ITC298 > Setting Up & Customizing WordPress Options
Now that you have installed WordPress to your server, you will want to customize how it works for you.
When you visit your site for the first time you should see the default theme:
Eventually we will want to create and customize our own theme. But for now, let’s worry about setting up and customizing some of our basic options inside the WordPress administration panel.
Log In To WordPress
The first thing we need to do is “log in” so we can change our settings.
On your default theme, you should see a log in button near the bottom of your sidebar:
This will take you to the administration panel’s log in page:
Enter your Username & Password and click the “Log In” button.
Once you log in, you will be taken to the WordPress Administration Panel:
The Administration Panel provides access to the control features of your WordPress installation.
On the left side of the screen is the main navigation menu detailing each of the administrative functions you can perform.
The large area in the middle of the screen is the work area. It is here the specific information relating to a the particular navigation choice, such as adding a new post, is presented and collected.
See Also: http://codex.wordpress.org/Administration_Panels
For now, let’s start customizing the settings of our new WordPress site.
Customize Your Settings
In the Settings Administration Panel you can adjust the settings which determine how your site behaves, how you interact with your site, and how the rest of the world interacts with your site.
Go ahead and click on the “Settings” tab in your navigation:
The Settings General SubPanel is the default SubPanel in the Settings Administration Panel:
The Settings General SubPanel controls some of the most basic configuration settings for your site. Here you can set your site’s title, location, who may register an account at your blog, and how dates and times are calculated and displayed.
See Also: http://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_General_SubPanel
Use the Settings Writing SubPanel to control the interface you use when writing new posts:
The Settings Writing SubPanel controls WordPress’s features in the Add Posts/Edit Posts SubPanels, as well as the optional functions like Remote Publishing, Post via e-mail, and Update Services.
See Also: http://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_Writing_SubPanel
The options in the Settings Reading SubPanel are few in number, but still important:
You can decide if you want posts, or a “static” Page, displayed as your blog’s front (main) page. You can also adjust how many posts are displayed on that main page. In addition, you can adjust syndication feed features to determine how the information from your site is sent to a reader’s web browser or other applications.
See Also: http://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_Reading_SubPanel
The Settings Discussion SubPanel allows you to set the options concerning comments (also called discussion):
It is here the administrator decides if comments are allowed, if pingbacks and trackbacks are acceptable, and what constitutes Comment Spam. On this SubPanel you also control the circumstances under which your blog sends you e-mail notification of certain events at your site.
See Also: http://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_Discussion_SubPanel
The Settings Media SubPanel controls the various settings related to images and other media that are used in writing posts and pages:
The sizes determine the maximum dimensions in pixels to use when inserting an image into the body of a post.
See Also: http://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_Media_SubPanel
The Settings Privacy SubPanel control your blog’s visibility to search engines, such as Google and Technorati:
You can decide if you would like your blog to be visible to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Sphere, Technorati) and archivers, or not. If you don’t want your blog available to the search engines you can block search engines, but allow normal visitors to see your site.
See Also: http://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_Privacy_SubPanel
The Settings Permalink SubPanel offers you the ability to create a custom URL structure for your permalinks and archives:
This can improve the aesthetics, usability, and forward-compatibility of your links.
See Also: http://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_Permalinks_SubPanel
The file upload, links update tracking, and support for custom “hacks” features can be controlled from Settings Miscellaneous SubPanel:
WordPress has so many features, that some of them defy categorization.
See Also: http://codex.wordpress.org/Settings_Miscellaneous_SubPanel
This portion of the Premium Design Works website is written by Mike Sinkula and dedicated to the Web Design & Development students at Seattle Central Community College. 
3 Comments:
Leave a Comment:
Hello there,
This is a inquiry for the webmaster/admin here at wordpress.org.
May I use part of the information from your post right above if I provide a link back to your website?
Thanks,
Peter
Permalinks are the permanent URLs to your individual weblog posts, as well as categories and other lists of weblog postings. A permalink is what another weblogger will use to refer to your article (or section), or how you might send a link to your story in an e-mail message. Because others may link to your individual postings, the URL to that article shouldn’t change. Permalinks are intended to be permanent (valid for a long time).
Blogroll:
The blogroll is where you link to the blogs you read frequently – a friendly way of acknowledging the good blogs out there. WordPress’ built-in Links Manager allows you to add and manage links effortlessly