August 16, 2017 – 4:56 am
I was asked by a student in my WordPress class recently what defined a “professional blog,” one that met all the criteria for a well-designed, well-formed site that met web standards. What a marvelous question! We brainstormed all the elements that make up a web standard site, and mixed in personal preferences of the students […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, Web Design, WordPress Themes, WordPress Tips
| Tags: blog design, blog design tips, blog exercises, branding, fonts, multimedia, professional site, readability, site design, site design tips, Usability, video, Web Design, web design tips, web standards, whitespace |
February 22, 2016 – 4:07 am
I’ve just finished five years of teaching non-stop college and community education workshops and programs on WordPress for beginners, novices, experts, web designers, web developers, web programmers, and those who think they know everything but still realize they have a lot to learn. I love that last group as they are willing to learn and […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in WordPress, WordPress News, WordPress Themes, WordPress Tips
| Tags: blogging, blogging tips, wordpress advice, wordpress content, wordpress customization, wordpress help, wordpress installation, wordpress organization, wordpress setup, wordpress structure, WordPress Tips |
February 18, 2016 – 9:25 am
WordPress.com sent an email alert out to WordPress.com users today stating that there was a technical issue with sites set to be hidden from search engines. Unfortunately, they’ve assumed that this is not what someone would want and they’ve turned on the site visibility to ensure search engines will find the site. Hi there, We […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Announcements, WordPress, WordPress News, WordPressDotCom
| Tags: expertiment site, hidden site, private site, sandbox site, search engines, site visibility, test site, WordPress News, wordpress.com, wordpress.com news |
On the test site for Lorelle’s WordPress School free online course you started a five part article series, each one exploring different content features and functions of WordPress. So far, you’ve explored lists, headings, preparing images to upload to WordPress, the visual and text editors, embedding video, creating a gallery, blockquotes and citations, and the […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in WordPress, WordPress School, WordPress Tips, Writing
| Tags: article series, article series links, internal links, intrasite links, learn wordpress, link to a post, links, post links, table of contents, web writing, wordpress guide, wordpress help, WordPress News, wordpress school, WordPress Tips, wordpress tutorials, writing for the web |
February 6, 2015 – 5:30 am
To participate in Lorelle’s WordPress School, you will need a test site to experiment and play on. This is a site that is not accessible and viewable by the general public, your private playground to experiment and break your WordPress site, but accessible by anyone with a link to the site, which makes it great […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in WordPress, WordPress School
| Tags: experimental site, learn wordpress, test site, wordpress guide, wordpress help, WordPress News, wordpress school, wordpress test environment, wordpress tutorials, wordpress.com, wordpress.com site |
February 2, 2015 – 4:55 am
Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. Tony Robbins A website is an intangible, a virtual nothing in which we create something tangible to human perception. When it boils right down to it, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little created nothing with WordPress. WordPress isn’t a physical object you can […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in WordPress, WordPress School
| Tags: learn wordpress, site content, site information, site master plan, site organization, wordpress guide, wordpress help, WordPress News, wordpress school, wordpress tutorials, worksheets |
January 16, 2015 – 2:08 pm
DISCOUNT: Lorelle is offering her popular site reviews for 50% off during 2015 as part of her WordPress School year-long project teaching the basics of WordPress. The discount code is found in the introduction materials. Lorelle VanFossen offers three levels of site reviews, specifically for WordPress sites. The prices are the starting prices for the […]
In this part of my series on WordPress For Writers, I’ll cover the basic things to consider when using WordPress on site promoting the work of writers and authors. For more on the subject, see other articles in the WordPress for Writers and Authors series. This article assumes you have some basic familiarity with WordPress […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Blogging, blogging tips, WordPress, WordPress News, WordPress Tips, Writing
| Tags: author sites, author websites, web writing, wordpress, wordpress for authors, wordpress for writers, WordPress News, WordPress Tips, writer sites, writer websites, Writing, writing for the web |
December 5, 2013 – 2:13 pm
