Below is a list of WordPress Video Tutorials created in Sept. 2011.

This is one part of a series of articles providing basic instructions for using WordPress. To start at the beginning, or view the full index of articles in this series, go to A Simple WordPress User Guide for Beginners.  And to view a playlist on YouTube with all of the below videos, you can go here: WordPress Video Tutorials

WordPress Tutorial | Introduction to WordPress Admin

WordPress Tutorial | How to Edit a Page

WordPress Tutorial | How to Add and Image

WordPress Tutorial | How to Add a New Page

WordPress Tutorial | Working with Menus

WordPress Tutorial | Working with Widgets

WordPress Tutorial | Adding and Editing Users

If you are interested in the WordPress User Guide, click on that link to start at the beginning.

How to make an email address on your website automatically open a users default email program on their computer and insert that email address in the To: field.  Instructions here are specifically tailored to use with WordPress, but can be applied in any case.

1. Add the email address to your website’s content as you would any content.
2. Then you are going to make it a link, jut as you would make some text link to another page, for example. So you would highlight your new email address (ie double click over it or click-drag your cursor of the email address); and then click on the “Link” button in your website editor to open the pop-up dialog box that allows you to add a website address.
3. INSTEAD of creating a link starting HTTP://….. – you will want to erase that part and insert the following: mailto:john@cnca.com
4. …where john@cnca.com is the email address being used. By putting mailto: before the email address, this causes the effect you want.
5. That is it. Save your changes. You do not have to specify a Target for that link in the pop-up.

For instructions on how to create a Forward in a Cpanel based hosting environment, click on How to Create an Email Forward in CPanel.

For example, if you generally use an email address myname@yahoo.com, and you want to add an email address to your website myname@mydomain.com, and have that newly created email address (which has your website’s domain name), then you will want to create a forward to forward myname@mydomain.com to myname@yahoo.com).  This will have the effect of automatically forwarding all email to your yahoo.com email address without having to share it on your website, (and also you can share a more professional email address on your website).  This is often desirable if you do not want to change how you manage your emails, as you would still be able to continue to just check your yahoo.com account as usual.

Instructions on how to create a Forward in a Cpanel based hosting environment

For example, if you generally use an email address myname@yahoo.com, and you want to add an email address to your website myname@mydomain.com, and have that newly created email address (which has your website’s domain name), then you will want to create a forward to forward myname@mydomain.com to myname@yahoo.com).  This will have the effect of automatically forwarding all email to your yahoo.com email address without having to share it on your website, (and also you can share a more professional email address on your website).  This is often desirable if you do not want to change how you manage your emails, as you would still be able to continue to just check your yahoo.com account as usual.

The one downside is that you will not be set up to send email from that new domain, only to receive.  In many cases, this is not an issue

1. First, login to your hosting account.  You can get that information from your hosting provider.
2. In the various sections of your hosting administrative panel that will present itself, there is a section titled “Mail”, and in there an option called “Forwards”. Click on Forwards.
3. Displayed will be a list of existing forwards (if any) and under that list is a button “Add Forward”. Click that button.
4. In the field under Address > Address to Forward, you will enter, for our example, just the name john.
5. On the right side of that field you may have options as to what domain name you want to have your new email address connected to. The options presented will be only those domains in your hosting account.
6. Then below that where it says Destination > Forward to email address, you will enter the email address you want your new email address to be forwarded to – for example, john45@yahoo.com
7. Then click on the button at the bottom of the page, “Add Forwarder”. That is it. Use the button at top right of your screen to “Logout”.

If you want to learn how to add an email link to your website, specifically within WordPress, click on How to make an email address link.

Are you thinking, “My browser only prints one page of a website, the first page”? Are you using Firefox?

There are several instances that trigger printing errors with Firefox.  The one I have run across results from declaring overflow: hidden, overflow: auto; or overflow: scroll, which I use sometimes for its self-clearing float effect.  The easiest solution to this is to create a print style sheet that  changes all of your tags that use this to overflow: visible.

You can read more about this and other related Firefox print bugs here:  at mozilla support, and at bugzilla.mozilla.

Good luck.

How many times have I needed to identify a specific WordPress Category ID and scratched my head trying to remember.  And worse, when I searched on-line for an easy jogging of my memory, found un-necessary solutions leadering others to endlessly scratch their heads as well, wondering if there is an easier way.

