From the Dashboard Screen, you can quickly access your site’s content and get glimpses into other areas of the WordPress community.

The Dashboard screen presents information in blocks called widgets. By default, WordPress delivers five widgets on this page: At a Glance, Activity, Quick Draft, WordPress Events and News, and Welcome.

Top ↑

Default Dashboard Widgets #

The following dashboard widgets are included by default with WordPress:

At a Glance #

The At a Glance widget provides a summary of the number of posts, pages, and comments on your site. Each of these content types are displayed in the form of a link and, when clicked upon, direct you to the specific area to manage that content.

A statement at the bottom of this widget tells you what WordPress version you’re running on, as well as the current theme that you have activated on your site.

Top ↑

Activity #

This widget shows the upcoming scheduled posts, recently published posts, and the most recent comments on your posts–and allows you to moderate them.

A list of the most recent comments on your blog is detailed in this widget. Each comment that is listed has a link to the related post title–clicking this link allows you to edit the post. Hovering the mouse over each comment activates a menu of choices: to approve (or unapprove) the comment, edit the comment, reply to the comment, mark the comment as spam, or delete the comment.

Top ↑

QuickDraft #

The QuickDraft widget allows you to quickly and easily write a new draft. Enter a post title, upload/insert media, enter the post content, add tags, and click the Publish button or click the Save Draft button. It’s that easy!

Top ↑

WordPress Events and News #

This Dashboard widget lists upcoming local events and the latest news from the official WordPress blog.

Here you can find out an upcoming event near you, or, what WordPress developers have been up to recently, and you can also keep up with the latest WordPress related news. In addition to software developments–such as version announcements and security notices–news about the WordPress community in general is periodically posted.

Top ↑

Welcome #

The Welcome widget shows links for some of the most common tasks when setting up a new site.

Top ↑

Screen Options #

The Screen Options panel allows you to choose which widgets are displayed or not displayed.

When you click on the Screen Options tab, the resulting panel shows the various Dashboard widgets, with a checkbox next to each widget. Check the box to display a specific widget, or uncheck the box to hide that widget.

Click the Screen Options tab again to close the Screen Options panel.

Top ↑

Expanding, Collapsing, and Rearranging Widgets #

Each widget can be expanded or contracted by clicking on the widget title bar.

Widgets can be moved by hovering the mouse cursor over the widget title bar. When the mouse cursor changes to four arrows, hold the left mouse button down, drag the widget to where you want to place it, and then release the mouse button (this cursor motion is called drag and drop).

Top ↑

Adding new Dashboard Widgets #

Plugin or theme developers can make new Dashboard widgets available through the plugin (or functions.php) code. For more information, see the Dashboard Widgets API.

The post Dashboard Screen first appeared on CODIBU.

Permalink Types #

There are three basic types of WordPress permalinks:

Default: “Ugly” #

The default looks like

http://example.com/?p=N

where N is the Post ID number. It works on all server environments, but it doesn’t look as nice as some of the other options.

Top ↑

mod_rewrite: “Pretty Permalinks” #

Using mod_rewrite or lighttpd you can produce much nicer permalinks (see Pretty Permalinks). There are many different formats, but the most common, and most versatile looks like

http://example.com/2012/post-name/

or

http://example.com/2012/12/30/post-name

Pretty permalinks are available under:

• Apache web server with the mod_rewrite module
• Nginx using try-files, e.g. according to this tutorial
• Hiawatha web server with UrlToolkit support enabled.
• Lighttpd using a 404 handler or mod_rewrite
• Caddy using rewrite, e.g. according to this tutorial

Top ↑

PATHINFO: “Almost Pretty” #

PATHINFO permalinks look very much like mod_rewrite permalinks but for one exception: they have /index.php inserted before them, like so:

http://example.com/index.php/yyyy/mm/dd/post-name/

Otherwise, they are the same as the “pretty” mod_rewrite permalinks, and are similarly flexible. Anything that mod_rewritepermalinks can do, PATHINFO permalinks can do, with the help of that /index.php part.

Top ↑

Choosing your permalink structure #

In the Settings → Permalinks Screen, you can choose one of the more common permalink structures or enter your own in the “Custom structure” field using the structure tags.

Please note: You do not put your site url in the permalinks fields. You only use one of the structure tags, or a combination of tags.

To activate PATHINFO permalinks, start your permalink structure with index.php/.

Top ↑

Structure Tags #

You can use these tags to customize your “Pretty” or “Almost Pretty” permalinks. A few hints:

• You do not put your site url in the permalinks fields. You only use one of the structure tags, or a combination of tags.
• Make sure to end your structure with either %post_id% or %postname% (e.g. /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/) so that each permalink points to an individual post.

%year%
The year of the post, four digits, for example 2018

%monthnum%
Month of the year, for example 05

%day%
Day of the month, for example 28

%hour%
Hour of the day, for example 15

%minute%
Minute of the hour, for example 43

%second%
Second of the minute, for example 33

%post_id%
The unique ID # of the post, for example 423

%postname%
A sanitized version of the title of the post (post slug field on Edit Post/Page panel). So “This Is A Great Post!” becomes this-is-a-great-post in the URI.

%category%
A sanitized version of the category name (category slug field on New/Edit Category panel). Nested sub-categories appear as nested directories in the URI.

%author%
A sanitized version of the author name.

Top ↑

Category base and Tag base #

The Category base and Tag base are prefixes used in URLs for category and tag archives, which look like this:

 example.net/wp/category_base/category_name
 example.net/wp/tag_base/tag_name

The default values for these are category and tag. You can change them, but you can’t remove them from the URLs altogether.

Custom permalinks work on most systems without any problems, but there are still some conditions where problems occur.

