WordPress Essentials

COURSE TOPICS OVERVIEW:

• Developing clear objectives for your site, and configuring WordPress with those objectives in mind
• Employing a core set of content management techniques to minimize site administration
• Backing up and securing your data and files with powerful data management tools built into WordPress
• Organizing your posts and other site content quickly and efficiently using a logical keyword tagging scheme
• Creating custom descriptive fields to label posts and other site content in a way which makes sense to your visitors
• Managing large collections of images, recordings and video using WordPress Media Library
• Minimizing comment moderation tasks by implementing clear policies up front
• Reduce spam with a few essential tools and techniques
• Selecting the right WordPress theme for your site’s objectives
• Customize the look and feel of your site by using the WordPress Theme Editor and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Designing themes and template pages from scratch
• Increasing your site’s functionality with WordPress widgets and plug-ins

PREREQUISITES:

• Familiarity with HTML and CSS will allow you to get more out of this class.

AGENDA TOPICS: 

Unit 1- WordPress Get Started

• Set up a WordPress site and connect it to a database
• Use the installer tool to install WordPress
• Navigate the Dashboard and set default content
• Upgrade WordPress to take advantage of expanded features

Unit 2- Working with Settings and Accounts

• Specify WordPress settings for writing, reading, discussions, and media
• Handle permalinks effectively and efficiently
• Configure administrative accounts and manage user accounts

Unit 3- Setting Up a WordPress Theme

• Overview of the default WordPress theme
• Select a new theme and tweek it with the customizer tool
• Customize a theme using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
• Create custom headers and backgrounds
• Create and add favicon

Unit 4- Adding in Widgets and Plug-ins

• Differentiate between widgets and plug-ins
• Add, activate and update plug-ins
• Learn how to use pre-built widgets

Unit 5- Working with Content and Menus

• Add and edit pages and posts
• Learn how to setup and use categories
• Add tags and discover other ways to add content
• Set up, add and edit menus

Unit 6- Media & Comments

• Use the media library to embellish the user experience
• Create and manage custom image galleries
• What to understand about audio and video files
• Enable, disable and moderate comments
• Prevent comment spam with the Akismet tool

Unit 7- Best Practices

• Promote organic hits with search engine optimization
• Increase loading speed and evaluate site traffic
• Back up your data and files
• Set up a site map for more efficient navigation
• Prevent comment spam with the Akismet tool