And although I am assuming that if you found this post that you know why you are trying to find it, for those who don’t know, there are programming reasons to know – such as to specify in the code to exclude or include a certain category from being displayed on a page.

The Answer

The easiest way – no, not searching your database via your phpmyadmin; nor even changing your permalink structure to display it in your url – instead, simply click on the category option under Posts in your admin panel, move your cursor over the name of the category in question and it will be displayed in your browsers status bar.  That’s it.

This is one part of a series of articles providing basic instructions for using WordPress. To start at the beginning, or view the full index of articles in this series, go to  A Simple WordPress User Guide for Beginners.

How to Update your WordPress Installation.

When a new update to WordPress is released, you will be notified in your admin panel by a one sentence statement to that effect, displayed at the top of each page of your WordPress admin panel. There is a link in that notification to update. Updating your installation immediately is always a good idea.  Sometimes the updates have security patches that protect your website from hackers.

Click that link to go to the update page where you will have 2 options – to update automatically or manually.

The WordPress automatic updater works very well. Just click the button to update and wait 5 to 10 seconds until it tells you it is complete.

You will be told to backup your site first as a standard precaution. That is because you can never anticipate when something will go off, and as I said above, their updater works very well. At a minimum, it is a good idea and also very easy to backup your database, explained below.

Backing up Your WordPress Website

As an initial note, I think it is safe to say that any reputable hosting company will have backups of all of your files and databases.  But it can take days to a week to have them restored and at an additional cost (unless it was an error caused by the hosting company).  And your hosting company will likely not be backing up your site files, etc. every day but only every week or month – so their backup may not be right up to date if you should need that.  Backing up your files provides an additional insurance and control should a very rare ocurance happen.

Your WordPress site consists of the following:

1. WordPress Core Installation
2. WordPress Database
3. WordPress Plugins and Themes
4. Uploaded Images and Files
5. Javascripts, PHP scripts, and other code files
6. Additional Files and Static Web Page

To completely backup your website, you would need to backup your database, all of the site files that are located within your WordPress install folder, and any other files that you or your web developer installed elsewhere (if at all).

To backup those aspects of your website that are unique to your website, (ie not including all of the wordpress program files “core installlation”), you would want to backup the following ( with these, you could install a new wordpress install and put all of these pieces in place to put your site back the way it was):

The database: You can backup your database using the Export function within the Tools menu option. Your database contains all of the typed content of your website and its settings – (ie not your uploaded content (images, pdfs, etc).  Backing up your WordPress database is easy to do and is worth doing each time you update your WordPress instalation, unless you are using your website as a content management system and do not change content frequently.

WordPress Plugins and Themes:  Your “Theme” is the folder that contains the files that define the unique look and functioning of your website.  Plugins are sets of code that add functionality to your website.  You can find these folders on your server within the folder in which you installed WordPress here: /yourWordPressinstall/wp-content/themes and  /yourWordPressinstall/wp-content/plugins.  You can narrow down even further what you need to save within these folders by only downloading and saving  the “Theme” that you are using, and the only the plugins your site is using.  You can find your Theme in your admin panel within the Appearances/Themes area of your WordPress admin panel.  And you can determine which plugins you are using by going the the Plugins/Installed section of your admin and looking at those plugins that provide the option to “Deactivate” under their name (thus indicating that they are active).  You cannot backup these from within WordPress and would need to do this in another way, ie via FTP, a FileManager in your hosting account, or a backup utility in your hosting account.  Likely once your website is up and running, and you have one backup of these, you will not need to back them up again as they will not change, unless you install a new plugin.

Uploaded Images and Files:  Whenever an image or pdf document or other media is uploaded, it is stored in a folder on your server. In order to have your own backup of these, you would need to keep a backup of the contents of that folder.  By default, that folder is in this folder: /yourWordPressinstall/wp-content/uploads.  You can confirm where they are backed up by going to the Settings/Miscellaneous tab in your WordPress admin panel. You cannot backup these from within WordPress and would need to do this in another way, ie via FTP, a FileManager in your hosting account, or a backup utility in your hosting account.  How often you back this up depends on how often you upload new content.

Other Scripts or Files:  Any scripts, files or webpages outside of what is mentioned above would be unique to your website and theme and could not be anticipated here.  You would have to reference the documentation for a given theme you installed or ask your web developer.

This is one part of a series of articles providing basic instructions for using WordPress. To start at the beginning, or view the full index of articles in this series, go to  A Simple WordPress User Guide for Beginners.

