{"id":158,"date":"2018-08-23T10:23:42","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T14:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/?page_id=158"},"modified":"2021-11-24T10:28:42","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T15:28:42","slug":"editing-myece","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/my.ece.ncsu.edu\/communications\/editing-myece\/","title":{"rendered":"Editing on WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

WordPress was designed originally as a blogging software, but it has evolved into a complete content management system, allowing those with little to no experience building web sites to easily develop dynamic, professional-looking sites to fit a variety of needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tutorial will cover the basic usage of the WordPress interface to help our faculty and staff get started with their own WordPress sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dashboard<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Each WordPress site is managed through a system known as the Dashboard:  a central administrative page with links to sub-sections that allow the site\u2019s owners to edit content, layout and plugins as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To access a site\u2019s dashboard, first go to the site\u2019s home page, and then add \u201cwp-admin\u201d to the end of the URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will be prompted to log in using your regular Unity ID and password. Once logged in, if you are on the list of the site\u2019s owners, you will have access to the Dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A menu on the left will allow you to navigate through the various parts of your WordPress site. This tutorial will cover Posts<\/strong>, Pages<\/strong>, Themes<\/strong>, Widgets<\/strong> and Menus<\/strong>. For a complete walkthrough of what the other menus contain, see OIT\u2019s video tutorial<\/a> on using the Dashboard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navigation, Look and Layout<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Navigation and Menus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If your site will simply be a blogroll of new Posts on your front page, you may never need to make use of WordPress\u2019 Menu feature. If, instead, you\u2019re creating a classic website with a number of interconnected Pages, then you may need to make steady use of the Menu feature to keep everything organized and arranged properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, Menus in WordPress are your primary navigation. Each theme will represent Menus differently, so it\u2019s important to experiment to find what fits best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By default, every page you create is automatically added to the Primary Menu<\/strong> with its original title. To change this, go to the Menus<\/strong> section under Appearance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A video walkthrough of how to make use of the Menus interface<\/a> is available from OIT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important things to know about updating your menus are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. You can change the title of a given Page in a menu without changing the title that\u2019s displayed on the page itself, so if you wish to use a shorter name for the menu without losing the original, simply edit the Menu item.<\/li>
  2. Most themes allow only one Primary Menu<\/strong>, which is typically displayed prominently within the theme and serves as the primary navigation, letting your users browse your content easily.<\/li>
  3. SubPages<\/strong> are handled differently depending on your theme, so be careful how many layers of navigation you display. If you wish to limit which pages or layers are displayed, activate the Remove pages from navigation<\/strong> plugin on the Plugins<\/strong> menu.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Posts vs. Pages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In WordPress, you can write either Posts or Pages. The interface is almost identical for each, what\u2019s different is how they are displayed in your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Posts automatically appear in reverse chronological order on your blog\u2019s home page (so that the most recent is displayed first). You can change this setting in the Settings panel on the WordPress Dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pages are for stable content such as \u201cAbout,\u201d \u201cContact,\u201d and similar information. Pages are often used to present timeless information about yourself or your site \u2014 information that is always applicable. You can use Pages to organize and manage any content regardless of when the Page was created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Creating and Editing Posts and Pages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    To create a new Post or Page, go to the relevant menu in your WordPress Dashboard, and click Add New <\/strong>at the top of the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For Pages only, if you wish to create a subPage<\/strong>, use the Page Parent <\/strong>menu on the right when editing your page to select the page you wish it to live under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can nest sub-pages under other sub-pages, so there\u2019s no limit to how many layers you can have, though we recommend keeping your navigation to no more than 2 to 3 layers, if you can help it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When editing Posts or Pages, you\u2019ll be able to use WordPress\u2019 WYSIWYG editor (\u201cWhat You See Is What You Get\u201d) to add formatting and even rich media as desired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On the right, you can choose when to Publish <\/strong>a page (to make it viewable by anyone who visits your sight), or leave it as a Draft<\/strong> to finish editing later. You can also add Tags<\/strong> or set Categories<\/strong> to help organize your Posts and Pages by common topics.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \n \n <\/g>\n <\/svg>\n\n<\/span>\n \n Note, if you change a Published page to Draft, it will immediately unpublish it and make it unavailable to users.\n<\/span>\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Tags and Categories are very similar, with one important distinction:  generally, a Page or Post belongs to only one Category, whereas you can apply multiple Tags to any given post to allow for topic overlap. Tags are also more easily created on the fly, and appear listed at the bottom of each post as links in case visitors wish to see all Posts or Pages on a given topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For a complete walkthrough of the editing interface, see the OIT video tutorial<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Block Editor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The WordPress sites utilize the block editor–this simple editor gives you powerful control of the content on the page. To learn more about the Block Editor, consult this resources on wordpress.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Image Notes<\/h2>

    Find, Resize, Don’t nuke the web server<\/p>

    Please ensure when you are uploading images to use on your pages (you can get royalty-free stock images on Unsplash<\/a>) that you resize the images appropriately, in addition to cropping them if necessary. For example, if uploading an image to use as the “Featured Image” on a page, crop the image so that it is wide and short (suggest less-than 300px high, otherwise it will take up far too much of the page.\u00a0Images on the site should (read: must<\/em>) be less than 1800px wide, and that size is far too large for any use other than of the Featured Image.\u00a0Please use a cropping tool, such as the free online Image Resizer to crop your image before<\/em> uploading it.<\/p>

    Image Resizer<\/a><\/div><\/div>
    <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Embedding Video<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to inserting images, you can also embed videos if they\u2019re tied to a streaming media server, such as YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For instructions on embedding and an example to get you started, view the WordPress Codex entry on Embeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Further Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    As you\u2019ve seen linked several times in this tutorial, the OIT video tutorials are the primary source for learning and understanding the system to be able to best manage your site and its content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Additionally, the WordPress Support Forums<\/a> are a wonderful resource when you aren\u2019t sure just where to begin. The community is very responsive and welcoming of newcomers, so if you\u2019re just getting started and want to know what\u2019s available to make your site shine, the Support Forums are a great place to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    myECE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The various portals of myECE<\/g> are managed and edited by individuals within the respective units. Each supervisor whose content is on one or more of the portals is responsible for informing the Digital Communications Manager<\/a> of any additions or removals of individuals editing the portals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There are two different forms of permissions being issued\u2014portal management and page editing, and the level of control granted to each portal will be determined by the Digital Communications Manager in consultation with the supervisor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Page Templates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    There are seven Page Templates available on the Oval theme, reflecting a variety of possible use cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n