Classic Editor Tutorial
This is an introductory website update tutorial for use with WordPress websites. A great thing about WordPress is it’s a very user-friendly content management system which allows room for creativity.
Our purpose is to provide a website update starting point for routine changes. We will follow up with more advanced management techniques in future tutorials.
You can download the tutorial by clicking here.
HERE’S HOW TO START YOUR WEBSITE UPDATE: Go to your website, and at the end of the URL type /login. Then log in with your user name and password.
Once you are logged in, you will arrive at a page called “Dashboard.”
Quick Tip: Posts and Pages are treated the same when performing updates. Examples of pages are “Home,” “About Us,” and “Contact Us.” Examples of posts are information about upcoming events, stories about what’s happening in the organization, etc.
Quick Tip: When updating a Post or Page, think about it as if it’s an email. Both an email and a website update have a subject line and a text box. Instead of a send button, you’ll find a Publish or Update button.
FOR A WEBSITE UPDATE ON A PAGE: mouse over Pages, found in the left column, and select All Pages. Here you will see a list of all website pages.
A CLOSER LOOK: If you have a static Home page, you will see “-Front Page” listed on your page list. This is your Home and/or Landing Page of your website. Another page with a title extension will be your blog and the extension will be “-Posts Page.” This is NOT where you post your blogs; you do that in Posts. This “-Posts Page” will capture your posts and put them in chronological order.
TO MAKE A WEBSITE UPDATE AND CHANGE SOMETHING on a page of your website, first decide what Page you’d like to edit. Mouse over the page title and click Edit. Here you will see your Page title, the body and an update button.
In the upper right hand corner above the text block are the words Visual and Text.
TEXT VIEW is for advanced updates, and most people starting out find the visual screen easier to work in because it is more WYSIWYG (pronounced wizzeewig) which stands for What You See Is What You Get. Keep in mind it doesn’t give you a true WYSIWYG, just close.
IMPORTANT: Never delete anything in brackets [ ]. The text inside brackets is known as short code. Unless you are familiar with editing short code, it’s important not to change it.
SUBJECT LINE: Fill in a few words for the subject line. This subject will appear on the website, so make it catchy!
TEXT BOX: Copy and paste or write the copy to fit in the text box. To edit the text on your page, click by or on the text you want change and edit as you would a Word document. You have an option to copy and paste text you’ve saved elsewhere on your computer.
Quick Tip: Formatting should be removed from a block of text before the text is uploaded into the text box of a website. Microsoft Notepad is a good tool to use for this process. Paste your text into Notepad, then copy and paste it into the website text box.
Once your text is in the text box, use the icons in the tool box to format the text. When you click on the Toggle bar, additional editing options appear. This may look familiar because you’ll see formatting features similar to common Word documents. Formatting includes bold, italic, linking and even an undo button you may find helpful.
You can click Update to save your changes. You have an option to Preview changes by clicking the Preview Changes button.
Quick Tip: Here’s another way to undo what you’ve edited. If your update isn’t to your liking, you can revert to how the Page looked originally by clicking on Revisions at the bottom on the page.
INSERT MEDIA: A photo or artwork can be uploaded to a Post or Page. You can choose from Stock Photos, or better, an image of your choice. When you click Add Media, you will see three tabs: Upload files, Stock Files, and Media Library.
Choose a photo or image you’d like to insert and save it as a file on your computer. Do not use a copyrighted photo or document from another source when you make a website update. Just because you find something on the Internet, doesn’t mean it’s free to use. Use of copyrighted materials, including photos or text, can land you in trouble and can be a costly mistake. Just don’t do it!
Make sure the photo is sized appropriately for uploading. High resolution photos are large files that take longer to upload, take up more space in your library, and are inefficient in providing a positive end-user experience.
Quick Tip: Best practice is to presize you image to the final size you want to display on your website. This will make inserting images easier and faster. Resolution of 400-420 pixels wide or tall works well for a primary image in a Page or Post.
Before you can add an image to your website, the image needs to be uploaded to your Media Library. To do this on Dashboard, click the Add Media button. On the Insert Media page, click Upload Files. Here you can either drag and drop an image to the Media Library or click the Select Files button and browse your computer to find the desired image, click on the image and click open. Once the image is visible on the Insert Media page, it’s ready to be inserted into the Page.
Quick Tip: The Media Library will contain images you’ve uploaded. You only need to upload an image once, even If you want to use it in multiple places.
WARNING: Do not delete an image from the media library that is displayed on a Post or Page. If you delete it from the Media Library, the image will be removed from the Post and Page as well.
Ask yourself: Where should I place the image? Once you’ve selected a location on your website page, click your cursor at the top of where you want the image to appear on the left margin of the text body.
You also have the option at Attachment Display Settings to set the alignment of the image on the page, plus Link To and Size of Image.
Once you’ve selected these options, click Insert Into Page. Then click the Add Media button to insert the image.
Once an image is inserted on the page, click on the image to see formatting options. You can change alignment or select Edit for more options, like customize the photo or write a caption.
Once an image is uploaded to a website, it is recommended that you give the image a title and Alt Text. The Alt Text informs search engines what the image is and assists any sight-impaired Internet users who visit your website.
INSERT OR EDIT A LINK: You can insert a variety of links to other websites or documents you want your visitors to access. To insert a link, highlight a word or series of words in your text box that associate with the meaning of your link. After highlighting the word/words, click the link icon above the text box. Paste the URL of your link.
Quick Tip: Click the gear icon (link options) next to the box where you entered your URL and check the box that reads “Open link in new tab.” Then click Update. This is important because your website will remain open to visitors when they click a link that takes them to view something other than your website. You don’t want to send your visitors away!
Once your link is uploaded, the link should be highlighted.
INSERT PDFS: There are a number of ways to insert a PDF into a page. Our recommendation is to click the Add Media button on the page. This brings you to your media library. Either select a PDF from your media library or upload a PDF from your computer.
Quick Tip: Upload PDFs, not Word documents, because PDFs download faster for your visitors. Also, they are more difficult for your visitors to edit.
From your media library, select the PDF to which you want to link. On the right side of the library page will be an area called Attachment Details. Here you will find a box titled URL. Highlight and copy the URL that appears in the box. Note: This is the web location of the document you will now link to.
Close your library –do not click Insert into Post.
On your page, highlight the text or object that you want to link to your PDF. After highlighting the word/words, click the link icon above the text box. Paste the URL of your link.
Quick Tip: Click the gear icon (link options) next to the box where you entered your URL and check the box that reads “Open link in new tab.” Then click Update. Once your PDF is uploaded, the link will be highlighted.
Remember, Posts and Pages are similar for uploading, although a post will offer an additional option. You can select a Category on the right side of the Post page which helps organize your posts.
This tutorial explaining updates to a WordPress website should get you off to a great start for your website update. WordPress offers many advanced features, but that is something for a future tutorial.