Content management system

Adding a new Category in WordPress

WordPress is the best and most versatile CMS software available today. What has contributed to the success of WordPress is the ability of amateur bloggers and website owners to create their very own custom website with complete features allowing them to provide features and options that can rival those of professional websites.

One such feature is that of adding categories to WordPress. Making a category is an extremely useful method of grouping together related posts. Categories work similar to tags but work in a much broader sense and make it easier for search engines to find your content. Categories may be displayed on your WordPress blog either at the top or the bottom, depending upon the theme that has been selected. Categories are highly effective tools to organize your content on your blog and provide it with a certain structure.

The very first step is to log in to your WordPress site as Administrator and access the dashboard.

The most basic method of adding categories or assigning them to posts is to do it while you are creating the post. This method works best if you have been using the WordPress site for a while and already have a pre-established structure and hierarchy to your categories.

You can even add a new category straight from the panel at the right. For existing categories, you can simply select the one which is most relevant to your post by ticking the checkbox next to it.

In case you have uploaded multiple posts onto your blog or site and neglected to categorize it, you can do so at a later date. In this case, you will have to access categories through the dashboard. Hover over the Posts options to reveal a menu which will contain the Categories option.

Clicking on Categories will lead you to a page where you can add a name and description to a new category. Once you have completed the required information, you will click on the blue Add New Category button. Existing categories will be displayed in a panel on the right of the page.

You can always manage categories from the panel on the right. Hovering over the category will display multiple actions that you can take on the category. You can edit, delete or view the category in question.

Clicking on Edit will lead you to another page where you can modify the specifics of the category. Changes to the category will be applied throughout every post that you have added to the category.

How to Install WordPress Manually

WordPress is perhaps the most popular Content Management System available for use today. The versatility, flexibility and customizability of WordPress is what has made it the most popular blogging platform today. WordPress can be credited with providing the local blogger with a platform to voice their opinions without the need to gather any knowledge about HTML or Web design.

Although a WordPress blog can be created entirely online, some web or blog owners may want some more control over the content of their site. In that case, WordPress allows them to manually install WordPress on to their computers and make changes to the content as they would to a website.

Install WordPress Software

The very first thing that you need to do is to visit the WordPress website and download the latest version of their software. Make sure to go to WordPress.org rather than WordPress.com.

Once you’ve downloaded the WordPress kit, you will need to locate the package and extract it to a new folder.

Upload Files to Server

These files will then have to be uploaded to the web server. In order to upload the installation files you’ll have to use FTP (File Transfer protocols). This will have to be done using a client application such as cPanel or Filezilla. Upload files to the public_html folder if this WordPress installation will be the main one for the website. A subfolder may also be created in order to run the website partially.

Set up the MySQL Database

Select the MySQL Database wizard which will guide you through the entire procedure.

Once you’ve followed through the instructions by the wizard about how to create a MySQL database, you’ll be required to enter the name of the database, the username and the password. This information should be kept somewhere safe since it’ll be required at a later point during the installation. Make sure that the user has all privileges assigned to the database.

Begin Installation

Open up your internet browser and try to access the new domain that you have just created. If you see an error message on the screen s follows, you have successfully installed WordPress.

“There doesn’t seem to be a wp-config.php file. I need this before we can get started.”

Click the Create a Configuration File button in order to proceed to the next step.

Enter you Credentials

The next page should ask for the credentials that you were asked to remember or keep safe. These include your Database name, username, password, host and the table prefix. Hit the ‘Lets Go’ button to proceed.

Enter the credentials in the form that will be displayed on the next page and click Submit.

WordPress will then verify the settings and make sure that they are accurate. If the information has been correctly entered in the previous screen, you will be shown a confirmation screen. Click the Run the Install button.

The next page will ask you for user information, email address and the password that you will use to log in to your WordPress account. The privacy checkbox in the end is to make sure that the website is completely ready before it start showing up in search engine results/. This option may be changed at a future date upon completion of the site.

