WordPress Tutorial Video – 2024
This is an edited version of the two WordPress tutorial sessions that were held in late January of 2024. The video is divided up into chapters which will allow you to find the specific topic you want covered. To view the chapters, go to the video on YouTube by opening the video on this page and clicking on the video’s title (‘WordPress Tutorial Session – 2024’.)
Update Report: Fall of 2022
This 51 second video will give you a quick summary of all the improvements that have been made to school websites – and it’s narrated by SpongeBob!
If there are topics you want to learn more that I haven’t covered, or you have feedback about anything – please drop me a line! I will absolutely act on your suggestions or requests.
Table of Contents
- Video Tutorials
- General
- Tables (TablePress)
- Pages
- Calendar Events — **All Videos Have Been Updated for 2022**
- News Events
- Slider
- Written Tutorials
Video Tutorials
General
Updating a File (replacing an existing file)
Tables (TablePress)
Using and Updating Tables with TablePress
Pages
Creating a New Page
Editing an Existing Page
The Text Block
Adding Media
Embedding a Video
Editing Tables
Calendar Events
Create a Calendar Event
Create a Recurring Calendar Event
Deleting or Changing a Calendar Event
News Events
Create a News Event
Create an Image-Only News Post
Set an Expiry Date & Time
Slider
Updating the Slider
Linking a PDF to the Slider
Written Tutorials
Designing a Page
Start by thinking how many columns you’d like. Although there are a bunch of possible combinations, for the the sake of user experience and site consistency we should stick to one or two columns for your content.
One column is nice and simple, whereas two columns will allow you to pack more into a given space (use that power responsibly.)
There are templates for both types. You can find them by searching for ‘Template’ in the Pages section.
Using the Right Editor:
Make sure you are using the Advanced Editor – not the Default Editor. The button should show ‘Default Editor’ (see image below.)
Toolbar Toggle
There are two rows of tools, but the second row may not be visible by default. Hit the Toggle Toolbar button to see it.
Image Styling
Be careful when it comes to insert images. WordPress has the ability to give them different styles but these often won’t look the way you want and it can mess up the HTML code.
Copying and Pasting in Content
If you are taking content from another source – what you post in may not look identical to the source material. Also copying and pasting images should be avoided. See below for the proper way to add an image.
The Proper Way to Add Images
- Find an image(s) you want to use (Make sure you have the rights to those images – there are many sources of good, legally free content.)
- Save the image(s) to your local machine
- Upload the images files to WordPress.
How to Upload Images to WordPress
Click ‘Add New’ either in the Media Screen or Menu
Drag in your image(s) or hit “Select Files’ and browse to find them.
Click on the newly created image(s)
Unless the image is purely decorative, you should be entering alternative text. The text should describe the image so that those unable to view it will understand its meaning.
Click outside the Alternative Text textbox and the change will be saved. Do this to each non-decorative image you’re adding. Hit the ‘x’ when you’re done.
Tips for Writing Good Alternative Text
Below are some good tips – taken from this link. The article has more good information. If you have the time I encourage you to take a look.
How do I write good alt text?
- Describe the image as specifically as possible. Alt text is, first and foremost, designed to provide text explanations of images for users who are unable to see them. if an image truly doesn’t convey any meaning/value and is just there for design purposes, it should live within the CSS, not HTML.
- Keep it (relatively) short. The most popular screen readers cut off alt text at around 125 characters, so it’s advisable to keep it to that character count or less.
- Use your keywords Alt text provides you another opportunity to include your target keyword on a page, and thus another opportunity to signal to search engines that your page is highly relevant to a particular search query. While your first priority should be describing and providing context to the image, if it makes sense to do so, include your keyword in the alt text of at least one image on the page.
- Avoid keyword stuffing. Google won’t dock you points for poorly written alt text, but you’ll be in trouble if you use your alt text as an opportunity to stuff as many relevant keywords as you can think of into it. Focus on writing descriptive alt text that provides context to the image and if possible, includes your target keyword, and leave it at that.
- Don’t use images as text. This is less of an alt text-specific best practice and more of a general SEO-friendly web development tenet. Because search engines can’t read text within your images, you should avoid using images in place of words. If you must do so, explain what your photo says within your alt text.
- Don’t include “image of,” “picture of,” etc. in your alt text. It’s already assumed your alt text is referring to an image, so there’s no need to specify it.
Quitting Without Saving
If you accidentally change something and you don’t want the changes to be saved – just exit the editing screening without hitting the update button. Note that this will mean that all unsaved changes will be lost.
Finding Free-to-use Images
Google Image search can be a great source if you make sure you aware of proper usage rights. Click Tools – and select which type of usage you’ll looking for.
Here are more resources for free images: