problems getting it to look and to do what I want because:
1) The instructions on how to set up your blog to look the way you want it to look are not clear – it is *extremely confusing*.
2) The theme I selected does not look like the sample theme shown. For example, I selected the Academia theme, but the pictures that were showing up in the sample of what Academia looked like did not show up on my blog. Also, the sample showed columns for the writing, but my blog showed up with no columns – just straight writing from the left to the right margin of the screen.
3) I can’t find an edit button for each of the pages (I call them “tabs”) that I created, so when I want to change something I wrote, I have to get in and out of every menu.
4) And *worst* of all: It won’t let me write content in each page/tab that I created.
5) And even worse is that the blog is not showing up in any search engine search.
Please let me know *where* on WordPress I can find step-by-step information on how to design and edit the blog. Do I have to upgrade to have this information available? I’m savvy about researching online, but trying to find what I need for WordPress, presented in a simple and step-by-step manner, so far, has been like looking for a needle in a haystack. What I have found is written in a manner that assumes the WordPress user *already* knows WordPress, is a techie (no, most humans are *not* techies!) or is an experienced blogger.
Thanks.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi! I am sorry you are having problems and welcome to WordPress!
Which instructions were you following for setting up the blog?
The step by step instructions for beginners are at http://learn.wordpress.com/
while the Support documentation is at http://en.support.wordpress.com/
Hope that helps!
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No need to upgrade anything – a box stock WordPress.COM blog searches very well when you use good blogging practices
5) And even worse is that the blog is not showing up in any search engine search.
it takes 4 to 7 weeks for a new site to be fully indexed by search engines – and then only if you have something worth indexing
You can find lots of tips at this site – @TT is a long time helper in the forum http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/
You also want to write Posts and not Pages – Posts search much better and put the freshest content at the top for visitors
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1) The instructions on how to set up your blog to look the way you want it to look are not clear – it is *extremely confusing*.
How exactly do you want your blog to look?
2) The theme I selected does not look like the sample theme shown. For example, I selected the Academia theme, but the pictures that were showing up in the sample of what Academia looked like did not show up on my blog. Also, the sample showed columns for the writing, but my blog showed up with no columns – just straight writing from the left to the right margin of the screen.
To add an image to the header, in your Dashboard, go to Appearance > Customize > Header and Add a new image. The image should be 960 x 300 pixels for best results.
For the columns, you need to add widgets to the sidebars of your blog. In your Dashboard, go to Appearance > Widgets. There should be a sidebar called Sidebar: Homepage (Left) and Sidebar: Homepage (Right).
Inside Sidebar: Homepage (Left), the default widget is Pages: Start here. (Click on the arrow if you don’t see the default widget inside the sidebar.) You can add additional widgets under this widget if you wish. You can also just delete that widget if you don’t want to use it.
You can see the step by step instruction here: http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/#adding-widgets
3) I can’t find an edit button for each of the pages (I call them “tabs”) that I created, so when I want to change something I wrote, I have to get in and out of every menu.
If you created a page, you can edit it by following the instructions here:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/#edit-a-page4) And *worst* of all: It won’t let me write content in each page/tab that I created.
As auxclass mentioned, do you mean you want to create a post instead of a page?
See here to learn the difference
between the two: http://en.support.wordpress.com/post-vs-page/5) And even worse is that the blog is not showing up in any search engine search.
As auxclass mentioned, blogs, especially new ones, won’t show in search engine results right away. It takes time and a lot of work, especially if you are in a crowded category. See here for more info on that:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/search-engines/I know this is a lot of information, so let me know what part is confusing and I can walk you through it.
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@criticalthinkeratopmountchimb,
Each theme on WordPress.com has specific features and measurements. Here are details about the Academia theme you are using:
https://wordpress.com/themes/academica/As the others said, you should first work through the Learn WordPress.com tutorial.
In addition, you can find definitions of the jargon used on this platform:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/lexicon/Once you work through those, then you’ll find a lot of help by reading timethief’s blog in order to learn how to blog effectively:
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/4) And *worst* of all: It won’t let me write content in each page/tab that I created.
Please note that you cannot post to a page. You add categories to each post, then use the category links to make tabs on a custom menu to organize your posts so readers can choose which topic they want to read about. Here is an article about how to do that:
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All of these features for the Academia theme have support articles which you can access here:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/?s=search
Delete the word “search” from the search box (top right of your screen), then type in the term you want more info about, and press “return.”- Custom Background
- Custom Colors
- Custom Header
- Custom Menu
- Featured Images
- Full Width Template
- Infinite Scroll
- Post Formats
- Post Slider
- Theme Options
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Also, here is a link to all of the questions you have posted in these forums:
https://en.forums.wordpress.com/profile/criticalthinkeratopmountchimborazo
If you start a thread, then you can find what you have posted previously by clicking on your username on the top right of the forums:Welcome, criticalthinkeratopmountchimborazo
You can also find what others have previously posted by clicking on the word under their username next to a forum post. In most cases “member” “happiness engineer” “them wrangle” “moderator” and so on…
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Thank you, honey silvas, auxclass, and 1tess. Much appreciated!
It appears that WordPress blogging is definitely more complicated than it was presented to be on various sites that I researched, so I will have to dedicate days, perhaps a week or two to learn how to do what I want to do with my blog’s look and feel.