Top ↑

Using %category% with multiple categories on a post #

When you assign multiple categories to a post, only one can show up in the permalink. The categories are ordered alphabetically. In each group of sub-categories the order will also be alphabetical. (see Manage Categories). The post will still be accessible through all the categories as normal.

Try the WP Category Permalink plugin if you want to choose which category shows up in the permalink.

Top ↑

Using “Pretty” permalinks #

Requirements:

• Apache web server with the mod_rewrite module installed
• In WordPress’s home directory,
  • The FollowSymLinks option enabled
  • FileInfo directives allowed (e.g. AllowOverride FileInfo or AllowOverride All)
  • An .htaccess file (if this file is missing, WordPress will try to create it when you activate “pretty” permalinks)
  • If you want WordPress to update the .htaccess file automatically, WordPress will need write access to the file.

• For nginx, a web server aimed at high concurrency, high performance and low memory usage, add the following location block within the server block:

location / {
            try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

• For Hiawatha, a web server with a strong focus on security, use the following UrlToolkit rule:

UrlToolkit {
    ToolkitID = wordpress
    RequestURI exists Return
    Match .*?(.*) Rewrite /index.php?$1
    Match .* Rewrite /index.php
}

• Mac Users running WordPress locally must edit their httpd.conf file editing the AllowOverride line to read AllowOverride All in theDirectory “/Library/WebServer/Documents” host instructions. For Mac OS X 10.5.x and up this file is located in/private/etc/apache2/users/[your-username].conf, otherwise it is located at /etc/httpd/httpd.conf.

When you create or update a “pretty” permalink structure, WordPress will generate rewrite rules and attempt to insert them into the proper .htaccess file. If it can’t, it will say something like You should update your .htaccess now and print out the rules for you to copy and paste into the file (put them at the end).

You’ll probably need to do this only once, because WordPress does the rewriting internally. If you ever move your WordPress home directory (Site address), you’ll need to repeat this step.

WordPress will play nice with an existing .htaccess and will not delete any existing RewriteRules or other directives. If you have other mod_rewrite rules, put yours before WordPress’s.

Top ↑

Where’s my .htaccess file? #

WordPress’s index.php and .htaccess files should be together in the directory indicated by the Site address (URL) setting on your General Options page. Since the name of the file begins with a dot, the file may not be visible through an FTP client unless you change the preferences of the FTP tool to show all files, including the hidden files. Some hosts (e.g. Godaddy) may not show or allow you to edit .htaccess if you install WordPress through the Godaddy Hosting Connection installation.

Top ↑

Creating and editing .htaccess #

If you do not already have a .htaccess file, create one. If you have shell or ssh access to the server, a simple touch .htaccesscommand will create the file. If you are using FTP to transfer files, create a file on your local computer, call it 1.htaccess, upload it to the root of your WordPress folder, and then rename it to .htaccess.

You can edit the .htaccess file by FTP, shell, or (possibly) your host’s .

The following permalink rewrite code should be included in your .htaccess file:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

If your .htaccess file contains errors that bring down your site (“Internal Server Error (500)”), you will need to use FTP or your host’s control panel to delete the rogue .htaccess file.

Top ↑

Automatically updating .htaccess #

If WordPress can’t update your .htaccess file automatically, it will tell you something like If your .htaccess file were writable, we could do this automatically, but it isn’t… near the bottom of the Settings → Permalinks Screen.

If you want to let WordPress do this, you’ll need to give WordPress write access to the .htaccess file. The exact permissions necessary depend on your server setup. Try adding write permissions for the owner, then group, then world, testing after each change; once WordPress has edited the file successfully, don’t add any further write permissions.

After applying the permalinks, you should change the permissions to something stronger like 660 or 644 to prevent others on the server from potentially having access to it.

Top ↑

Fixing Permalink Problems #

Top ↑

Fixing .htaccess Generation Issues #

If your installation of WordPress does not generate a .htaccess file or if it does not write the new rules onto your existing .htaccess file then there are a couple reasons that could be causing this. Work step by step and continue to the next step only if the previous step does not work.

1. Change File Permissions: You must chmod the .htaccess file to 666 to edit it with the WordPress template editor, but this is not recommended, since if you do that, any user of your blog, who can edit templates will be able to edit it. You can change the permissions to 660 to make it server-writable, which again will have the same limitation.
2. Server Blockage: Your host might have blocked the SERVER_SOFTWARE variable and this will cause WordPress’ .htaccess generation to fail. If you are sure that your server is running Apache, you can force WordPress to believe that your server is running Apache by changing your wp-includes/vars.php file. Follow the steps below to implement these changes.
   • Open the wp-includes/vars.php file using the built in file editor in your WordPress Admin panel. To navigate to this panel, login to WordPress, click on “Manage”, then on “Files”, scroll to the bottom and type in wp-includes/vars.php into the text box under the “Other Files” title. Look for
     $is_apache = strstr($_SERVER[‘SERVER_SOFTWARE’], ‘Apache’) ? 1 : 0;
     and replace it with
     // $is_apache = strstr($_SERVER[‘SERVER_SOFTWARE’], ‘Apache’) ? 1 : 0;
   • Add a new line under
     // $is_apache = strstr($_SERVER[‘SERVER_SOFTWARE’], ‘Apache’) ? 1 : 0;
     and type in
     $is_apache = 1;
3. Users of XAMPP (Windows): Some versions of XAMPP do not enable mod_rewrite by default (though it is compiled in Apache). To enable it — and thus enable WordPress to write the .htaccess file needed to create pretty permalinks — you must open apache/conf/httpd.conf and uncomment the line LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so(i.e., delete the hash/pound sign at the front of the line).
4. Users of WAMP (Windows): Some versions of WAMP (all versions?) do not enable mod_rewrite or permit following SymLinks by default. To enable the required functionality navigate to the apache/conf/httpd.conf file, open with a text editor and uncomment the line LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so (i.e., delete the hash/pound sign at the front of the line). Then further down in the same file there is a section that starts with the line “Options FollowSymlinks”. Change the second line in that section from “AllowOverride none” to AllowOverride all. Save edited httpd.conf and restart all WAMP modules. Your permalinks should now work.