It is actually super easy to create a new post or page in WordPress.

1. Login to your WordPress Admin panel;
2. On the left column where the core navigation buttons are, click on either the Posts or Pages button, depending on which you want to create;
3. Click on the “Add New” link.  This will take you to the “Add New Post” or “Add New Page” screen.
4. Enter your title in the top text area.
5. Enter your post or page content.  Edit your content.
6. Save or Publish your new post or page.
7. The rest is optional.

The Rest is Optional

Edit your Permalink

Your permalink is the unique URL web address for the specific post or page you are editing.  You can view this just below the title for your post or page, at the top of your screen.  There is an Edit button that allows you to modify the last portion of this URL address.  By default, it will use the words for your title, with dashes in-between.  Once you set it, you may not want to change it in the event others have saved that link for reference. If you change it, they will no longer get to that post or page by the same link they saved.

Posts: Post Tags

Tags allow you to assign relevant keyword(s) to your Posts, making it potentially easier for people to find your post if they are searching for that keyword or phrase. You can add and edit these in the Post Tags edit box which is by default located on the right column of your screen, under the Publish box.  Learn more about Tags and Categories.

Posts: Specify a Category

Every post must by assigned to at least one category.  By default, WordPress will assign any new post to the category Uncategorized.  You can modify this in the Categories edit box which is located by default on the right column under Post Tags, which is under Publish.  You can assign your post to as many categories as you like.  At the bottom of the Category edit box, you can create a new Category. Learn more about Tags and Categories.

This is one part of a series of articles providing basic instructions for using WordPress. To start at the beginning, or view the full index of articles in this series, go to  A Simple WordPress User Guide for Beginners.

Video Resources:  In September of 2011 I created a series of video tutorials and uploaded them to YouTube – you can find them here:  WordPress Video Tutorials

This section of the guide starts on the Edit Post or Edit Page section of your WordPress Admin area.  You can get there either by choosing the “Edit” or “Add New” option under Posts or Pages on you Core Navigation bar at the left of your admin screen (see image to right for reference). If you are adding a new post or page, you may want read How to Add a New Post or Page before continuing below.  If you are editing an existing post or page, you will be presented with a list of posts or pages to choose from.  You can either click on the title of the post or page, or hover your cursor over the bottom of the title and options will appear, including “edit”.

Let’s get started.

The control panel to edit a post is identical to that used to edit a page, therefor the information below pertains to both.

Upload/Insert Media

The icons at the top left of the editor next to the words Upload/Insert allow you to add and edit images, video, audio and other media.  We will be focusing on editing text in this article.  You can learn about uploading and inserting media in the article titled How to Add Images and other Media in WordPress.

Visual and HTML Editors

There are two content editor modes, the “Visual” editor and the “HTML” editor.  You can select which editor you want to use using the buttons at top right of the content editor.  The image below shows the Visual editor.

The Visual Editor.  The Visual editor will display your text and images in relationship to each other, similar to how they will appear on your website.  I say similar because, according to the unique design of your website, the font-size, color, spacing, etc. will likely look different on your website than it will in the editor.  What you will see in the editor is the text, images, video, and other media in relationship to each (above, below, next to, indented, …) as you have specified.  The coding of your website will then modify this according to your unique design, but will generally adhere to the standard formatting rules applied within the text editor, (for example if you bold some text, it will show in bold in the text editor, but your website may be coded to indicate a bold state by also enlarging the size of the font or giving it a more prominent color).  You will get to know the unique styling of your website as you work with it.

The HTML Editor. The HTML editor will display your text along with any code.  If you only enter text, then the HTML editor will only show text.  If you add an image, then instead of seeing the actual image, you will see some code that will specify where the image is located, how it is to be displayed, and so on.  Code is very specific.  If you do not understand it or do not have specific instructions on how to edit it, then you are better off not using the HTML editor.

Special Note – If you want to Copy and Paste into WordPress

Often times it is convenient to type your content in another program on your computer, off-line, and then copy and paste your finished version into your WordPress program.  Unknown to beginners (and why would you know), when you copy and paste text or other content from Microsoft Word (most commonly used) and some other text editing programs, you will end up pasting code along with your content.  Although you cannot see it when you copy text from Word, it is there, and it will end up in your post.  There is no harm in doing so if you are curious, just be aware of what you are doing.

