Getting Help With wordpress.com

In an earlier post, I talked about the different versions of WordPress available, and I want to direct your attention to where you can get help for the different versions. Some of the help crosses the lines between versions.

WordPressMU

While WordPressMU is the power behind wordpress.com, and the software running it is an alpha version of WordPress 1.6, if you are a host or want to host a WordPressMU site, then all the help you need can be found at http://mu.wordpress.org, the WordPressMU Support Forum. The issues handled there relate to installation, and care and feeding of WordPressMU sites.

While WordPress 1.6 and WordPressMU continue to be in alpha and beta testing, it is best to report problems and issues you may have with wordpress.com there, or through the new Feedback button on each of the Administration Panels in WordPress.

wordpress.com

Bloggers using wordpress.com are limited in what they can and can’t do. You can choose a WordPress Theme but not adjust or edit it. You can create as many Pages and Categories as you like, and you can post whatever you want, including images, podcasts, music, and other media. What you cannot do is get under the hood of WordPress and manipulate it to your heart’s desire. That’s for the full version of WordPress.

For help on passwords, access, error messages, and problems with Themes and posting, contact your host server, be it wordpress.com or one of the other hosts offering WordPressMU blogging services.

As WordPress 1.6 is still in alpha-testing, it is best to ask questions and find answers in the WordPressMU Support Forum. But there are a few other places where you can also get help to understand what you can do and how it all works, like in the WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress users. Some of the following cover the full version of WordPress, but they also apply to various features found in wordpress.com.

• Introduction to Blogging
• First Steps With WordPress
• WordPress Semantics – Learning the Jargon and Terminology of WordPress
• Writing Posts in WordPress
• HTML to XHTML – Learning the Difference
• Understanding Pseudo-Static Pages in WordPress
• Understanding WordPress Feeds
• How to Write Code in WordPress Posts
• Blog by Email
• WordPress Administration Panels (core content is the same – the look is a little different)
• Writing Posts in WordPress
• Podcasting With WordPress
• Linking to WordPress Posts, Pages, and Categories
• Using Smilies in WordPress
• Understanding WordPress Admin Discussion Options for Comments
• Using WordPress Links Manager – The Blogroll
• WordPress Current Events Information
• WordPress Development Blog – Information on WordPress in General
• WordPressMU Development Blog
• Finding More WordPress Help and Tips

Full WordPress

Just about everything you want to know about WordPress can be found on the WordPress Support Forum and the WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress users.

With the full version of WordPress, you can customize and change just about everything and anything. Sometimes that freedom ends of breaking your blog, so take care to read the many instructions, help, tips, and advice found on the Forum and the Codex. WordPress member volunteers have worked overtime to make sure that the Forum and Codex are as helpful as possible, so search first as you are probably not the first with this problem, and ask on the Forum if you need more help.

To help you find specific information, the WordPress Codex is divided up into related areas:

• Getting Started With WordPress – Installation and First Steps
• Working With WordPress – Installation and Posting
• WordPress Blog Design and Layout and Theme Development
• WordPress Lessons and Tutorials
• Advanced Topics for Advanced WordPress Users
• Troubleshooting WordPress
• WordPress Developer Documentaton
• About WordPress
• Lorelle’s WordPress Resources for even more information on WordPress
• Finding More WordPress Help and Tips

Getting Involved and Contributing to WordPress

For the most part, just about everything the user gets with WordPress is free and developed by volunteers who do the programming, code writing, documentation writing and editing, answering questions on the forum, promoting WordPress, and…okay, you get the point. The whole thing is open source and run by volunteers.

If you want to help WordPress, there are many ways to contribute your time, effort, and money. Come join the fun as a member of the WordPress Community.