You can click any of the pictures in this article to see them in larger detail. Simply click ‘back’ in your browser to return to the article.

Open the site where your blog is located and click Log in. If your web administrator has not setup the menu to include a ‘Log in’ link and other Meta data you may want ask them about doing it, or about getting a direct link to the admin area.

Enter your username, password, and click Log In to continue.

Click New Post at the top of the screen.

This the Add New Post page, where you can add a title, content, tags, and categories to your posts. Enter a title in the box at the top. Enter your post content into the larger white box in the center. For this specific WordPress install enter words into the Post Tags box automatically plugs them into the articles keywords. Keywords are used by search engines to categorize and place your posts. Keywords should go along with whatever the content of your article is. For example if you were writing an article on baking bread you might have keywords like this: flour, baking, bread, bread yeast, brown sugar. Each phrase is separated by a comma. Entering some phrases separated by commas and clicking add will add the keywords to your article. If you blog about similar content you can click Choose from the most used tags in Post Tags and it will display your most common tags. Tags you use more often will appear in a larger font. Click any of the words or phrases to add them to your post.

The menu highlighted as 1 to 9 allows you to format your blog post. The following list explains each button by number.

• 1. Bold – Highlight some text and click the B to make your text bold.
• 2. Italic – Highlight some text and click the I to make some text Italic.
• 3. Strike Through – Highlight some text and click the ABC to Strike Through the text.
• 4. Unordered List – Creates an unordered bullet list.
• 5. Ordered List – Creates an ordered numbered list.
• 6. Blockquote – Select some text and click “ to create a Blockquote.
• 7. Align Left – Select some text and click to align it to the left.
• 8. Align Center – Select some text and click to align it to the center.
• 9. Align Right – Select some text and click to align it to the right.

A red zig zag under something you typed is telling you that your word is most likely not spelled correctly. Right click it for suggestions.

• 1. Add an Image – Click to add an image.
• 2. Add Video – Click to add video.
• 3. Add Audio – Click to add audio.
• 4. Add Media – Click to add media.
• 5. Insert Link – Highlight some text and click this to add a link. It will ask for the URL, target (like the same page, a new page, etc), and title.
• 6. Unlink – Select text that currently has a link assigned to it and click this button to remove it.
• 7. More – This is used to hide the bulk of your article from the main page of your blog. I usually write a short introduction and possibly add a photo before clicking the More button. Anything below the More tag can be read from the main page by clicking the article itself or by clicking Read the rest of this entry »
• 8. Spell Check – Click to check the spelling of your post.

This portion covers adding a photo to your post. Click the spot in your article where you would like to add the photo and then click menu item 1 Add an Image.

Select the image you would like to add from your computer and click Open to continue.

Enter an Image Title, Alternate Text, Caption, and Description. I usually skip the caption, because the caption code isn’t currently XHTML compatible as of this post.

The default settings are fine, so click Insert into Post. If you would like to change the way text wraps around your image you can click one of the options such as Left. The text will then wrap around your photo as indicated on the thumbnail. I would recommend the default of none to start with.

If all went well you should see your image in the post now.

Scroll down the page a bit to see the Categories box. Categories help you categorize your posts into categories and subcategories. Click Add New Category and enter something such as Art. Click Add.

Select your previous category from the drop box and type a subcategory into the box above it. Click add.

You can now see your category and subcategory in the box above. Any category or subcategory with a check box will be selected for the article you are creating. You can even make subcategories on top of subcategories if you wish.

In the top left Posts menu you will see Categories. Click it to open the Categories editor. Here is where you move, edit, and delete categories if you make any mistakes from the Post Editor.

Click Edit under the Posts menu to see all of the posts and drafts you currently have on the site. If you have multiple blog users you can see who created each article under the Author category. Categories, Tags, and the number of Comments on each article can also be seen from here.

This is the end of the crash course on making a WordPress post. I’ll be posting more advanced articles shortly, like how to use HTML to style your post.