Top ↑

Tips and Tricks #

Top ↑

Avoiding interpretation as an archive link #

Note that even though one might never make more than one posting a day, and thus wishes to use e.g., %year%%monthnum%%day%, links so generated will however be interpreted as the archive of all posts for that day. One needs at least %year%%monthnum%%day%%hour% to target an individual post.

Top ↑

Check for permalink structure #

A way to check if the blog has a permalink structure is:

<?php if ( get_option('permalink_structure') ) { echo 'permalinks enabled'; } ?>

Top ↑

See Also #

• User:Lazyking/Using Permalinks (Saetta Web Server)
• Linking Posts Pages and Categories for how to link from one article to another

The post Using Permalinks first appeared on CODIBU.

Can my posts have URL instead of /index.php?p=76? #

See:

• Using Permalinks

Top ↑

How can I find out if I have mod_rewrite? #

To get information about your server, you can use the phpinfo() function:

1. Paste this into text editor

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

1. Save as info.php Upload to server. Visit in your browser (www.example.com/info.php)

The info.php file returns a page outlining the details of your PHP installation. You can see if mod_rewrite is loaded. Under the apache header, look in the Loaded Modules section and see if mod_rewiite is listed.

Top ↑

How do I change file and folder permissions? #

See:

• Changing File Permissions

Top ↑

How long is the release cycle of WordPress? #

A major release of WordPress happens every 6 months or so. Suggest and vote on ideas for future releases at the WordPress Extend Ideas site.

Also refer WordPress Versions for the chronologically listed versions of WordPress along with the Change Log information on new features and improvements in each version. There are the future releases and links to their respective milestones in the bug tracker.

Top↑

How do I turn on Permalinks, and what do I do about the errors? #

See:

• Using Permalinks

Top ↑

What are Roles for and what permissions do different Roles have? #

See:

• Roles and Capabilities

Top ↑

Does the 644 permissions on wp-config.php compromise the username and password to all other users on my shared server? #

This is a limitation of the way PHP is set up on your server. If you previously used Movable Type, Perl was probably set up with suexec so Movable Type executed as your user. In this case, PHP is running as the web server user, which is why it has to be at least 444. There is phpsuexec but it seems many hosts don’t use it.

However this is often not an issue on modern shared hosts because even though the file is “World” readable each account is set up with a “jailshell” which keeps people locked in their home directory, and PHP can be easily modified with an open_basedir restriction to keep people from writing PHP scripts to read your files. If you are really concerned, you should contact your host to see what measures they are taking.

Top↑

How do I redirect users back to my blog’s main page after they login? #

By default, WordPress reroutes a registered user to the Administration Screens after they log into the blog. To change the page, there are WordPress Plugins that can handle the redirect, or you can set the Theme function to handle it. See Function_Reference/wp_login_url.

Top↑

How do I change permissions for my files so I can edit them using the Theme Editor? #

See:

• Changing File Permissions

Top↑

How do I prevent my images from being hot-linked by another website? #

You can use your .htaccess file to protect images from being hot linked, or, in other words, being linked-to from other websites. This can be a drain on your bandwidth, because if someone links directly to the image on your site, then you lose the bandwidth.

Top ↑

How do I backup and restore my WordPress database using phpMyadmin? #

See:

• Backing Up Your Database and Restoring Your Database From Backup

Top ↑

How do I prevent comment flooding? #

Comment flooding is when a lot of comments (probably spam) are posted to your website in a very short duration of time. This is only one aspect of the broader problem of comment spam in general, but it can quickly overwhelm a moderator’s ability to manually delete the offending comments.

WordPress manages the worst floods automatically by default. Any commenters from the same IP or e-mail address (other than registered users with manage_options capabilities) that post within 15 seconds of their last comment gets their comment discarded. The time setting can be changed by a number of plugins that extend this functionality. You might also consider one of the many broader spam blocking plugins, such as Akismet, or even turning your comment system over to Disqus.

You could also just change the time setting by inserting the following filter into functions.php of your current theme. Or you may create and install a very basic plugin and insert the following code:

function dam_the_flood( $dam_it, $time_last, $time_new ) {
    if ( ($time_new - $time_last) < 300 ) // time interval is 300
        return true;                  // seconds
    return false;
}
add_filter('comment_flood_filter', 'dam_the_flood', 10, 3);

Creating plugins can be very easy, the above code actually has most of the work done for you.

Top ↑

Why can’t I delete the uncategorized Category? #

Deleting a category does not delete the posts in that category. Instead, posts that were only assigned to the deleted category are set to the uncategorized category. Also, all Pages are assigned the uncategorized Category.

The uncategorized category cannot be deleted, however you can specify your default categories for posts on the Settings – Writing screen of the Administration Screens.

Top ↑

Why is there no Page Template option when writing or editing a Page? #

If there is no Page Template option when writing or editing a Page it may because there is no template file with the proper structure. For the Page Template box to be available to assign to a Page there must be a least one template file in your theme that has a structure at the beginning of the template file that looks like this:

<?php
/*
Template Name: My Custom Page
*/
?>

Create a new PHP file with any name under the theme directory and put above codes into the file. You will see the Page Template box appears that includes “My Custom Page” option in the Page Edit Screen. For more detail about Custom Page Template, refer Page Templates.

Top ↑

How can I have a static front page and posts display on a page as Web site top page? #

See:

• Creating a Static Front Page

This is the example Page Template if you want to display one latest post, instead of the Page content, on your static front page.

