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Megan Rupe

LIS 488

October 30, 2011

Making Your Wordpress Blog Classy

Blogging has become an important tool for librarians and information professionals to

express themselves, share ideas, and announce events. Software, such as Blogspot and

Wordpress, means that you do not have to be a coding genius to create a blog, but such tools also

mean that are thousands of blogs out there. In this eternal sea of blogs, you want to make sure

that your blog has style, says something about you, and is easily navigable. This tutorial will talk

you through designing your Wordpress blog, as well show you a few tricks to make your blog

look nice. This tutorial will set you on the path toward creating a blog that makes you feel

obligated to wear a top hat whenever you are typing an entry for it.

But first….are you ready?

The first thing you need to do is make an account with Wordpress. To do that, go to the

main page (http://wordpress.com/) and click the bright orange sign- up button. Go ahead and

create a site name and user name.

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Go check your e-mail. There should be a nice message giving you information about

logging in. Once you receive your information, please log in at the top of the screen on

Wordpress.com.

Once you log in, you will see your user name in the top right corner of the screen. Place

your cursor on top of it, and a pull down menu will appear. Your new blog should be at the very

bottom of this menu. Click on your blog’s name to get to the Dashboard, or you can wait until

the menu for the blog pops up and then click on “Dashboard”. At the Dashboard, you will find

all the tools to make your blog top-hat worthy. Please go ahead and scroll through to familiarize

yourself with it.

*Tip! If you are not happy with your site title, it is possible to change it (simply go to

General Settings and change “Title” and “Tagline”) and save those changes.

So, you’re all set? Capital.

It is very easy to post things on your blog, so this tutorial will not go into that. If you

feel the need to write a quick post to try out your newly procured blog, please go ahead. I’ll

wait.

We’re going to be moving into ways to make your new blog be worthy of your top-hat

wearing habits.

I. Overall Layout:

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A. Theme

The first thing you want to consider is what blog theme you wish to use. Wordpress has

many different themes to choose from. Many are free, but some do require that you shell out

some money to use them. Perhaps, most importantly, the theme determines what you can do

with your blog design. For instance, if you want to have pull-down menus, you need to pick a

theme that allows your blog to have those. So, keep in mind what you want your blog to be able

to do, although, of course, you can pick a new theme if you change your mind. To pick a theme,

please follow these steps:

1. Go to the appearance menu on your Dashboard menu. Find “Themes” on the

pull-down menu.

2. A page should come up that gives your current theme and the options that are a

part of each.

3. Browse through the themes and pick the one that best fits your needs and that you

think looks best.

Tip! You can click preview for the theme that you like. Your pages and blog will come

up structured in the style of the theme. Don’t worry—it will not stay that way unless you click

“Activate”. This site was clearly designed for individuals who need to make sure that their

waist-coat or corset satisfactorily goes with their top hat. Take advantage of this feature.

B. Header

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A header is the top image that is located at the top of your main page and will appear on

all of your pages. It is often an accessory image, but it is important as it is a way of

introducing visitors to the theme of your blog. Think of it as the feather or flower that

you stick in the band of your top hat. Here are the steps to create a header:

1. Go to the Appearance Menu on the Dashboard. Look for Header and click on

that.

2. Click the “Browse” button to pick an image from your computer. Click “Upload”

once you have selected one.

3. Once you do that, you will be prompted to pick a section of picture to display as

the image. Click “Save Changes”

*Tip! It is possible to load and crop more than one heading. You will have access to all of them

and will be able to experiment with picking one that you think goes best with your entire blog.

C. Background

Think of the background as the medium that you will compose your posts upon. You can

either pick an image from your computer (follow similar steps for the header) or select a color,

found under “Display Options”. Use the color wheel to select your color. If you’re interested

in figuring out what colors might look best, I would recommend consulting a text or site on color

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coordination. Alternatively, ask your friends if they can look upon your blog without their eyes

bleeding.