Pasting Text Options » You have a few options.

• Type in a plain text editor. One option is to use a plain text editor to type your content on your computer, one that does not add code to your text.  On a PC you can use Notebook (usually the default plain text editor found in your applications folder).  On a Mac, you can use Text Edit, (again, usually the default plain text editor found in your applications folder).
• Convert your text before you copy and paste into WordPress, by first copy and pasting from Word (or whatever program you are using) into a simple text editor such as Notebook or TextEdit, and then copy pasting into WordPress.
• Using the “Paste in Plain Text” button.  You would copy from Word (or other program), then put your cursor in your WordPress Editor where you want the text, and then click on the “Paste as Plain Text” button.  This will open a plain text editor which will strip the code from your text.

You certainly can simply copy and paste from a Word document into your WordPress editor, if your desired result is to retain the formatting from your Word document.  However you may not end up with what you want, and your results may not harmonize with the rest of your website as your website’s design will have a specific look and feel built into it’s automatic styling.

Adding Image and Other Media » The best way to add images and other media to your post or page is to use the buttons on your editor for doing so.  You can read about them here:  Add Images, Video, Audio and other Media.

The Visual Editor

To enter text in the visual editor, simply place your cursor inside the white box and start typing, just as you would in any word processing program. When you use the return button on your keyboard, a new paragraph starts, just is it would in any other word processing program.  To format text, you would either:

• Highlight the word or phrase you want to format, (i.e. if you wanted to make the text bold or italics), and click the appropriate function button (i.e. B for bold, I for italics); or
• Place your cursor before or in the paragraph you want to format, (i.e. format the paragraph into an unordered list or make it centered aligned) and again, click on the appropriate function button.

Some functions will simply format the text immediately, and others will require additional information, such as if you want to create a “hyper-link”.  For example, to make a phrase link to another webpage, you would highlight the text you want linked, click on the link icon, and enter the URL address of your desired link into the pop-up window.

And some buttons will toggle back and forth.  For example, if you format a paragraph into an unordered list (bulleted list), then when you use the return key on your keyboard, you will automatically be prompted to enter the next item in the list.  When you are done entering your list items, you would click on the same “unordered list” button to return back to the default paragraph formatting.  This is important as some people miss this and don’t understand how to exit one of these functions.  If you are entering or editing styled text that is an ordered or unordered list, or blockquote, or indented, or other similarly formatted text, and you are done with that formatting, or want to change it back, use the same formatting button to return to editing without that formatting – it toggles back and forth.

The Toolbars » The Visual editor provides two rows of functions, or “toolbars”.  The top toolbar provides the most common editing functions along with a toggle to display or hide the second or lower toolbar (called the “kitchen sink”).  Below is a quick reference guide to both toolbars.  You don’t have to memorize them.  Passing your cursor over any icon when viewing them in your admin panel will display its name.

You can learn more about the functions of each of these tools in this article on Formatting Text Content in WordPress.  Although the article was created for an older version of WordPress, the formatting controls are the same and the information is clearly presented.

Editing TIPS

1. Single Spacing – When you use the carriage return (Return or Enter key), generally the formatting of your website will create spacing to exist between your paragraphs.  But what if you want to have several rows of text under each other without the spacing, such as with an address.  In order to drop down a line without starting a new paragraph, you would use the following keys together: Shift + Enter (or Return).  So you would hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and hit the Enter button ( or Return button).
2. Advanced Editor – WordPress comes with a good base of content editing tools built in, but if you want to expand that, you can install and customize your admin panel with the TinyMCE Advanced plugin. (On the left side of your admin panel at the main navigation bar, there is an option for “Plugins” where you can add them.  Once this plugin is installed, you would then look under the “Settings” tab for a link to a page to customize it for you.)
3. Use the Indent Tool.  It is a great tool for formatting by separating out sections of content with ease.
4. Nested Bullet Lists – If you want to create a nested bullet list, such as an outline with 1, 2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4, 5, etc.  You would first
   1. create your bullet list (see buttons above for ordered list and unordered list – place cursor where you want it, and click the corresponding button);
   2. then to create your next level, use the “Indent” button (see buttons above) to create your next level (from 1, 2, 3 to 1, 2, 3.1);
   3. when you are ready to move back out to your top level (ie, from 1, 2, 3.1, 3.2 to 4), hit your Return (or Enter) key twice;
   4. and when you are done with your list, you can again hit your return key twice.

