A guide for writers who are new to WordPress

1. The
WordPress
AuthorA writers starter pack by Perry Carbonell

2. To begin is easy,
to persist is an art.
- German Proverb

3. What do you want to do?
I want to understand the publishing process1
2
3
I want to understand the interface
I want to learn how to write a blog post in WordPress
4 I want to understand the common uses
5 I have some questions about WordPress

4. A sneak peak
Into the publication process
and what it means to do it
within WordPress.
Publication
How publishing works1 To learn more about
WordPress statuses
referenced on this page, go
to this WordPress codex
page.

5. Author creates content Author submits content for review
Editor reviews the author’s content Both parties negotiate revisions
Editor publishes content and
author is notified
we’re not even
going there!
1 2
3 4
5
The Publication Process

6. Author creates content Author submits content for review
Editor reviews the author’s content Both parties negotiate revisions
Editor publishes content and
author is notified
we’re not even
going there!
1 2
3 4
5
The Publication ProcessThe WordPress Process
Author creates post
When you save a post, you will be able to return to it at
any time. The editor will also be able to see your draft.
Author publishes post
The post will now go to the editor for review.
WordPress will save your post in a pending state.
Editor reviews post
During review, your post will still be in a pending
state until it is published by the editor
Post is in a pending state
If required, you can always modify the post and save
new versions. These will go to the editor for review.
Everyone can see it now
Post is published

7. Publishing process
Author creates post
Author publishes post
Editor reviews post
Editor publishes post
Author edits post
DescriptionWordPress Status
Auto draft
Draft
Draft
Pending
Published
WordPress will autosave your post once you start editing.
As soon as you type a character into a new post, WordPress
will automatically save that post as ‘draft’.
When you initiate saving your post, WordPress will save your
work in a ‘draft’ state.
You can save work and come back to it later. These will also be
saved in a ‘draft’ state.
As soon as you publish a post, the editor will receive a
notification and your post will be saved in a ‘pending’ state.
The editor can make edits to your post or request you to make
changes.
The editor has the ability to publish posts. When a post is
published, it is saved in a ‘Published’ state. Anyone can now view
your post.

8. You write
You publish
You work it through with
the editor
Your work is published
You need to learn the interface
You must sign in
You got this!
WIN

9. User creation
You will receive an email
For example:
Username: trial
Password: password123
URL: http://example.com/wp-login.php
You can always change your
password after you log in
The Editor sets you up as a user in
WordPress - outside the scope of this guide
The process of signing in
Login

10. Your new
besties
This part will show you what
you will be working with in
WordPress, particularly
focussing on posts.
There’s a world on
information on posts through
the WordPress codex page
through this link.
The Interface
Tools of the trade2

11. THE INTERFACE
The Dashboard
Always presented after you
log in
This is where you create / edit
and publish. Some think of
posts as blogs, others think of
it as journal entries, while
others write specific articles.
WordPress is flexible — you
can do anything you want!
Posts
..well, almost anything.

12. THE DASHBOARD

13. Admin bar
Presents extra bits of information for users that are logged on
Admin
menu
You can add, edit
posts here and
upload your media
Don’t be intimated, it’s just a dashboard. It has useful
tools like drafting a post, the number of posts,
comments and pages on the site, the site’s activity
among other things. You can rearrange the content at
anytime by dragging and dropping widgets.
Dashboard
The Dashboard breakdown

14. The Site
Comments
Quick link
Hello avatar!
A widget

15. For images
and videos
Comments
from your
post(s)
Add and Edit
your posts

16. Create and save a post on the
fly. You can always finish it later.
The latest in
your world
What you’ve
been up to
The latest rocking
WP world

17. This is what it looks like now - but don’t get too comfortable with
the layout! There might be changes to this layout in the future.
Don’t worry though, the core functions should remain the same.

18. POSTS
Post example

19. Title
The title of your post goes here.
Main content
Are you ready to write?
Toolbar
Just like a word document.
Publish
Save, Preview, Change
Status, Visibility and
schedule your posts for
publication
Categories
Categorise your posts
into these buckets.
Tags
A more granular way to
find topics that relate
to your post.
Posts breakdown

20. The Title
The
Category
How to publish
Post / Blog
Content
Add
Media
Interface
Add
Tags
Handy note:
All sites are different. Some will have Publish widget on top of Categories while
others will have it the other way around. You can always rearrange these widgets by
dragging and dropping them to where it suits.