1tess, thanks a million for sending the link to where I can find my postings. I had just posted a separate request for help on that. Where could I have found that on my own? I was looking for something on the page that would say “click here for your postings” or “see your postings” or something to that effect, but I didn’t find anything. Thanks.
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Hi, honeysilvas,
To answer your question about whether I’m trying to create a page or a post. What I want to do is to have pages by topic (e.g., Human Resources, Law, Learning and Education, etc.) and write articles for each of those topics on the page for that particular topic. I already created the pages with those topic names.
I also do not want the page names to be in alphabetical order, but WordPress has automatically done that and I haven’t found a way to change that order. Any idea how to fix that?
Also, I noticed that the pages Home and Sociopolitical have the same look, that is, there is a search box, but the other pages do not have a search box. With the exception of About and Welcome, they show the links for facebook, twitter, etc.
Thanks again.
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Please note that you cannot post to a page. You add categories to each post, then use the category links to make tabs on a custom menu to organize your posts so readers can choose which topic they want to read about.
Here is an article about how to do that:
http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/posts-on-pages/ -
Regarding pictures for my blog: I wanted the same pictures that appeared in the sample Academia blog. No pictures showed up when I created the blog.
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To answer your question about whether I’m trying to create a page or a post. What I want to do is to have pages by topic (e.g., Human Resources, Law, Learning and Education, etc.) and write articles for each of those topics on the page for that particular topic. I already created the pages with those topic names.
Hi,
As auxclass and 1tess mentioned, instead of creating a Page for the topics (e.g., Human Resources, Law, Learning and Education, etc.), you need to create Categories instead.
To create Categories, under Dashboard go to Posts > Categories and add the categories you want.
See the step by step instructions here: http://en.support.wordpress.com/posts/categories/#adding-categories-via-the-dashboardThen, when you want to add an article to that topic, you need to create a Post instead of a Page. On your Dashboard, go to Posts > Add New to create a Post. In the post, at the right hand side, the third box should be Categories, you just need to check the category you want it to be under.
After you do that, you can add the categories to the Menu (under Appearance > Menu).
You can order the categories in the menu however you want by dragging and dropping so it does not need to be alphabetical.
Let me know if you run into any problems with these steps.
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Also, I noticed that the pages Home and Sociopolitical have the same look, that is, there is a search box, but the other pages do not have a search box. With the exception of About and Welcome, they show the links for facebook, twitter, etc.
I see the search box in every page so I think you already figured out this issue. Let me know if you have additional issues regarding this.
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Regarding pictures for my blog: I wanted the same pictures that appeared in the sample Academia blog. No pictures showed up when I created the blog.
I don’t think the pictures in the demo come with the theme. You would need to add your own image as the featured header image.
You can find some free images to use here:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/add-media/finding-free-images-and-other-media/#the-internet-archive
There’s tons of images to choose from so your blog will not have use the same image as all the other blogs using the same theme.To upload your selected image to your blog, please follow the instructions here: http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/custom-header-image/#uploading-a-custom-header-image
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Thank you, honey silvas, auxclass, and 1tess. Much appreciated!
It appears that WordPress blogging is definitely more complicated than it was presented to be on various sites that I researched, so I will have to dedicate days, perhaps a week or two to learn how to do what I want to do with my blog’s look and feel.
You’re welcome!
I’ve tried various blogging sites and as far as simplicity, some are easier, some are harder, but it really depends on your skill level and there is a learning curve to any of these sites.
The main thing for me that sets WordPress apart from other blogging sites is the ability to customize your look and feel (which, judging from your post, seems to be important to you). On other blogging sites, you can’t even customize your design at all.
It is a trade-off because the more power you have with a software, the more complex it seems to be, but I think that’s just because there’s a lot of options with WordPress. (By this, I mean, for some other blogging software that might seem simple, how they made it simple is by not allowing you to do anything custom at all, hence fewer choices, making the software “simpler” to use).
Once you get used to the Dashboard and how posts work, it will become more second nature to you. Initially, you should just keep things simple because it’s easy to get overwhelmed by a lot of choices. Then as you get the basics down, you can tweak your blog more as you learn more and get more comfortable in WordPress.
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The basics are not too bad here – but as with all programs there is a learning curve – would you have for instance tried to format & write a full up newspaper the first hour you sat down with a word Processing program? that is sort of what you are trying to do with your blog here – a full up newspaper on opening day
the look and feel of a blog at WordPress.com can be changed at anytime –
My advice is to make a few Posts for starters and get them in the correct categories, then come back and worry about sorting from the top menu a bit later – your visitors can go back easily in your blog to the earlier Posts – I can’t remember if your blog has a Sidebar – if so just drag and drop a Category Widget into the Sidebar and instant sorting without worrying about the custom menu and Posts on Pages
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Thanks, guys,
You’re awesome, and I appreciate your time trying to help me out.
I didn’t realize that I was trying to do too much at once for a newbie in terms of getting the blog set up and going in a day, so thanks for letting me know. I shall scale it back and go slower. :) I guess it’s not a matter of saying “Let there be light” – and there was light. :)
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You be welcome & good luck with your new blog
You were working way too hard – you should be having fun not banging your head against the wall
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It’s quite easy to blog here. It’s not easy to become a competent web designer and CSS coder in a week.
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