One Year Anniversary Review: WordPress For Beginners

One of the first things I did as a documentation volunteer for WordPress was to help create the popular WordPress Lessons on the WordPress Codex. I believe it is critically important that users get hands-on, step-by-step basic instructions for using the most elementary aspects of WordPress. After all, WordPress is easy-to-use and is proud of it. So why not help make it even easier to use with simple, easy-to-read instructions?

I called upon other WordPress volunteers to help me write the most basic instructions on “how to” on a variety of methods of using WordPress. We helped WordPress users learn how to change their header art, customize the look and layout of their sidebar, create a post meta data section, find their WordPress Theme styles, and create custom archive, category, search, and author template files. If they didn’t know what template files were, we even had instructions to help them understand how template files work in a WordPress Theme.

My work with the WordPress Codex continues, and I’ve expanded upon a lot of basics here over the past year. Along with general news and information about WordPress and WordPress.com, I’ve written instructions on what to do with your new WordPress.com blog to help users learn how to make their first post and set up categories, explained the differences between the various WordPress versions, shared what I needed to learn about using WordPress, talked about comments and comment spam, and even offered instructions on how not to comment on comments.

To help people new to WordPress learn how to use the WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress users, I also wrote a A Guide to the WordPress Codex.

Since there is rarely a question that comes up from beginners that hasn’t been asked and answered before, I highly recommend that you search first before jumping in on the forums to ask. A lot of work has gone into answering most questions about using WordPress, and you will find some good, well-written, step-by-step instructions if you just search first.

Here is a list of articles from this blog and around WordPress to help you get started if you are just beginning to use WordPress for the first time.

• WordPress Codex
• WordPress Lessons
• Guide to Using the WordPress Support Forums
• Guide to Finding More WordPress Help
• Getting Started With WordPress
• WordPress Versions – How Many and What’s the Diff?
• What Do I Do With My New WordPress.com Blog
• A Guide to the WordPress Codex, The Online Manual for WordPress Users
• Lorelle’s WordPress Resources
• WordPress Support Forum (full version only)
• WordPress.com Support Forum
• WordPress.com Frequently Asked Questions

From the most basic instructions to the more complicated, I’ve worked hard to help beginners understand how to use WordPress. I’m always looking for new ways to help beginners understand how WordPress works and why. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Also, if you have any how to articles you would like to be included in the WordPress Codex to help WordPress users, please let me know so we can expand the Codex.

Here are some highlights of the many articles I’ve written on this blog to help beginning WordPress and WordPress.com users.

WordPress and WordPress.com For Beginners

• Getting Started With WordPress
• WordPress Versions – How Many and What’s the Diff?
• What Do I Do With My New WordPress.com Blog
• A Guide to the WordPress Codex, The Online Manual for WordPress Users
• Learning About Blogging and How to Blog
• Getting Help With wordpress.com
• Why I Choose WordPress as My CMS
• Growing Up With WordPress
• What I Needed to Learn About WordPress
• WordPress in Your Language
• Comments on Comments
• What is Comment Spam?
• A Day in the Life of a Paranoid Website Administrator
• My Daily Tasks With WordPress
• Who The Hell Are You?
• Benefits of WordPress: Choosing What You Turn On and Turn Off
• Judging Blogs by their Post Content Styles
• Make Blogging with WordPress Part of Your Daily Routine
• How Not to Blog in a Blogathon Blog
• Don’t You Know What a Feed Is Yet? Get To Know Your Feeds!
• Blogging Yourself Into a Job: Is Your Blog Your Resume?
• Ripping the Blogging Mask Off to Find a Real Person
• Blog Writing: I lk yr blg
• What Blogging Tool Do You Use and Why?
• How NOT to Comment on Comments
• Don’t Buy WordPress – It’s Free

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