21. The Title
Site
Category
Site Tags
Post / Blog
Content
..the result

22. View when user searches the
site by Category
..the result

23. Distraction free.
Writing without clutter
You might want to use this feature

24. This is what
you came
here for
This section will provide the
bare bone essentials on what
you need to know when you
write a post.
As always, if you want more
details regarding the writing
process in WordPress, head
on over to their official codex
page.
Writing
All about what you do best3

25. Add a new post
Add a new draft post
Adding posts

26. Dashboard > Posts > Add New
The most common way

27. Description: A post is pretty much your ‘blog’, ‘article’ or simply an ‘entry’. You can add text, images, links and a few other things.
Posts

28. 1. Add a Title
The title of your post goes here.
2. Add your content
Your awesomeness goes here.
3. Save or Publish
You can save and preview here. If
you’re on a roll, go and publish!
4. Categorise
your post
Remember to
categorise each post.
5. Add some
Tags
Make it even easier for
readers to find what your
post relates to.

29. Title
Save Draft
Select
category
Making it crystal Publish
Preview
Add tag
Content

30. • Title - is the title of your post
• Content - is where your magic happens!
• Save Draft - build your post, one bit at a time
• Preview - you can preview your work at anytime
• Publish - will move your post to the editor for review
• Categories - select one. If you want to add one, then please ask the site administrator
• Tags - like a hashtag, tags enables readers to find specific content on the site.
And remember, best practice is to always view your post before publishing.
Layman’s Terms
Handy note:
WordPress will also autosave your posts once you edit. If there’s a clash in versions,
this handy feature will appear above the post. Best to check your various versions
when you receive this.

31. Add Media is where you can add either
an existing or new image, a group of
images, a gallery, a video or URL.
Add Icon - choose from a wide variety of available
icons to your post. We’ll cover this later.
More. Select this to
summarise your content for
the reader in the front page.
And a couple more things

32. More (author view).
Adding your more tag here cuts
the content at this point in the
summary view for the reader
More (readers view).
This is how it looks for the reader.
Clicking the more tag, presents the
rest of the post content.
Note: Don't forget to preview your work.
More about ‘More’

33. Let’s run
through some
examples
You might think that there’s
way too much theory and
arrow pointing in the past
pages; so now it’s time to fix
that!
This section will focus on the
most common ways you will
be using WordPress as an
author.
Common Uses
Practicing your craft4

34. I want to add some headings
What do you want to do?
I want to start a post now, save the post and continue later
I want to add a link
I want to add some block quotes
I want to add media
I want to align sentences and paragraphs
I want to add icons
I want to control the post using HTML
35
36
38
40
42
44
46
48

35. 1. Create your post.
CHECKLIST
1.1 Posts > Add New
1.2 Add Title and Content
2. Save Draft.
1.3 Add Category
1.4 Add Tags
3. Go Posts and Open draft.
1.5 Add Styles
Starting a post and continuing later
1. Create Post
2. Save draft
..and later.
Handy note:
If you don’t add a category, WordPress will default it to uncategorized. This is of
course, not the best category for your readers. Always make sure to add a category
to your post. If in doubt, ask the editor.

36. 1. Highlight your heading.
2. Click on Toggle icon.
3. Apply Heading.
CHECKLIST
2. Click Toggle
3. Apply heading
Adding a heading
1. Highlight

37. ..the result

38. 2. Select block quotes.
3. Style if applicable.
CHECKLIST
1. Highlight your text.
1. Highlight text
2. Select block quotes
Adding Block Quotes

39. ..the result

40. 1. Highlight text / paragraph.
2. Click insert link icon.
3. Enter the link.
CHECKLIST
4. Select ‘open in a new
window/tab’ if required.
2. Insert link
1. Highlight text 3. Enter link
4. Open in new window
Adding Links

41. ..the result

42. 1. Add Media.
2. Select Media - image(s),
audio, video. You can also
create a gallery, video
playlist or set an image as a
featured image for the post.
3. Click ‘Insert into post’.
CHECKLIST
4. You can also edit your
media by clicking ‘edit.
1. Add media
3. Insert into post
4. Edit image
Editing an image
Adding Media

43. ..the result

44. 1. Add Icon.
CHECKLIST
2. Select your icon.
3. Check selected icon.
3. Check icon
1. Add icon
2. Select icon(s)
Note: If an icon is not
available, you can always
import one as a media file. If
you import an icon from a
brand, make sure you follow
the approved brand assets
from the website e.g.
Facebook brand: https://
www.facebookbrand.com/
Adding Icons