<?php
/*
Template Name: MyFront
*/
get_header(); ?>

    <div id="primary" class="content-area">
        <main id="main" class="site-main" role="main">

        <?php
        $args = array('posts_per_page' => 1, 'cat' => 1);
        $the_query = new WP_Query( $args );

        // The Loop
        while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post();

                get_template_part( 'content', get_post_format() );

        // End the loop.
        endwhile;
        ?>       

        </main><!-- .site-main -->
    </div><!-- .content-area -->

<?php get_footer(); ?>

See also:

• Stepping Into Templates
• Forum thread showing this in action

Top ↑

How do I determine a Post, Page, Category, Tag, or User ID? #

Sometimes it is necessary to know the ID of a particular Post, Page, Category, Tag, or User. To determine that ID, use one of these method:

• Look in your browser status bar for the ID:
  1. Visit the related list table screen in your Administration Screen. For instance in the case of Posts visit Posts->All Posts, for Pages visit Pages->All Pages, and for Categories visit Posts->Categories.
  2. Now hover your mouse over the ‘item’ you need the ID. In the case of Pages, hover over that particular Page’s title in the Title column and for Categories hover over the Categories Name in the Name column.
  3. Look at the status bar (at the bottom of your browser) and the you will find at the end of the line something like “post=123” or “tag_ID=67”. In these cases, 123 is the Page ID, and 67 is the Category ID.
• Install a plugin:
  1. Install and activate Reveal IDs for WP Admin or others.
  2. Find the ID displayed with each item.

Top ↑

Configuration

Top↑

How can I change how the date and / or time is displayed? #

See:

Top↑

How can I control comments people make? #

See:

• Comment Moderation

Top↑

What do the Discussion Options mean? #

See:

• Discussion Screen

Top ↑

How do I install plugins? #

See:

• Managing Plugins

Top ↑

How can I change what appears between Categories when I post in more than one Category? #

In Twenty Fifteen theme, the post’s multiple categories are displayed with commas between them. To configure the way the categories display,

1. Create a Child Themes of Twenty Fifteen theme.
2. Copy twentyfifteen_entry_meta() function from parent’s inc/template-tags.php to child theme’s functions.php.

function twentyfifteen_entry_meta() {
    if ( is_sticky() && is_home() && ! is_paged() ) {
        :
    }
}

1. Replace ‘, ‘ in the argument of get_the_category_list call in twentyfifteen_entry_meta() function.

$categories_list = get_the_category_list( _x( ', ', 'Used between list items, there is a space after the comma.', 'twentyfifteen' ) );

If you change it by ‘ > ‘, ‘ • ‘ or ‘ | ‘ then you will see an arrow, a bullet or “pipe” (|) between the categories.

1. Activate the child theme.

Top ↑

Why are all the comments being moderated? #

Go to the Settings > Discussion screen and make sure that Comment must be manually approved is unchecked. With that option selected, all comments are sent to the moderation queue to await approval.
Make sure that Hold a comment in the queue if it contains x or more links. is not blank and contains a number higher than zero. If this value is blank or zero, all comments containing links will be moderated.
If the option mentioned above is unchecked, the link moderation value is higher than zero, and you still have this problem, then upgrade the comment spam plugins you have installed. If this continues to be a problem, deactivate the comment spam plugins one by one to determine the culprit and contact the plugin author for help.

Top ↑

How do I disable comments? #

First, uncheck Allow people to post comments on new articles on the Settings > Discussion screen. This will only disable comments on future posts.
Next, to completely disable comments, you will have to edit each past post and uncheck Allow Comments from the Edit Post screen. Use Bulk Edit to disable multiple posts at once.

1. In the , check the checkbox in the Table’s title to select all Posts in a given table.
2. From Bulk Actions box, select Edit and click Apply.
3. In the Bulk Edit Screen, select Do not allow option from Comments box
4. Click Update.

Alternatively, you could run below MySQL query from the command line on a shell account or using phpMyAdmin, or through a wp-cli wp db query:

UPDATE wp_posts SET comment_status = 'closed';

If your goal is to permanently remove comments, then follow the next steps. This is the example of Twenty Fifteen theme customization.

1. Create a Child Themes of Twenty Fifteen theme.
2. Copy twentyfifteen_entry_meta() function from parent’s inc/template-tags.php to child theme’s functions.php.
3. Comment out the if block that contains comments-link.

function twentyfifteen_entry_meta() {
    if ( is_sticky() && is_home() && ! is_paged() ) {
        :
    }

    // if ( ! is_single() && ! post_password_required() && ( comments_open() || get_comments_number() ) ) {
    //  echo '';
    //  /* translators: %s: post title */
    //  comments_popup_link( sprintf( __( 'Leave a comment on %s', 'twentyfifteen' ), get_the_title() ) );
    //  echo '';
    // }
}

It removes the number of comments or “Leave a comment” message from bottom of each post.

1. Newly create comments.php under the Child Theme’s directory without any contents. It removes the comment area of exsiting posts.
2. Activate the Child Teheme.

Top↑

How do I disable trackbacks and pingbacks? #

First, uncheck Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks) on new articles on the Settings > Discussion screen. This will only disable trackbacks and pingbacks on future posts.
Next, to completely disable trackbacks and pingbacks, you will have to edit each past post and uncheck Allow trackbacks and pingbacks on this page from the Edit Post screen. Use Bulk Edit to disable multiple posts at once. See also above image.

1. In the , check the checkbox in the Table’s title to select all Posts in a given table.
2. From Bulk Actions box, select Edit and click Apply.
3. In the Bulk Edit Screen, select Do not allow option from Pings box.
4. Click Update.