Save Draft, Preview or Publish

SAVE YOUR CHANGES. Although your WordPress program will automatically save your work on a regular basis, and you will be offered the option to use that version if you like (top of the edit screen for any individual post or page), it is best to use the Save Draft or Publish button once your are done with your edits. You will also always have the option to revert back to a previously saved version by choosing one of the saved versions listed at the very bottom of your Edit Post or Edit Page admin screen.

Publish Options » Once you are done editing your post or page, if you have not already “published” it, then you will have the option to save it or publish it. (If you have already published your post or page, then the “Save Drat” option is no longer available.)

The following options are displayed at the top right of your screen, if you have not yet hit the “Publish” button. (See below for changes once you have clicked on the “Publish” button.)

• Save Draft – Once you create a post or page, it will not automatically display on your website, until you use the Publish button for that specific post or page.  If you want to simply save your work, either for continued editing or to publish on a later date, then you can use the Save Draft button.  This will save your work.  You will be able to access this post or page at any time just as you would a published post or page.  In the admin screen that displays your current posts or pages, the word Draft will be displayed next to the title of any article that is not yet published.
• Preview – Preview is not a saving option, just an option displayed under the Publish box along with the others.  Preview opens a separate browser window and displays your post or page in the context of your website, so you can see exactly what it will look like once published.  This is useful since, as stated above, what you see in your visual editor is not exactly what you will see on your website, based on the unique design of your website.
• Publish – When you hit the Publish button, your article is “published” to your website.  That is, it will now show up on your website.  Until you use the Publish button, it will still be in a draft mode.
• Move to Trash – You can delete your post or page from this screen using the Move to Trash button.  Moving it to the virtual trash is a new feature to WordPress 2.9 that allows you to recover something if you change your mind after wanting to get rid of it.
• Status, Visibility, Publish immediately – These are further options that allow you to change the status of your article (Draft, Pending Review, Published); specify who can view your article (Publish, Password Protected or Private); and specify a specific date and time to publish your article rather than have it publish immediately once hitting the Publish button.

If your article has already been published, then the following changes will apear:

• There will no longer be a “Save Draft” option;
• The “Preview” button will change to a “Preview Changes” button;
• The Publish button will change to an “Update” button.

That’s it.  You can read more topics in this series by selecting the WordPress Guide category or by selecting a topic listed here: A Simple WordPress User Guide for Beginners.

This is one part of a series of articles providing basic instructions for using WordPress. To start at the beginning, or view the full index of articles in this series, go to  A Simple WordPress User Guide for Beginners.

Let’s Get Started

Orientation » There are two editing modes, Visual and HTML.  Each have their own edit commands.  We will be working within the “Visual” editing mode.  See below at top right of the editing area where the word “Visual” is clear and “HTML” is faded out.  This means you are in visual mode.  If you are not, simply click on the work “Visual” to switch modes.

4 options » When writing or editing a Post or Page in WordPress, you will be viewing the following screen.  At the top of the edit commands (bold, italic, etc.), there are 4 options to: Add an Images, Add Video, Add Audio, or Add Media.  The first three are self-explanatory. Add Media allows you to add media other than the first three options, such as a pdf file.  *Helpful Tip – When you are actually in your admin panel, moving your cursor over any of the edit command buttons will display text telling what that button does – so you don’t need to remember them.

Add Images and other Media to WordPress

Inserting » To add an image or other media, place your cursor where you want the image or other media to appear, and then click on one of the 4 “add media” options. *Helpful Tip – One common practice is to place images such that they will display at the top right or left of a paragraph.  To accomplish this, place your cursor at the beginning of the paragraph, and when you are editing the characteristics of the media to be entered, you will be able to specify whether you want it aligned left or right.  This will ensure it displays up top of the paragraph.  Otherwise, centering your image or other media is also very common, as is often done in this article where the images are larger and for core reference rather than decoration.

Once you click on one of your “add media” option links, a pop-up will provide the following 4 choices, (see image below): From Computer, From URL, Gallery, and Media Library.

Add an Image or Media to WordPress - Click image to enlarge

Options for Adding Images and Other Media

From Computer

You can upload an image from your computer by clicking on the button “Select Files”.  This will allow you to locate the file on your computer and upload it.  If for some technical reason there is a problem with this uploader functioning properly, you can click on the blue text link “Browser uploader” to use a different uploader that should then work. Once an image has been uploaded it is stored with your WordPress installation and will continue to be accessible and usable again via your “Gallery” and “Media Library” as explained below.