45. ..the result

46. 1. Select word / sentence /
paragraph you want to align.
CHECKLIST
2. Select alignment (left, right
or middle).
1. Save what you want to align
2. Select alignment
Alignment

47. n.b. I am not so sure anyone would
want this aligned right in practice.
..the result

48. Select Text and off you go!
<h1> is heading
<a href..> is
your hyperlinks
<p> is for
paragraphs
and the WordPress ‘more’ tag
<!- -more- -> is for
more content
<img> is for your images
HTML

49. These buttons cover
basic HTML elements
in WordPress
b is for bold (implemented as <strong>)
i is for italics (implemented as <em>)
link launches a hyperlink pop-up
b-quote is for blockquotes
del is for deleting text
ins is for inserting text
img is for images
ul is for unordered lists
ol is for ordered lists
li is for your list items
code is when you want to enter a code block
more is our ‘more’ tag :)
close tags is for closing any of tags above. Or you can
always click the button again to close the tag.
Button description To learn about the editor
Head on over the WordPress support page located here.
To learn about HTML
A good place to start is the W3 schools site. This site contains all the tags
you need to code in HTML.
Another good resource is the Code Academy site. It lists all the basic tags
and also includes the structure of a HTML document.
..HTML and the WordPress ‘more’ tag
The Best Way to learn
Experiment with HTML and the buttons above. You can always view the
results in the Visual tab

50. So you still
have some Q’s.
Well it’s time to answer those
common questions that we
might not have covered yet.
Hopefully this section will tie
together all the lose ends you
still might have. Let’s step
through it.
Q&A Time
I almost have it, but…5

51. If you are drafting a post, the editor will receive an alert.
Similarly, once you have published, the editor will also receive an alert. But this time, they have to action it.
The editor will review, perhaps edit (with your acknowledgement) and subsequently publish your post. You
should receive an alert when this happens — but you can always ask the editor for planned timeframes.
What happens when I publish?

52. Before you do it, always consult the editor. Controlling colour is often
performed using CSS. More often than not, the site might already have
predefined colour scheme. The best way to approach styling is to let the
editor know of what you intend to do and let him provide the approach.
What if I want to change text colour?

53. Receiving reader comments are a giveaway: you will see a thread below your post
(that is, if comments have been enabled).
You might also receive ‘likes’ from WordPress readers (that is, once again, if this
feature has been enabled).
But a good measure of readership can be tracked through analytics which the
editor should be able to provide.
How can I tell if my post
was well received?

54. How can I share my post with others?
We of course encourage you to share the post with as people as possible. You can do
so by copying the URL and sending it by email.
And more than just sharing with friends, we encourage you to share it through social
channels, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other mediums. The more the merrier.

55. Can I modify a published post?
Yes you can but you will have to do it with the editor. The editor has the ability to
always edit published posts so it’s just communication and negotiation on your part.
By default, you can only view your published
post. But don’t worry, the editor can always
modify the post later.

56. I am glad you asked.
WordPress is mobile friendly; all you
have to do is download the
WordPress app and you can write,
save and publish posts on 1 or
multiple sites.
You can even start a post with the
mobile app and finish it with the
online site — simply save the post
(under options).
Note that the image to the left is the
mobile phone view of the app.
There is also a tablet version.
Now you can create magic
anywhere and anytime :)
Can I create a post on the go?
Title
Content
Preview
Options
Categories
Tags
Publish date
Status
Visibility
Format
Featured Image
Available Options
Image
Bold
Italics
Quotes Lists
Numbered List
Link
HTML
Select a different site
(if applicable)

57. There are also Featured Images and Format that you
might have to consider (usually located below ‘Tags’).
Featured Images are described by WordPress.com as
“A featured image represent the contents, mood, or
theme of a post or page. Posts and pages can have a
single featured image, which many themes and tools
can use to enhance the presentation of your site.” These
can tend to dominate your post or page so please
check with the editor before using.
Post Formats are theme specific and not all themes
have them. They are described by WordPress as
follows: “A Post Format is a piece of meta information
that can be used by a theme to customize its
presentation of a post. The Post Formats feature
provides a standardized list of formats that are available
to all themes that support the feature.” This feature
essentially changes the presentation of your post to the
reader. Like Featured Images, it’s best to check with the
editor first before using it.
Is there anything else?

58. Sure, I am here to listen. I would also welcome
comments to improve this document.
Got some more?
Perry Carbonell
@ThoughtsbyPC
thoughtsbypc.com
Perry Carbonell

59. Let’s make
WordPress
great
together
Now go forth and create beautiful content!