Alternatively, you could run this MySQL query from the command line on a shell account or using phpMyAdmin, or through a wp-cli wp db query:

UPDATE wp_posts SET ping_status = 'closed';

Top ↑

How do I change the site admin name? #

To change your Admin Name, in the Administration Screens, choose the Users->Your Profile menu. Make your changes there. However, you are not able to change the username from within the Administration screen. In order to do this you must directly edit the MySQL database, however this is not recommended as your username is not often seen by other users.

See:

• Users Your Profile Screen

Top ↑

How do I find the absolute path I need for uploading images? #

1. Open the below page from your Browser

http://(site URL)/wp-admin/options.php

1. Refer upload_url_path option value.
   If the value is blank, then the directory wp-content/upload is the default destination to save.

Top ↑

Which files do I change to alter the way my blog looks? #

See:

• Theme Development Handbook

Top ↑

How do I upload images? #

See:

• Inserting Media into Posts and Pages

Top ↑

Can I change the “Error establishing database connection” message to something more descriptive? #

Just simply create a file to reside at wp-content/db-error.php, and in that file put the message you want displayed to users when WordPress determines the database connection is not available. That file will be used in place of “Error establishing database connection” message. You could even use the db-error.php to redirect users elsewhere. Here’s an example for db-error.php:

<?php
<pre>echo '<h2> This site is currently experiencing a problem with the database server.</h2>  Press your browser Reload button to try again!';
?>

Top ↑

Modifying #

Top↑

Can I change the Smilies? #

See:

• Using Smilies

Top ↑

How do I edit files? #

See:

• Editing Files

Top↑

What is The Loop? #

See:

• The Loop and The Loop in Action

Top ↑

How can I change the URL-structure for my posts? #

See:

• Using Permalinks

Top ↑

How can I change URL-structure for my posts on a Windows server? #

See:

• Using Permalinks Without mod rewrite

Top ↑

How do I use WordPress Template Tags to change what is displayed on the blog? #

See:

• Template Tags

Top ↑

How do I get All links to open in a new window? #

Put this inside the section of your Theme’s template header.php file:

<base target="_blank" />

See:

• Using Themes
• W3 Schools base tag explanation

Top ↑

How can I add an image to my RSS feed? #

See:

• Add an image to your RSS 2.0 feed at wordlog.com

Top ↑

If I turn off comments, it says “Comments Off” on the weblog. so how do I remove that? #

Depending on your theme, some other message of similar intent may be displayed. The specifics of how to remove this message is theme dependent. You should be able to find the offending text in your theme’s comments.php file. If it’s displayed by a PHP function, comment out the function with slash-asterisks ‘/*‘ and ‘*/‘ (without quotes) on either end of the function:

<?php /* _e( 'Comments are closed.' , 'twentytwelve' ); */ ?>

If it’s simply HTML, comment out the enclosing HTML tags by adding ‘<!-- ‘ and ‘ -->‘ (not including the quotes, note the space after the first and before the last comment symbols):

<!-- <p class="nocomments">Comments are closed.</p> -->

If you decide later to restore the message, you can simply remove the comment symbols.

Top ↑

How do I change what is shown when I password protect a post? #

Hook the filters ‘the_title‘ and ‘the_password_form‘. Your filter function is passed exactly what the filter names imply. Use the str_replace() function to search out the offending text and replace it with your preference (or nothing).
Note the ‘the_title‘ filter fires for every single title, not just password protected posts, so you need to use the existence of the post_password property to know whether to apply the string replace function or not.
Some themes may also have additional locations where content needs to be canged. Next example works with Twenty Fifteen Theme.

add_filter('the_title', 'replace_protected', 10, 2);
function replace_protected( $title, $id ) {
    $post = get_post( $id );
    if ( ! empty( $post->post_password ) ) {
        $title = str_replace('Protected:', 'Hidden:', $title);
    }
    return $title;
}
add_filter('the_password_form', 'replace_message');
function replace_message( $form ) {
    return str_replace('This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:',
        'Enter you password below to see the surprise:', $form);
}

Top↑

How can I allow certain HTML tags in my comments? # 

Use a custom filter in your themes functions.php or plugin:

add_filter('preprocess_comment','fa_allow_tags_in_comments');

function fa_allow_tags_in_comments($data) {
    global $allowedtags; 
    $allowedtags['span'] = array('style'=>array());
    $allowedtags['p'] = array();   
    return $data;
}

Top ↑

How can I add advanced search ability to WordPress? #

See:

• Advanced Contextual Search for WordPress at Weblog Tools Collection

Top ↑

Posts #

Top ↑

How do I upload an image and display it in a post? #

See:

• Inserting Media into Posts and Pages

Top ↑

What is pingback? #

See:

• Introduction to Blogging, Pingbacks

Top ↑

What is trackback? #

See:

• Introduction to Blogging, Trackbacks

Top↑

Where is the permalink to my post? #

See:

• Linking Posts, Pages, and Categories

Top↑

Can I use desktop blogging software? #

See:

• Weblog Client

Top ↑

Can I blog by email? #

See:

• Post to your blog using email

Top ↑

Spam, Spammers, Comments #

Top ↑

What can I do to stop comment spam? #

See:

• Combating Comment Spam

Top ↑

More Information on Comment Spam #

See:

• Comment Spam

Top ↑

Importing and Exporting #

Top ↑

How do I Import a WordPress WXR file when it says it is too large to import? #

If a WordPress WXR file, an XML file exported from WordPress, is too large to import, there are several things you might try to overcome that limit.

• Edit php.ini‘. Some hosts may not allow this settings.

memory_limit = 300M
post_max_size = 200M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 600

• memory_limit: Maximum amount of memory in bytes that a PHP script is allowed to allocate.

Note: memory_limit should be larger than post_max_size, and post_max_size must be larger than upload_max_filesize.