From URL

“From URL” allows you to enter in a web address, (i.e. http://designsbytierney.com/images/myimage.jpg), of where your desired image or other media file is located, if it is already available on the internet, and you know the address, and have permission to link to it.

Gallery

“Gallery” will display all of the media that has been uploaded to the current post or page.  The Gallery is useful if you have lots of media uploaded to your WordPress installation, and want to locate more quickly and easily a specific piece of media that was once uploaded to a specific post or page.  The core function of the Gallery is to upload a series of media to a specific post or page and use the built-in Gallery functions to easily and conveniently display that media in a viewing Gallery.

Fine details » This will include media that has uploaded to your current post or page, then deleted from that post or page, but not deleted from the Gallery or Media Library. (So if you delete an image and want to insert it again, you can find it in our gallery for that post or page.)

Your Gallery will not include media that was inserted into a post or page from your Media Library, having already been uploaded before from within another post or page.  Once an image or other media is uploaded to a specific post or page, it will only be accessible from within the post or page’s Gallery that it waas first uploaded to.  Otherwise you can always find any media file from anywhere within your Media Library.

Media Library

The Media Library stores all of the media that you have uploaded.  Once it is uploaded, you can find it there, unless you delete it, which is explained below.  If you select to find a media item in the library, you will be shown a list of content in the Media Library.  Use the page navigation at top right of your window to scroll through and look for your image.  Click on the “Show” link to the right of your media when you find it, and this will expand to show its details.  From there can you can edit how you would like it to appear in your current post or page, and use the insert button to insert it.

Deleting Media

Edit Delete Image Icons in WordP

Delete from a post or page.  When you move your cursor over and then click on a piece of media in your edit panel, two icons will display at top left – one to edit the image, and the other to delete it. You delete a piece of media by clicking on the delete icon -(the red circle with the cross through it).  *Helpful Tip – Often times, deleting and then re-inserting an image or media element is a better way to move it around, rather than to try and drag it around a page, as sometimes when you do that, you can end up with a result you did not intend or want, based on the associated code, or parts of code, that get dragged around with it.

Delete from WordPress. To delete a piece of media from your WordPress installation altogether, find that piece of media in the Gallery or Media Library, select to show its details, and use the Delete button at the bottom.  Deleting it from either the Gallery or Media Library will delete it from both.

Editing Image Characteristics

Once you select an image to upload, WordPress will display a “crunching…” status bar as it uploads your image. Once this is done, it will display customization options for how you would like the image displayed.  These customization options can also be accessed and modified in the Media Library. (Clicking on the edit icon once the image is inserted into a post or page will only give you limited options for editing the image characteristics.)

Edit Image Details in WordPress - Click image to enlarge

Edit Image

Edit Image is a new feature to WordPress 2.9.  In the picture above, you can see a button near the top, under the bold word “Dimensions” that says “Edit Image”.  This allows you to crop, rotate, flip and scale/ resize an image from within WordPress.

Title

This is the text that will display when you move your cursor over an image, if you so desire.

You are required to include a title when entering in your image details at this point.  If you want it blank, you can remove the title after you have inserted the image in your post or page by then clicking on the image to display the edit image icon, clicking on that icon to view your image edit options for that use of the image, and removing the title in that edit box.  Save your changes.

Alternate text

This is the text that will display in place of your image if your image, for whatever reason, does not.  This is also what will be read by screen reader for someone who cannot see the image. Not required, but recommended for the reasons here, and also as it will help search engines learn more about your content.

Caption

If you would like a text caption to accompany your image.  Where exactly it displays, if it displays, and how it is formatted depend on the pre-determined styling of your WordPress design.  Most often it is displayed just under the image, left justified, centered, or right justified.

Description

If you choose to make your image a link to its “attachment page” by inserting its “Post URL” as its Link URL (see below), and you have an attachment page included with your website, then the description will show up with the image on a separate page when clicked on.

Link URL

If you want the image to act as a link to something or somewhere else, you can enter that full URL address here, (ie. http://designsbytierney.com/blog).  One common link URL that might be used would be if you were, for example, writing a post about someone or something that had a website, and you wanted the image of that person or thing to link to their website.  You would just enter that website URL here.