I recommended an article to a student and they said they didn’t trust that site, thus shed doubt on my personal integrity. I asked why. “Because it’s on Blogspot.” Wow. I have to say that wasn’t the answer I expected. I didn’t expect someone, not web savvy in the least, would associate a blogger on […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, Web Design, WordPress, Writing
| Tags: blog exercises, blogger, blogspot, content, every pixel matters, first impression, google, impressions, respect, spam, spam blog, spam site, splog, trust, trustworthy, Web Design, wordpress |
November 9, 2013 – 4:41 am
Two questions on the same day triggered this blog exercise. I was asked by a student in my WordPress class recently what defined a “professional blog.” I told him it was one that met all the criteria for a well-designed, well-formed site that met web standards. This is a good definition, but lacked specifics. A […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, Web Design, WordPress, Writing
| Tags: authority, blog authority, blog exercises, blogging tips, brand, branding, content, credibility, design, good content, good site, professional site, reputation, social media, social web, trust, Web Design, what makes a good site, what makes a professional site, what makes someone trust a website, wordpress |
September 25, 2013 – 4:05 am
Today’s blog exercise will require a little time, magnifier, and a score card. Well, maybe not one of those items. I want you to grab a piece of paper and load up the front page of your site in a browser. Zoom in so you can really see it up close and personal. Start counting. […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, Web Design, WordPress, WordPress Themes
| Tags: blog exercises, design, design clutter, design elements, graphic designs, graphics, logos, photos, pictures, sidebar, site clutter, social media, social media icons, visual clutter, visual elements, Web Design, web development, widgets, wordpress, WordPress Themes |
September 23, 2013 – 4:41 am
In “WordPress Site Models” I describe the three main formats for a site layout. They are static, blog, and hybrid. Each site model works for a variety of content and presentation of that content, though some work better for specific types of sites. A static site model, even in WordPress, uses Pages and not posts […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, WordPress, WordPress Themes, WordPress Tips
| Tags: blog exercises, blog model, blogging tips, dynamic model, hybrid model, hybrid site model, layout, site layout, site models, site organization, static site, static site model, static website, Web Design, web development, wordpress, wordpress site models, WordPress Themes, WordPress Tips |
August 21, 2013 – 4:46 am
Yesterday a long-time client called me up in tears saying, “I can’t do this any more. My site design owns me, I don’t own it. It’s too confusing. It’s too much work!” Several years ago, she’d chosen a Magazine-style WordPress Theme. The structure was based upon the standard magazine-style, sticky posts for the slider/carousel at […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, Web Design, WordPress, WordPress Themes, WordPress Tips
| Tags: blog exercises, blogging, blogging tips, carousels, design elements, front page, front page design, front page web design, front pageview, publishing posts, publishing task list, publishing tips, publishing to do list, site design elements, sliders, task list, tasks, Web Design, web publishing, web publishing tips, wordpress, wordpress designs, WordPress Themes, WordPress Tips, writing posts, writing tips |
August 14, 2013 – 4:12 am
Early on in these Blog Exercises I asked you to clarify what you do and how you share your purpose on your site, what your target audience is, and review the why of why you blog and self-publish on the web. Hopefully you’ve had time over the past few months to digest those thoughts, evaluate […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, Writing
| Tags: blog exercises, blog goals, blog maintenance, blog management, blog planning, blogging goals, content management, dreams, goal setting, goals, management, mission statement, organization, plan, planning, projects, purpose, site goals, site maintenance, site organization |
The concept of the World Wide Web is based upon linking, the web of connections that link web pages together like a spider web. There are external links, connecting one site to another, and intrasite links, connecting web pages together within a single site. Today’s blog exercise is focused on the latter, intrasite links. Intrasite […]
By Lorelle VanFossen
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Posted in Blog Exercises, Blogging, blogging tips, WordPress, WordPress News, WordPress Tips, Writing
| Tags: backlinks, blog exercises, blog writing, blog writing tips, blogging exercises, blogging tips, community, connectivity, content, copyright, copyright infringement, copyright violations, linking, links, orphan pages, orphans, reference links, search engines, seo, trackbacks, web writing, wordpress, WordPress News, WordPress Tips, Writing, writing for the web |