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How To for Newbie

  1. englishoke
    Member

    I just figured out how to post!

    OK. I want to have a simple blog with a sidebar that has links to other pages or posts, links to PDFs, and a subscribe button for iTunes (haven't even started to figure out how to link up that with the host of the bandwidth and feedburner? . . . yike). I also see that some people don't have the WP icon/badge in the address bar. Can I change that too? I'm using a free version right now (on a Mac). I can do most of this stuff in blogger with page elements, but I can't figure out how to do any of it with WP. I'd like to use this because it looks a lot nicer and if I expand, I'll have somewhere to expand into. Tnx.

    ps I've been able to find simple descriptions of what things are, but not how to use them.

  2. drmike
    Member

    Where is your blog please? I ask since you're linking to a blogger blog and I note that there's no blog here at wp.com with your username.

  3. englishoke
    Member

    Ah yes, I did it again:

    http://naturalspeed.wordpress.com

  4. drmike
    Member

    I deleted the nonsense about the browser. They're not stating that they have a problem with their browser, they're asking how to do stuff.

  5. englishoke
    Member

    I haven't uploaded anything yet. I did with blogger (englishoke.com--it's an English for non-native speakers site). It was easy; just highlight the text and hit the link button... When I add a text widget to the sidebar in WP, it just gives me the option to write text. There's no formatting tool bar.

  6. englishoke
    Member

    Yes. That's right.

  7. timethief
    Member

    Beginner's Instructions http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=11280
    Here you will find tubetorials on how to post, edit and select themes. You will also find links to all the basic resources available.
    understanding your Blogroll, Links widget and Categories
    understanding widgets and how to set them up
    insert an image in a text widget

    If you're trying to insert links from your posts to the iTunes store through Apple's affiliates program then you need to read this http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=5083

  8. drmike
    Member

    The text widget is plain html. Just put the html that you need in there. The formatting is done already within the theme's css.

    I also see that some people don't have the WP icon/badge in the address bar.

    Actually here at wp.com, they do. Please provide a link to where you don't see this. (Please always remember to do that as it helps. Not just here but anywhere you go on the net) It's called a favicon just for reference.

    itunes - what kind of code is this that you're trying to add in? Can you post it here between backticks? That's the key above the tab key and to teh left of hte '1' key on a standard PC keyboard. Not sure exactly where it is on a mac. Looks like this -> ' but slanted.

  9. englishoke
    Member

    Thank you but over my head. The only HTML I've used in 25 years is a copy and paste to put in a paragraph break. (Word processing used to be what we now call HTML--don't remember a thing, have to use a cheat sheet.) On the Mac, the location you're talking about is ` or ~ with the shift key. (At least now I know what a backtick is.) Can't find it on my Mac. Thanks for the favicon info. BTW, right now there is a globe favicon. In sunny So Cal it hurts to be inside racking my brain on this. Thank you both for the links, I will definitely revisit this after a walk and hope there is more on it later.

    Oh yeah. As I mentioned, haven't even begun to figure out what I need to do with iTunes since I can't even figure out how to post anything linked in my sidebar. One step at a time, and the iTunes one is a big one.

  10. raincoaster
    Member

    If you want to post links and such in your sidebar, you should freshen up your HTML knowledge. You'll be needing it.

    There's a workaround, though.

    All the stuff you want to put in a text widget, put it in a regular Write Post, as if you were going to make a blog post out of it. Add links, pictures, whatever, re-size the things that can be re-sized, whatever you like. Then click over to the Code tab, COPY all of the code, save the post as a draft, and paste the code in a text widget. Once you've checked it out and made sure it's working, you can delete the draft.

  11. englishoke
    Member

    Very clever. I'll try it!

  12. englishoke
    Member

    Brilliant. I tried it and I think that's going to solve that problem, which was my main and biggest one. Now I have to figure out why my tag line isn't showing and if and how I can change the color of it and move the photo image (maybe can't on that last one). I read some FAQs on color that helped for changing the header color and adding the photo. Tnx again.

    http://naturalspeed.wordpress.com

  13. timethief
    Member

    (1) Tagline - not all themes have taglines
    (2) Changing fonts
    You cannot change font colours or sizes in the title area without purchasing a css customization upgrade and doing the work yourself. And you indicated you were not expereinced with html so I'm assuming the same is true of css.
    (3) When it comes to font changes in the text in posts this is available http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/06/12/can-i-change-my-font-font-size/
    (4) Some themes allow for custom headers and some don't
    http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/07/08/which-themes-can-i-add-a-header-image-to/
    The theme you have does is not listed as allowing for a full width custom header.

  14. englishoke
    Member

    Thanks. I read that (the second link you referred to) before and was able to make some changes to my header: the ones I mentioned. The tag line is there in the editor but not posted on the site. I'll check out the first link you mentioned. Eventually, maybe I'll be able to purchase and learn to use CSS. I hate to keep referring back to blogger, but I can change the color there just like in a word processor. There are a lot of options here too, but I don't see color. I may try to drop in something from Word that's already in color and see what happens.

  15. raincoaster
    Member

    If the tag line is in the editor but you don't see it on the site, maybe you just need to clear out your internet cache and reload the page; you could be looking at an old version.

    No, you can't change the looks of things substantially here without buying the CSS upgrade. The reason is that the actual software powering our blogs is shared, so if you made changes to the template it would change things for everyone using the template.

    We are well aware of the differences between WordPress.com and Blogger.

    And, seriously, in the name of GOD do not paste from Word. Don't even think about it. You have no idea what that will do to your HTML.

  16. englishoke
    Member

    I'm laughing, but I'm taking your advice quite seriously. I'm not a Microsoft anything fan, but I use Word because it's industry standard. Don't have to paste it here though, although with my word files, I don't see another way unless I just paste PDFs instead. Color isn't the most important thing but I do like the colors I'm able to use for posting links, etc. in blogger (englishoke.com). Thanks again. You're a good teacher.

    BTW, the tag line has never showed (in the past three days that I've been doing this?) on the site with this layout. Cheers.

  17. timethief
    Member

    I'm glad to hear the links I provided above were useful.
    Only some themes are actually hardcoded to provide taglines. And you chose one that does not show it. You can check here to confirm this http://internetducttape.com/2006/10/02/wordpress-theme-review-light-rubrick-solipsus-supposedly-clean/

    Don't copy and paste from WORD http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/11/09/why-not-to-use-word/

    You can upload pdf's and Word docs just the same way you upload images http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/05/07/what-filetypes-can-i-upload/

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