Once you’ve filled out the user information, simply click the Install WordPress button to finish the installation process.

You should now be able to see a cheeky success page upon completion. Click Log in to begin customizing your site.

Installing Drupal Themes

One of the most popular Content Management Systems (CMS), Drupal provides flexibility and versatility to users who have no specific knowledge when it comes to blog or sit creation, enabling them o make professional looking pages in no time. This ability and user friendliness is what attributes to the rise in the success of Drupal.

Once you’ve created a blog on Drupal, it would be looking a little forlorn with the default blue and white colors of the site. In order to customize it, you will need to install a theme according to your preferences and the nature of the content that you will be uploading to the page.

Locate themes

You can search for a theme in Drupal’s own directory where a multitude of themes have been installed. You can either browse through or select the theme that you prefer or enter a search query according to your requirements.

Once you’ve selected the theme that you would like to install onto your Drupal blog, click on the zip file to download it to a location onto your computer.

Make sure that the version is compatible with the Drupal version that you are using.

Log In as Admin

Once you have obtained the file for the theme that you are going to install, you need to up-load it to Drupal in order to apply it to the blog. Log in to your Drupal site as admin and click on the Dashboard. Click on ‘Appearance’ and then on ‘Install new themes’.

At this point you will be prompted to either provide a URL linking to the desired theme or to upload a file. Since we’ve downloaded a theme to the computer, we’ll select the second option. Click Browse to locate the file and click the Install button at the bottom of the page.

Enable the Theme

Once installed, a message will be displayed on screen notifying you of the successful installation of the theme. The next two steps will also be outlined within the window.

Visit the ‘themes’ page on your dashboard and locate the Disabled themes. The recently installed theme should now show within the list

Click the Enable and Set Default link in order to apply the theme to the blog.

Drupal is highly flexible an easy to use when it comes to customization. With this feature you can change the look of your blog whenever you choose. You can always disable the theme; install a new one or even enable a previously installed theme.

Posting Content on Drupal

Once you’ve created a blog using Drupal and customized it according to a particular theme, you need to add content to it in order to drive traffic towards your blog. Content is the most important aspect of any blog, site or page. The importance of content has also been realized by marketers who try to create compelling and engaging content that will drive customers towards their site. Even if you are a personal blogger, the motive of your blog would be to get your thought to a certain audience. This audience can only be gathered by posting quality content.

Add a Page

Make sure that you are signed in as an administrator on your Drupal blog. On the main page, under the dashboard you will see a button stating, ‘Add Content’.

A display window will then pop up prompting you to select between two options. You will be asked to either create an article or a basic page.

Although the choice of content depends solely upon you and what you have to say, it’s best to create a basic page for your very first entry. This is because the site does not have any basic structure as yet which will have to be created from scratch. The procedure however is much easier than it sounds.

The article option is more suitable for an update which may pertain to a blog post, news item or other time-sensitive information. A basic page on the other hand will allow you to create a static page similar to a webpage.

Adding Text

The text that is usually entered onto a page consists of the title and a description or an article. The WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor in Drupal allows you to format the content as you create it. This is different from HTML formatting where you’re required to enter plain unformatted text.

Add Images and Video

In order to customize the article or description that you enter into the page using an image or video, you can simply add it within the WYSIWYG editor. This can be done by clicking on the Add Media option.

When adding media to your content, you can either select and upload a file from your computer, paste a link to one on a website or select one form Drupal’s image library. If you’re uploading a file from the computer, you will be required to establish the pathway to the file by clicking the Browse button next to the field. Once the image has been selected click Upload to add the image to your content.

Publish the Page

If you’re satisfied with the content that you have entered onto the page, then you can publish it for display on the website. Alternatively, you may even save a work in progress as a Draft and continue to work on it later. In order to publish the page, you can simply click on the Publish button at the bottom of the options window.