WordPress: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition

Chapter 4: Creating Posts

Now that you’ve installed the WordPress software on your web host (Chapter 2) or your personal computer (Chapter 3), you’re ready to get started publishing on the web. In this chapter, you’ll go to your fledgling WordPress site and start posting content, which can be anything from bracing political commentary to cheap celebrity gossip. Along the way, you’ll learn several key WordPress concepts.

First, you’ll get comfortable in WordPress’s administration area—the central cockpit from which you pilot your site. Using the admin area, you’ll create, edit, and delete the posts that appear on your site.

Next, you’ll learn how to classify your posts by using categories and tags, so you can group them in meaningful ways. WordPress calls this art of organization taxonomy, and if you do it right, it gives your readers a painless way to find the content they want.

Finally, you’ll take a hard look at the web address (URL) that WordPress generates for every new post. You’ll learn how to take control of your URLs, making sure they’re meaningful, memorable, and accessible to search engines.

Introducing the Admin Area

The administration area (admin area for short) is the nerve center of WordPress management. When you want to add a new post, tweak your site’s theme, or review other people’s comments, this is the place to go.

The easiest way to get to the admin area is to take your WordPress website address and add /wp-admin to the end of it. For example, if you host ...