• Edit .htaccess. Some hosts may not allow this settings.

php_value memory_limit 300M
php_value post_max_size 200M
php_value upload_max_filesize 100M

• Edit wp-config.php

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64MB');

See also Increasing memory allocated to PHP.

• In multisite environment, configure following settings
  1. From Network Admin dashboard, select Settings > Network Settings and increase the values of ‘Site upload space’ and ‘Max upload file size’.
  2. From Network Admin dashboard, select Sites > All Sites and click Edit menu under your site. Click Settings tab and incease the value of ‘Site Upload Space Quota’ or leave it blank for network default
• GZip the file. On some hosting services, a gzipped file can be automatically expanded in the background, without WordPress ever knowing the difference. This can allow you to make the file small enough to be fit into the maximum upload size constraints.
  1. On Windows, use 7Zip to create a gz archive out of the WXR file.
  2. On Linux, use the gzip command line.
  3. Make sure that the resulting file has the file extension of “.gz” before uploading it, as this is often necessary.
  4. This is not guaranteed to work, as it highly depends on the hosting configuration. If this fails, then try another method instead.
• Break the WordPress WXR file into smaller pieces by separating the data between posts and pasting the header/footer into each file.

1. Always have the header

<rss version="2.0"
    xmlns:excerpt="https://wordpress.org/export/1.2/excerpt/"
    xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
    xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:wp="https://wordpress.org/export/1.2/"
>
<channel>
including all info like category, tags, etc to just before the first  

2. Always have the footer

</channel>
</rss>

3. In between, add the posts start with end with and check to see whether the XML file you’re creating is less than or equal to 2MB. You’ll get the hang of it.

4. As always, before importing the new XML’s, backup the database of the blog you are importing the XML files to and might as well export XML file of that blog as well for good measure.

See:

• Importing Content
  • Editing wp-config.php
  • Forum discussion on program that helps with splitting the file into pieces

WXR Splitter Utilities:

• • WordPress WXR File Splitter utility for Windows
  • WordPress WXR File Splitter utility for Mac OS X

Top ↑https://help.codibu.com/blog/kb/faq-working-with-wordpress

How do I import links (blogroll) from another WordPress blog? #

See:

Importing Content

Codex FAQ

The post FAQ Working with WordPress first appeared on CODIBU.

Common Layout #

Each Administration Screen is presented in sections, the toolbar (and header), the main navigation, the work area, and the footer.

Toolbar has links to various administration functions, and is displayed at the top of each Administration Screen. Many Toolbar items expand (flyout) when hovered over to display more information.

Main Navigation menu details each of the administrative functions you can perform. At the bottom of that section is a Collapse menu button that shrinks the menu into a set of icons, or to expands to list them by major function. Within each major function, such as Posts, the sub-menu expands (fly-out) when hovered over, and expands fully if an item clicked.

In the work area, the specific information relating to a particular navigation choice, such as adding a new post, is presented and collected.

Footer, at the bottom of each Administration Screen in light shading, are links to WordPress, thanking you for using it, and the version of WordPress you have installed is shown.

Top ↑

Toolbar – Keeping It All Together #

The Toolbar contains links to information About WordPress, as well as quick-links to create new posts, pages and links, add new plugins and users, review comments, and alerts to available updates to plugins and themes on your site.

Tips: To hide the Toolbar, go to Administration Screens > Users > Your Profile, and turn off “Show Toolbar when viewing site” of Toolbar option.

About WordPress #

At the left-most side of the Toolbar is a WordPress logo. Place, or hover, the mouse cursor over the logo to see to About WordPress, WordPress.org, Documentation, Support, and Feedback.

The top link on that menu is for the ‘About WordPress’ page, which contains tabs for What’s New, Credits, Freedoms and Privacy.

• What’s New screen describes many of the new features WordPress current version.
• Credits screen provides some details about the various individuals who contribute to the WordPress code base.
• Freedoms screen describes your rights as a user of WordPress as open source software.
• Privacy screen describes handling of privacy information in WordPress.

Top ↑

Visit Site link #

In the Toolbar, to the right of the WordPress logo, your site name is displayed as a link. Hover over the site name to see the View Site link to visit the main page of your site.

Top ↑

Howdy, User #

On the far right of the Toolbar is “Howdy, User”, with an image of your Gravatar. When hovered over, this expands to link you to your Profile Screen as well as a Log Out link.

When you log in to your blog, WordPress stores a so called cookie in your web browser. This cookie allows WordPress to remember who you are; if you leave your blog’s site for a while but come back to it later, WordPress will see the cookie and not require you to log in again.

Tips: If you have a WordPress cookie set in your web browser, anyone using your computer can access the Administration Screens of your blog. If you don’t want this to happen (perhaps you are using a public computer or a computer which other people use), you can click this Log Out link, and WordPress will delete the cookie from your web browser.

Top↑

Screen Options #

Screen Options, displayed as a hanging tab under the toolbar, allow the user to decide what fields or modules are presented in the work area for a given Administration Screen. Each Screen may have a different set of Screen Options.

Click on the Screen Options tab to expand the options available for a particular Screen, check (or uncheck) the desired options, then click the Screen Options hanging tab to collapse the Screen Options.

Top↑

Help #

Contextual Help, displayed as a hanging tab under the toolbar, displays one or more Help items that are related to the Screen that is displayed in the work area.

Click on the Help tab to expand the Help available for a particular Screen, then click the Help hanging tab to collapse the Help display.

Top↑

Dashboard – Information Central #

The Dashboard tells you about recent activity both at your site and in the WordPress community, and update information.

Top ↑

Dashboard #

Welcome – Shows links for some of the most common tasks when setting up a new site.

At A Glance – Displays a summary of the content on your site and identifies which theme and version of WordPress you are using.

