This article supports my recent presentation at PDX WordPress Meetup titled “Organizing Your WordPress Site.”
Please note that I’ve included articles from ClarkWP Magazine, the student run and managed site for my Clark College WordPress classes, as reference material throughout this article.
Before beginning to structure and organize, or reorganize, your WordPress site, there are some WordPress terms you need to know.
This is a tutorial on how to link to the various features found on a typical WordPress site.
Wish to promote an author your site? Need the link to their author pageview? Wish to link to a specific category? Want to share the link to your WordPress site feed?
There are many times when you may wish to link to a feature or function on your site. Here is a list of the various areas you may wish to link to from posts, Pages, Widgets, and in emails and social media posts to help people find information on your site.
We call them “links” but the proper names are hypertext link and the link is created with an HTML Anchor Tag.
A well-formed link in HTML looks like this:
<a href="http://lorelle.wordpress.com/" title="Lorelle VanFossen of Lorelle on WordPress."> Lorelle VanFossen</a>
It features the link to the destination, the title selector to describe the destination of the link, and the anchor text, the words visible on the page to the reader.
This is called a well-formed or properly formed link as these three items are required by US and international law for web standards and web accessibility.
To copy a link, there are two methods. The first is the most commonly used technique.
Continue reading
WordPress serves as a web publishing platform and Content Management System (CMS). There are a variety of layouts and site organizational structures to choose from when setting up a WordPress site. These are known as site models.
There are three core site models: blog, static, and hybrid.
There are pros and cons to each one. Let’s look at each one.
In the old days, websites consisted of static web pages, one web page for each article. Today’s CMS platforms like WordPress offer the same static feel and structure as a design decision.
The challenge of using WordPress as a static site takes a little thinking around the whole posts verses Pages and categories verses tags content organization options. In general, most static sites will never use posts only Pages.
Continue reading
WordPress 3.5 is due December 5, 2012, and brings with it the new Media Manager, a much anticipated improvement to the Media Uploader and Media Library in WordPress.
Check Out the New Media Manager in WordPress is an extensive article and review I’ve published on Lorelle on WordPress. It features a step-by-step tutorial on using the new Media Manager for uploading and managing your images, video, and audio on WordPress, as well as a few of the unusual quirks in the new feature.
If you have a WordPress.com site, you will be able to test drive the new WordPress Media Manager. Those with the self-hosted version of WordPress will need to wait until December 5 when WordPress 3.5 is released or become a beta tester.
The following is a test for my students to detect code errors. It features Lorem Ipsum based upon the cult television show, Arrested Development.
No… but I’d like to be asked! I’m half machine. I’m a monster. Get me a vodka rocks. And a piece of toast.
I’m half machine. I’m a monster. I don’t understand the question, and I won’t respond to it. It’s called ‘taking advantage.’ It’s what gets you ahead in life. Really? Did nothing cancel? Whoa, this guy’s straight?
There’s so many poorly chosen words in that sentence. He’ll want to use your yacht, and I don’t want this thing smelling like fish. But I bought a yearbook ad from you, doesn’t that mean anything anymore? Well, what do you expect, mother? I’m afraid I just blue myself. No… but I’d like to be asked!
Really? Did nothing cancel? Michael! We just call it a sausage.
There’s so many poorly chosen words in that sentence. Whoa, this guy’s straight? That’s what it said on ‘Ask Jeeves.’ We just call it a sausage. No… but I’d like to be asked! I care deeply for nature.
Well, what do you expect, mother? I’m afraid I just blue myself. I don’t criticize you! And if you’re worried about criticism, sometimes a diet is the best defense. Bad news. Andy Griffith turned us down. He didn’t like his trailer. Bad news. Andy Griffith turned us down. He didn’t like his trailer.
Guy’s a pro. Get me a vodka rocks. And a piece of toast. I’m a monster.
Really? Did nothing cancel? There’s only one man I’ve ever called a coward, and that’s Brian Doyle Murray. No, what I’m calling you is a television actor. It’s a hug, Michael. I’m hugging you. Not tricks, Michael, illusions. No! I was ashamed to be SEEN with you. I like being with you. There’s so many poorly chosen words in that sentence.
On the first night of class I asked the students of Clark College’s first Introduction to WordPress class to explain why they were there and what they wanted out of the class. Here is that list.
As with everyone WordPress touches, it boils down to:
Learning from Lorelle 