Otherwise, there are three buttons just below the text entry box that you can use to have WordPress automatically modify what your Link URL is.

• None – Removes any link that may be in the box by default, leaving it blank.  The image will not act as a link.  In many cases, this is most desirable, that is, if there is not specific reason to have the image act as a link, there is no reason to distract your website visitors with the thought of clicking it to see where it links to.
• File URL – Click on this button to insert the URL address of the image file itself, as a direct link to that image.  This will simply display the image on a blank screen.  This is useful if you insert the image at a reduced size and want users to be able to click on it to view it at its full size.  This is also useful if you ever simply want to know the URL address of an image’s location on your server.  For example, if you wanted to send an email to someone with a link to that image directly, you could copy that URL and paste it in your email message.
• Post URL – Your post URL displays your image or other media, along with any description (see above), on a separate “attachment page”, within the design frame of your website.
• File URL vs Post URL – The difference between the Post URL and the File URL is that the File URL link displays the image on its own, (no description) and displays it on a blank screen (no website header, footer, and other parts of your website).  Using the Post URL is useful if you want to provide descriptive information and have it displayed within your website. Using the Post URL is not a good option if your intention is to have your image link to a much larger image view that is larger than your website design can contain, as this can have a variety of un-intended display results.

Alignment

Specify where you want the image to be displayed, in relation to where it was inserted in the body of your post or page – none, left, center, right.

(Repeated from the Helpful Tip above) – One common practice is to place images such that they will display at the top right or left of a paragraph.  To accomplish this, place your cursor at the beginning of the paragraph, and when you are editing the characteristics of the media to be entered, you will be able to specify whether you want it aligned left or right.  This will ensure it displays up top of the paragraph.  Otherwise, centering your image or other media is also very common, as is often done in this article where the images are larger and for core reference rather than decoration.

Size

Your options are: Thumbnail, Medium, Large, Full Size.  The size of the first three options are specified in your WordPress Admin panel under Settings » Media.  (Be sure to know what you are doing if you want to change these settings, especially if you consider making them larger, as your website design may not contain images that are too large, and thumbnails may be used in other places on your website, such as on a biography page or in comments.) If your image is smaller than those settings for any of your options, then they will not be available (they will be faded out).

Insert into Post

Inserts the image into the post or page.  You must click this button to do so, otherwise it will only be saved in your Gallery or Media Library.

Delete

Deletes the image.

Save all changes

Saves changes but does not insert into your post or page.  You would use this button if you wanted to upload an image before using it.  And if you ever re-open an image to edit it, from within your Gallery or Media Library, you may want to simply save the changes and not re-insert it.

Other Resources for Adding Media to WordPress

• Adding Media Using the Media Subpanel (Core Navigation on Left) – WP Codex – If you want to add Media in advance, not associated with a specific post or page.

That’s it. Use your images and media to spruce up your content.  It puts life into the words, adds extra information, meaning, and beauty.

If you ever need to access files on more than one computer, and you haven’t heard of Dropbox, I can’t recommend more highly checking out their service.  On top of that, I have only read glowing feedback on-line from others, which has been my experience.

I am not exagerating by saying that dropbox was for me the easiest and most user-friendly application I have ever had to install and get up and running.  The learning curve to have this application serving your needs quickly so you could move on to other things you want to be doing – was almost nothing.  I would even go so far as to say it would be a stretch to say you have to even “learn” how to use it.  Not only have they made it incredibaly easy and simple, but they even hold your hand in explaining how to use it, kind of like, if you add 2 and 2 together, your will get 4. You can be sleep deprived and multi-tasking, and you will understand it.

After setting it up, you have a folder, just like any other folder, in which you can save, edit and delete files, just like you normally do.  Except all of those files will automatically synced with any other computer you have set-up with that same dropbox account.  And if you are away from your computer and need to access those files using another computer, you can login to your account with Dropbox and access those files that way as well.

Runs automatically.  Super Secure.  You can also have a folder specified to for sharing so you can invite others to view or collaborate with you live.  They have a free iPhone app so you can sync with your iPhone, if you have one.  And there is more, but I think you get the point.  Check it out, try it, use it.

And the price – Free for the first 2 GB.  That is a lot of free space.  For some people, you won’t need more.  For me, and how I plan to use it, I don’t actually need more space.  From there you can upgrade to $9.99 for 50 GB, or $19.99 for 100 GB.

I think that about says it. Check it now – visit Dropbox.