Activity – Shows the upcoming scheduled posts, recently published posts, and the most recent comments on your posts and allows you to moderate them.

Quick Draft – Allows you to create a new post and save it as a draft. Also displays links to the 5 most recent draft posts you’ve started.

WordPress Events and News — Latest local events and news from the official WordPress project.

Top ↑

Updates #

You can update to the latest version of WordPress, as well as update your themes, plugins, and translations from the WordPress.org repositories.

If an update is available, you᾿ll see a notification appear in the Toolbar and navigation menu. Keeping your site updated is important for security. It also makes the internet a safer place for you and your readers.

Updating WordPress #

Click on the Update Now button when you are notified that a new version is available.

Tips: In most cases, WordPress will automatically apply maintenance and security updates in the background for you.

Top ↑

Updating Themes, Plugins and Translations #

To update individual themes, plugins or Translations, use the checkboxes to make your selection, then click on the appropriate Update button.

To update all of your themes, plugins or Translations at once, you can check the box at the top of the section to select all before clicking the update button.

Top↑

Posts – Make some content #

Posts are the principal element (or content) of a blog. The Posts are the writings, compositions or discussions.

Top ↑

All Posts #

Via the All Posts Screen you can select the Post or Posts you wish to edit, delete, or view. Multiple Posts can be selected for deletion and for editing. A powerful bulk edit feature allows you to change certain fields for a group of Posts. A handy in-line edit tool, called Quick Edit, allows you to update many fields for an individual Post. Various search and filtering options allow you to find the Posts you want to edit or delete.

Top ↑

Add New Post #

Posts Add New Screen is where you write new Posts. While you are writing those Posts, you can also create new Categories and new Tags. In addition, any Media (pictures, video, recordings, files) can be uploaded and inserted into the Posts.

Top↑

Categories #

Every Post in WordPress is filed under one or more Categories. Categories allow the classification of your Posts into groups and subgroups, thereby aiding viewers in the navigation and use of your site.

Each Category may be assigned to a Category Parent so that you may set up a hierarchy within the category structure. Using automobiles as an example, a hierarchy might be Car->Ford->Mustang. In creating categories, recognize that each category name must be unique, regardless of hierarchy.

When using the WordPress default theme, all the Categories to which a given post belongs are displayed under that post. When someone viewing your blog clicks on one of those Category links, a archive page with all the Posts belonging to that Category will be displayed.

The Posts Categories Screen allows you to add, edit, and delete Categories, as well as organize your categories hierarchically. Multiple Categories can be selected for deletion. A search option allows you to find the Categories you want to edit or delete. Also remember Categories can be added in the Posts Add New Screen.

Top ↑

Tags #

Tags are the keywords you might assign to each post. Not to be confused with Categories, Tags have no hierarchy, meaning there’s no relationship from one Tag to another. But like Categories, Tags provide another means to aid your readers in accessing information on your blog.

When using the WordPress default theme, Tags are displayed under each Post those Tags are assigned. Someone viewing your blog can click on one of those Tag links, and an archive page with all the Posts belonging to that Tag will be displayed.

The Posts Tags Screen allows you to add, change, or delete Tags. Multiple Tags can be selected for deletion. A search option allows you to find the Tags you want to edit or delete. Also remember Tags can be added in the Posts Add New Screen.

Top↑

Media – Add pictures and movies to your posts #

Media is the images, video, recordings, and files, you upload and use in your blog. Media is typically uploaded and inserted into the content when writing a Post or Page. Note that the Uploading Files section in the Settings Media Screen describes the location and structure of the upload directory.

Top ↑

Library #

The Media Library Screen allows you add, edit, delete or view Media previously uploaded to your blog. Multiple Media objects can be selected for deletion. Search and filtering ability is also provided to allow you to find the desired Media.

Top↑

Add New Media #

The Media Add New Screen allows you to upload new media to later use with posts and pages. A Flash Uploader is provided and the ability to use a Browser Uploader is supplied if the Flash Uploader does not work.

Top ↑

Edit Media #

The Edit Media page allows you to edit the information (title, caption, alt text, etc.) of media files uploaded to your site. This page does not appear as a link in the main Dashboard navigation, but is reached by clicking on the Edit link in the Media Library Screen that appears when you hover over each item, or when uploading media for the first time on the Media Add New Screen once your upload has completed.

Top ↑

Pages – Your Static Content #

A Page is another tool to add content to a WordPress site and is often used to present “static” information about the site; Pages are typically “timeless” in nature. A good example of a Page is the information contained in “About” or “Contact” Pages. A Page should not be confused with the time-oriented objects called Posts, nor should a WordPress Page be confused with the word “page” referring to any web page or HTML document on the Web.

Because Pages live outside of the normal blog chronology, and as such, are not displayed with the rest of your Posts, but are displayed individually.

Top ↑

All Pages #

The All Pages Screen provides the necessary tools to edit, delete or view existing Pages. On this Screen you can select the Page to edit, delete or view. Multiple Pages can be selected for deletion and for editing. A powerful bulk edit tool allows certain fields to be edited for a whole group of Pages. A handy in-line edit tool, called Quick Edit, allows you to update many fields for an individual Page. Various search and filtering options allow you to find the Pages you want to edit or delete.

Top ↑

Add New Page #

The Add New Page Screen allows you to create new Pages. Also see the Pages article for an in depth discussion.

Top ↑

Comments – Reader Feedback #

Comments are a feature of blogs which allow readers to respond to Posts.

In the Comments Screen you can edit and delete as well as mark comments as spam. Comments that are awaiting moderation can be marked as approved or previously approved comments can be unapproved. Multiple comments can be selected and approved, marked as spam, unapproved, or deleted. A section at the top of the Comments Screen displays the number of comments awaiting moderation and the number of approved comments. A search box allows you to find specific comments

Top ↑

Appearance – Change the Look of your Blog #

WordPress allows you to easily style your site by either installing and activating new Themes or customizing existing Themes.