II. Pages and Categories

A. Pages

Pages basically help you organize your non-blog content. Think of the page where you

write your posts as your index—all other pages are connected to it. You can use pages to create

sections for additional information, such as interesting links (although there is a link part on the

Dashboard that will do this for you) or a blurb about yourself or a list of publications.

Fortunately, you do not necessarily need to know how to code connecting pages with

Wordpress! In Wordpress, you create your pages by going to the pages section of your

Dashboard and clicking the “Pages” section. Click “Add New”. Type your text into the text

box, give it a title, and save it. Any pages you create should appear across the top of your main

page.

*Tip! If you are interested in creating drop-down menus with your pages, start here:

http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/page-attributes/. Here is another section of the site that

addresses the same topic: http://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/.

B. Using basic HTML in your Pages

During the course of my experimentation, I discovered that it is possible to use basic HTML

to further structure your pages. If you’ll notice, there are two views that you can use while

creating your pages: “Visual” or “HTML”. If you’re simply writing more general content, I’d

recommend using the “Visual” view, unless for some reason, you are part computer or are

comfortable with thinking in HTML terms.

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Go open up a new page and then click HTML view. Then using the <h1> </h1> (or however

big you want your heading to be) tags, create some organizational headings. I’ve generally

found that heading tags are the only ones that really work, but I may just be an inadequate coder.

I’d recommend you experiment.

It is pretty simple. Think of this section as an extra cookie to go with your tea. You’re

welcome.

*Tip! If you’re unfamiliar with HTML tags or are like me and have difficulty with such

newfangled technology, I’d recommend http://www.w3schools.com/html/.

A. Categories

Categories also help to organize your posts. If you are planning to blog on more than

one subject, or to use the blog for various purposes, creating some categories is a good way for

people to find entries on specific topics and to help you keep everything nice and organized.

Everyone will love the ease of finding posts on specific subjects. You can use categories in

menus or put them in the sidebar of your blog.

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To create these categories, go to “Categories” in the Dashboard menu. It is just after

“Pages” in the menu. Click on it, and you will find a page that reads “Add New Category”.

Come up with a name for your category. You may also write a description, especially if you

want to remember what exactly the category is for.

If you feel like organizing your blog especially thoroughly—trust me your library friends

will love you and the Victorians would want to be you—you can assign a parent thread to a

category. To do this, look for the label “Parent” and click on the drop-down menu. Pick

another category to be the parent thread. Save it.

These categories will appear on the right side of your posts screen when you write a new

post, and you will be able to tag your posts with your categories. To use them, look for them on

the right of the screen in the “posts sections”.

B. Widgets

Widgets are tools for the sidebar(s) that you see on the right side of your blog and help to

further customize the way your blog’s content is organized and displayed. Think of widgets as

useful little accessories, much like a pocket-watch can be placed in a pocket to complement an

outfit, but also serve a functional purpose. For instance, there is a widget for a custom menu (see

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http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/custom-menu-widget/ ). What widgets you put in the

sidebar is entirely up to you, although, to an extent, your decisions are still dictated by your

theme.

To set up some widgets, go to the “Widgets” page on the Dashboard. They are listed

under Appearance on the Dashboard. Then simply drag your choices and drop them into your

sidebar.

For further information on various types of widgets, I’d recommend visiting this page:

http://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/pages-widget/.

And that’s all! Go don your top hat and get to blogging!

P.S.

If you wish to learn more about Wordpress.com or to seek advice from someone who

doesn’t make top hat jokes, please visit these websites:

http://en.support.wordpress.com. (I’ve included this for your troubleshooting needs.

They also are a decent resource for other neat tricks that will make your blog even classier. I’ve

also included links to more specific topics throughout the tutorial.)

http://learn.wordpress.com/get-focused/. (I provided this link for a more general walk-

through and pieces of advice on making your blog become popular if Internet fame is your goal)

Pip, pip!