Getting started with Wordpress
To get started with WordPress, go to your website's home page, and in the address bar add "/wp-admin/" to the address.
For example, if your website was named "www.myparish.co.uk", change the address to "www.myparish.co.uk/wp-admin/". This will take you to the WordPress login page. Enter your login details to be taken to the WordPress dashboard.
The main page you see after logging in is the dashboard. This gives a quick overview of your site and the activity panel shows you what changes/additions have been made recently. This page is for information only, to edit the site content you will be using the list of editors in the left panel.
The left panel shows a list of available editors which you will use for editing the various types of content on the site. The sections you will use most are:
- Pages
- Media
- Meetings
- Councillor
- Clubs
- News Article
- Events
- Featured Content
- WP File Download
Whenever you need to edit or add content, this list of editors will be your starting point.
The WordPress bar (shown above) will show at the top of the live site when you are logged in. This will only be visible to people who are logged in.
- Clicking the WordPress logo or the name of the website (on the above example, this is Staffs Parish Council) on the far left of the bar will take you to the admin area.
- Clicking the 'edit page' button will take you to the page editor for the page you are currently viewing.
- In some cases, you will be able to activate the 'live editor' button. This is a type of editor which will provide an easier way to edit pages with advanced content.
If the page you are trying to edit has 'Themify page builder' in the visual text box, the page contains advanced content. Please do not make any changes on this page, as it will affect the layout of the page.
The page content is auto-populated by the content in the clubs, councillors and local services sections.
If you would like to request a change in layout or if something doesn't look right, please can you contact us via email: digital@staffordshire.gov.uk
To add images, media files, PDFs, and other files for use on the site, you should use the media library editor. Click on "media" in the left panel to open this editor.
The media library editor provides a display of all the media files currently available on the site. Here you can add new files, edit existing files, or delete files.
If you are uploading an image for a single use (e.g. the publicity image for a one-time event) then you should upload that image within the appropriate editor. Files uploaded in the Media editor are intended for use in multiple places around the site.
If you are uploading documents for the finances and budgets, finances and accounts, or quarterly and annual transparency reports, do not use the media library for these. Instead use the editor listed on the page about adding accounts, budgets and reports.
To add a new image or file, click the 'add New' button at the top of the page. This will open the file upload panel.
Once the panel has opened, you can either drag your file(s) from your computer's file explorer, or you can click the 'select files' button, and select the files you wish to upload that way.
Once the files have uploaded, they will appear in the gallery listing. If you have a lot of files it may not be obvious the images have uploaded. To help find the new images, you can filter which images are shown using the drop-down list at the top of the gallery.
Here you can select:
- All media items -- show everything
- Images -- show only images files (jpg, png, gif, etc)
- Audio -- show only audio files
- Video -- show only video files
- Unattached -- show only files that were directly uploaded into the Media editor. Files uploaded through other editors will be omitted.
- Mine - show files that you have uploaded
You can also filter the gallery based on the time the files were uploaded. The second drop down list (default value of "All dates") will allow you to select the time the images were uploaded.
It is good practice to give your files and images a title and short description at the time you upload them. To do this, click on your newly uploaded image in the gallery, which will display the "attachment details" window. On the right panel, set the "title" field to a short title, and the "description" field to a brief description. Caption is best left blank.
Accessibility guidance
You will also see a box for an 'alt tag' - in this box, just enter a short description of the image. If a visually impaired user is using a screen reader on your website, the screen reader will read this description to the user.
To save the new title and description, close the window using the X in the top right.
To delete a file, open the gallery and select the one you wish to delete. Once the attachment details page pops up, there will be an option to delete the file in the bottom right hand side of the page.
This will delete the image permanently so please ensure the file is not in use on the site before deleting the file.
Images can be edited after they have uploaded, allowing you to rotate, crop, or flip the image.
Caution: Editing an image that is already in use on the site may cause pages using the image to look worse or have improper formatting.
To edit an image, click it in the gallery to open the Attachment Details page, then click the “edit” button. This will open the image editor, which has 7 buttons to perform simple actions:
Crop
The crop tool displays a dotted outline of what the new image will show after cropping. Drag any of the six square handles to resize this cropping area. Once happy with the result, press the Enter key to see the new cropped image.
Rotate left
Click this to rotate the image ninety degrees anti-clockwise.
Rotate right
Click this to rotate the image ninety degrees clockwise.
Flip vertical
Click this to mirror the image vertically.
Flip horizontal
Click this to mirror the image horizontally.
Undo/Redo
The last two buttons allow you to undo or redo previous actions. Useful if you are unhappy with a crop or rotation.
Cancel/Save
When you are happy with the edits you can click save to commit the changes. Alternatively, you can click cancel to discard all the changes you have made.
To add, edit, or remove users that can access the WordPress admin areas, click on the “users” option in the left panel (near the bottom). This will open a list of the current WordPress users on the site.
To add a new user, click the “Add New” button at the top of the page. This will open the new user creation page, with the following sections:
Username
This is the username they will use to log in to WordPress.
Email
This is the email in which they will receive notifications, and which they will use if they want to change or reset their password.
First name and last name (optional)
You can enter the user’s real names here to help keep track of current users on the site.
Website (optional)
This can be left blank.
Password
WordPress automatically assigns a random password to new users via email. Here you can also click “show password” to see and change that password.
Send user notification
If this box is ticked, the new user will be sent an email telling them that they have been added as a user and asking them to follow a link to set a new, more personal password.
Role
Here you can select what level of control the user has over the site.
- Subscriber - subscribers cannot edit any content and can only view content in the admin area. For most purposes, the subscriber role should not be selected.
- Contributor – contributors have very restricted control. For most purposes, the contributor role should not be selected.
- Author – authors have somewhat restricted control. They cannot edit existing pages, nor can they edit content created by anyone other than themselves.
- Editor – editors can add, edit and remove pages and other content. This is the ideal role to give to people that need to edit the site content but do not need control over users and accounts.
- Administrator – total control. Administrators can do everything, including adding/removing other users.
Finally, click the “add user” button at the bottom of the page to create the new user and send out the confirmation email to them.
To edit a user, click their name on the users page. A window will appear on the screen, allowing you to change any of the details you are required to change. There are also options to add extra information as there are extra fields.
If you click 'generate password' under 'account management' this will create a new password for the user.
To delete a user, mouse over their name in the list of users, and a red “delete” option will appear underneath. Click this and confirm to remove the user. Any content created by this user will remain on the site but will have its ownership changed to the oldest user with sufficient editor privileges.