Tips: From Theme Customizer launched by Appearance > Customize, you can customize all other options such as Theme, Widgets, Menus and Header. Also, modern theme has other settings or options. You should try Theme Customizer

Top↑

Themes #

A Theme is the overall design of a site and encompasses color, graphics, and text. WordPress site-owners have available a long list of Themes to choose from in deciding what to present to their sites’ viewers.

From the Appearance Themes Screen, you can choose which Theme will be presented to users visiting your site. You can also view screenshots of each Theme you have uploaded to your site. In addition, under the Install Themes tab you can find and install new Themes.

Top↑

Customize #

The Customize Screen displays the settings that can be customized for a specific theme. For instance, the WordPress default theme provides options that allows the user to set the colors and a background image.

The Customize Screen page describes the details of this feature.

Top↑

Widgets #

Widgets are gadgets or gizmos that allow you to add various pieces of information to your Theme’s sidebar content. Widgets, for example, can be used to add Categories, Archives, Blogroll, Recent Posts, and Recent Comments to your sidebar.

From the Appearance Widgets Screen you can add, delete, and configure, the Widgets use in one or more of your Theme’s sidebar.

Top ↑

Menus #

The Menus feature allows you to create a navigation menu of pages, categories, custom links, tags, etc. that is presented to your visitors. A custom menu WordPress Widget allows display of a custom menu in the sidebar or other widgetized areas in the Theme.

From the Appearance Menus Screen you can create and edit navigation menus for visitors use.

Top ↑

Header #

The Header feature allows you to manage what image is displayed in a Theme’s header. WordPress default theme allows you to preview, upload, remove, and set as default, the images you want randomly displayed in the header.

The Appearance Header Screen describes the details of this feature.

Top ↑

Plugins – Add Functionality to your Blog #

Plugins allow you to add new features to your WordPress blog that don’t come standard with the default installation. There are a rich variety of Available Plugins for WordPress, and with the following Screens, plugin installation and management is a snap.

Top↑

Installed Plugins #

The Plugins Installed Screen allows you to view the plugins you’ve downloaded and choose which plugins you want activated on your site. For information on downloading and installing plugins, see Managing Plugins.

Top↑

Add New Plugins #

The Plugins Add New Screen allows you to add new plugins. For information on downloading and installing plugins, see Managing Plugins.

Top ↑

Plugin Editor #

Using the Plugins Editor Screen, you can modify the source code of all your plugins.

Top ↑

Users – Your Blogging Family #

Every blog probably has at least two users: admin, the account initially set up by WordPress, and the user account you, as the author/owner of the blog, use to write posts. If you want a person to be able to post to your blog, that person must have access to a user account; typically, every person will have her or his own user account.

Via the Users option in the main navigation menu you can set up all of the user accounts you need, as well as change user information, or delete users. Also you can specify your, and others’, personal information, such as name, e-mail, etc. from these User Administration Screens.

Top↑

All Users #

You can manage the accounts of all your site’s users at the All Users Screen.

Top↑

Add New User #

You can create new users with the Users Add New Screen.

Top↑

Your Profile #

The Users Your Profile Screen allows to change any information related to your user account.

Top ↑

Tools – Managing your Blog #

WordPress Tools provide you the ability to speed up WordPress for your local machine, import content from other sources, export your content, or to upgrade your WordPress software to a new release.

Top ↑

Available Tools #

There is a link to the Categories and Tag Converter. The Available Tools Screen describes the function.

Top ↑

Import #

WordPress supports the importing data from a number external sources. In many cases, posts, comments, pages, categories, tags, and users, can be imported.

The Importing Content for a more extensive list of import possibilites.

Top↑

Export #

WordPress Export will create an XML file for you to save to your computer. The format, which is called a WordPress eXtended RSS or WXR file, will contain your posts, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags.

The Tools Export Screen guides you through the easy process of exporting your blog. Take note that the Exporting is a useful method to backup your WordPress data.

Top ↑

Settings – Configuration Settings #

In the Settings Administration Screen are all of the settings that define your blog as a whole: settings which determine how your site behaves, how you interact with your site, and how the rest of the world interacts with your site.

Top ↑

General #

The Settings Administration Screen and controls some of the most basic configuration settings for your site: your site’s title and location, who may register an account at your blog, and how dates and times are calculated and displayed.

Top ↑

Writing #

Using the Settings Writing Screen, you can control the interface with which you write new posts. These settings control the default Category, the default Post Format, and the optional feature.

Top ↑

Reading #

The settings in the posts, or a “static” Page, displayed as your blog’s front (main) page. You can also adjust how many posts are displayed on that main page. In addition, you can adjust syndication feed features to determine how the information from your site is sent to a reader’s web browser or other applications.

Top ↑

Discussion #

The Settings Discussion Screen allows you to control settings concerning incoming and outgoing comments, pingbacks and trackbacks. You can also control from this Screen the circumstances under which your blog sends you e-mail notifying you about the goings on at your site, and you can decide if your blog should show Avatars and their ratings.

Top↑

Media #

The Settings Media Screen allows you to determine how images, documents, and other media files will be organized when uploaded, and to specify the maximum dimensions in pixels to use when inserting an image into the body of a post.

Top ↑

Permalinks #

For a nice introduction to Permalinks, check out the Pretty Permalinks section of Introduction to Blogging. By default, WordPress uses web URLs which have question marks and lots of numbers in them; however, WordPress offers you the ability to create a custom URL structure for your permalinks and archives. This can improve the aesthetics, usability, and forward-compatibility of your links.

The Settings Permalinks Screen controls how that custom URL structure is defined.

The post Administration Screens first appeared on CODIBU.