Whether you are new to WordPress or have been using it for a while, here are a few tips and tricks you may have been missing:
- Create a hyperlink in your post to reference an older post
- Pre-schedule your posts so you can have them done before you need them
- Use the eraser button on the toolbar to undo the formatting for pre-formatted text
- Use the quote button to accent text within your formatting
- Why you should always add alt text and image titles to your images
- Write in distraction-free mode when blogging
- Create menus from pages, categories, or external links
- You can share Powerpoint, Microsoft Word docs, and PDFs on your pages or posts
- Get your lists to format correctly
- Display two images side by side
- Differences between a page and a post
1. Create a hyperlink in your post to reference an older post
When you have a post that you want to link back to an older post, you simply have to highlight the words you would like to use as the link in your new post and click the Add Link icon in your toolbar. Instead of adding a URL for the old post page, click on the “Or link to existing content” dropdown and search for a word in the name of the old post. Click on the post and select Add Link.
For more explanation on linking efficiently, check out the posts below:
*Note: It is not advised to check the “Open link in a new window/tab” box unless you want the user to visit a page from another site. If you are directing them to a page on your current site, do not check the box. It can become frustrating for mobile users to have multiple windows opening if they are within the same site.
2. Pre-schedule your posts so you can have them done before you need them
Are you planning to be gone but wanted to have a post or two show up on your site during that time? You can preschedule them and not have to worry about it. Instead of publishing your post Immediately, click the Edit button next to it and you can set the date and time you want to post to appear and clIck Ok when done. Just be sure your timestamp is set to the correct time zone! If you need to change the time zone, go to Settings > General.
*Note: This feature also helps if you want to change the order of how the posts appear on the page. You can always change the publish date so if you want a post to appear higher on the page than it does, you can set the publish date to be a few minutes or days more recent than the post you want it to appear before.
3. Use the eraser button on the toolbar to undo the formatting for pre-formatted text
If you happen to copy text from another source and paste it into your post, it will often carry the formatting with it. Sometimes this makes it appear corrupted in WordPress. If this is the case, you can use the little eraser – Clear Formatting button on the tool bar to undo the previous formatting.
*Note: It is always best to use the Paste as Text button on the toolbar whenever bringing text in from an outside source so that the formatting is removed from the beginning. This will save time and hassles down the road to prevent any issues with conflicting formatting.
4. Use the quote button to accent text within your formatting
To make your quotes stand out within your content, click on the Block quote button in the toolbar.
The styling of the block quote can be changed to match your website. (Our block quotes look like this.)
Note: If you would like to discuss changing the styling, contact your Ad Director.
5. Why you should always add alt text and image titles to your images
It is recommended to always use both alt text and image titles for every image on a website. Doing this will help search engines discover the image and can make people more likely to stumble upon your blog post when they are searching in Google images. Adding alt text and image titles also will improve the accessibility of your site and explain the image to people with disabilities.
The Alt text will appear inside the image container when the image is unable to be displayed or cannot be found. This text helps the search engines understand what the image is about. Search engines focus mainly on alt text as a ranking factor for images, however, they do also focus some on the title text so they are also important. Always write descriptive and helpful text that describes the image for the alt text. It is best to not match the alt text and the title text exactly. The alt text is to describe what the image is of, the title text is the title of the image. The title text is what will appear if the user mouses over the image on the site. When a screen reader comes to an image, it will read the title of the image which allows the user to know why an image was added if they are unable to see it.(Example: If you have an image of two kids building a sandcastle on the beach on a sunny day, you could set the Alt text as “two children building sandcastles on a beach”, but set the Title text to be “Kids enjoying a sunny day at the beach”)
To Add Alt Text
Upload the image and add a detailed description of the image in the Alt Text box
To Add Title Text
The Title box above the Alt Text box IS NOT where you want to add the title text. (This box is is the title of the file name that was uploaded to WordPress and is used only by WordPress to located the correct file. Do not change this name.) To add a title text, you will want to click on the edit button for your image in the editor.
Click on the dropdown arrow for Advanced Options and add the Title Text in the Image Title Attribute box.
For more explanation on Alt & Title Text, check out the post below:
*Note: Do not try to use too many words into either the alt or title text. The best results come from using the fewest but most descriptive and helpful keywords that will describe the image. Always try to image how you would describe the photo to someone that couldn’t see the image.
6. Write in distraction-free mode when blogging
If you work best with a clean slate when writing, then you have to try the distraction-free writing mode. Simply click on the icon in the upper right corner and all the side information will disappear. To return to your original mode, click the icon again.
7. Create menus from pages, categories, or external links
Menus can be created with a combination of pages, categories and external links. WordPress uses your pages as a default menu, but you can easily change the menu to fit your needs.
Select the menu you want to edit:
Then select the pages, link, or categories you want and click Add to Menu. Drag and drop the item into the order you want them to be displayed in the Menu Structure.
For more explanation on using menus or categories efficiently, check out the posts below:
- Working With Custom Menus
- How to Create and Edit Post Categories
- How to Best Organize WordPress Posts Using Categories & Tags
8. You can share Powerpoint, Microsoft Word docs, and PDFs on your pages or posts
Upload your file through the media library just like you would a photo. The file will be inserted as a link into your post or page that opens up in a new window.
For more explanation on adding or linking a file efficiently, check out the posts below:
9. Get your lists to format correctly
WordPress automatically adds the spacing necessary to format your list so there is no need to use tabs or indented spaces when creating a list. You need to simply type out one item and hit return, type the next item and hit return and so on. When the list is finished, highlight all of it, and click on the either the bulleted or numbered list button in the toolbar. The spacing, indentation, and bullets or numbers will automatically format for you.
For more information on basic formatting of your content, check out the post below:
10. Display two images side by side
Do you ever struggle getting multiple images to appear next to each other instead of on top of each other? One way is to make sure your images are all aligned left.
If this does not fix your problem, you can try to create your multiple images into one image. Free services are available to help you do this such as PicMoney.
The best solution for multiple images is to use a gallery. We recommend using NextGen Gallery Plug-in. For more information on Galleries, check out the posts below:
- Creating a Photo Gallery
- Creating a Photo Album
- What is the difference between Galleries and Albums?
- Add an Album to Page/Post
11. Differences between a page and a post
A page is a static piece of content that is not dated or change often. Great uses for pages are your ABOUT, RESOURCES, CONTACT US pages.
A post is a dated piece of content that gets pushed out to your RSS feed. It’ll show up in readers. It also is categorized and tagged in your database differently than a page. Think of a post like a daily newspaper article and a page as a brochure for your business or blog.
For more information on pages and posts, check out the posts below: