Welcome To WordPress

How To Exclude Pages From A WordPress Navigation Bar

Chad — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:18:03 +0000

One of the biggest things a lot of WordPress users look for in a new theme is easy navigation. You can always add Page and Category widgets to your sidebar, but having a well organized navigation bar (or two) can make a huge difference for your blog's visitors. Not all themes come with navigation bars built in, and even when they do, you might need to modify them a bit. While a navbar may seem like a simple thing at first, there are actually a TON of different things that you can do to make sure your site is as user-friendly as possible. Hiding pages from your navigation bar, or even limiting the navigation to a selection of pages is actually pretty easy...

Important New Features In WordPress 2.9 (and 2.9.1)

Chad — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:14:51 +0000

A new version of WordPress is always exciting, and the first couple of weeks with WordPress 2.9 has been no different. New WordPress releases can vary in how much they change things. Sometimes it's just a security update, and most users don't even notice anything different. Other versions, like 2.9 (which was released a few weeks ago), include a number of very notable improvements and enhancements, and yes, sometimes a bug or two that needs to be worked out. Today we're going to go over some of the various features that have been added to WordPress with 2.9 (and 2.9.1)

How To Use WordPress Widgets

Chad — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:43:39 +0000

One of the best things about WordPress is it's user friendly interface, which makes it easy for each blogger to tailor their site to their own needs. Widgets are one of the many ways that WordPress makes this possible, and understanding how to use them is important.

How To Create A Static Home Page

Chad — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:20:37 +0000

A friend of mine recently asked me how to move her blog posts off of the front page of her WordPress site. Why? Well, not every WordPress site needs to be a blog, and even if yours is, that doesn't mean your blog posts need to be the first thing your visitors see. Plenty of WordPress users have sites that require a welcome message or video and move the blog posts to a secondary page, while other users don't blog at all! Today we're going to over over the steps to rearrange your site so you're blog posts are moved off of the home page, and placed on a new page with whatever title you want.

How To Create A “Fancy” Opt-In Form Using CSS

Chad — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:43:28 +0000

A friend of mine recently asked about creating opt-in forms that are a little more elaborate than the defaults that your autoresponder provides. Depending on which email delivery service you use, the default forms can be pretty bland, often times just plain boxes with basic black text. What you really want is an eye catching and effective web form that that will get your reader's attention and convert well. Now, depending on your comfort level with HTML and CSS, this project may seem like a lot to tackle, so let's go through the whole process from start to finish, one step at a time.

How To Create An Effective Opt-In Form

Chad — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:46:47 +0000

Obviously one of the things you want most as a blogger is a large audience of readers. One of the best way to build and maintain that audience is to keep in touch with them, and notify them of new content. One of the nice things about WordPress is that it automatically generates and RSS feed for your readers to subscribe to, but not everyone who comes to your blog uses RSS or is guaranteed to think of it while they're there. The good news is, there is a better way!

Welcome To WordPress’ New Address

Chad — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:17:33 +0000

Well, it’s official, we’ve moved! If you look up in your address bar, you’ll notice the address of this site has changed. Formerly WelcomeToWordPress.com, we’ve relocated to a new home here at WelcomeToWP.com Why Move? Well, personally I think this one looks cooler, but mostly because when I first set up this blog, I didn’t think of [...]

How To Enable And Disable Comments on WordPress Posts and Pages

Chad — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:23:49 +0000

I was wandering around Twitter earlier today and a question popped up on how to allow comments on a newly created page in WordPress. One of the most important aspects of blogging is fostering communication and interaction with your readers. Getting a good discussion going keeps your readers interested, and gives them a reason to check back - especially if they know you are good about replying to them.

Holiday Specials On WordPress Installation & Theme Customization

Chad — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:09:40 +0000

Well, it's that time of year again. The time of year for hot cocoa, presents, cookies, peppermint bark and snowpeople (That's right. Snowpeople. The official, politically correct term for individuals made of snow). It's also the time of year for resolutions and fresh starts. Now, I'm not normally a big fan of resolutions in general, but I do recognize the significance of the ending of one year and the beginning of another. It begs for renewed focus, new habits and increased drive. It defines a tangible starting point for projects that have been left undone. That's why between now and December 23rd...

How To Add A Custom Header Image To Any WordPress Theme

Chad — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:28:50 +0000

One of the most time consuming parts of starting a new WordPress blog can be choosing the perfect theme. Finding the right balance between the look you want and the features you need can be difficult, to say the least. Often times, the header image can make or break a theme for a potential user and unfortunately, not all themes come equipped with options to easily customize that image. Today we're going to remove that obstacle by demonstrating how to customize the header in your theme of choice.