What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source, online website creation tool with some of the most powerful and easy-to-use features in existence on the web. WordPress makes it very easy to create a professional looking website with your content, and it provides many “themes” in order to customize the visual layout and the features of your site.

How can I get it?

  1. UVM has WordPress already installed for your use by visiting http://blog.uvm.edu/. Click “create a site” and log in with your UVM NetID and password to get started. Then create a new site and call it whatever you’d like, and you can begin using WordPress! This is the simplest and quickest way to create a new WordPress website.
  2. If you’d like to use WordPress on your own domain, visit https://wordpress.org/ to get started. Download and install WordPress on your server using the “Famous 5 Minute Installation Guide” found here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress.This method of installing WordPress is more complicated, but it is also more customizable in that you can use programming languages to customize your site if you’re familiar with them.
  3. 3. A third option is setting up a website through https://wordpress.com/, which is a way to create a WordPress site without the hassle of installation. WordPress.com has a lot of built in functionality at the cost of less technical customization, but it still has a wide variety of elegant themes and features.

Visit this link to further understand some of the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org: https://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

What are themes?

Themes are like clothing for your website. You can pick from a vast array of free and paid themes provided by WordPress and 3rd parties. Themes determine the color scheme and design of your website, as well as the features that are included such as different types of navigation, image gallery layouts, etc.

Where can I find themes?

Note: Web Wizards recommend responsive themes because they have built in capabilities to scale your website to the correct size for both mobile and a monitor. Using a non-responsive theme may mean that your website doesn’t look its best on every device or browser.

A couple places to find themes:

How can I make my pictures ready for the web?

Images have to be edited so that they are the right size for putting on the web. If an image is too large, it will slow down the load time of your site. It is important to make sure your image’s resolution is the same as what it will be displayed at. For example, if you have an image that is 5000 pixels by 4000 pixels, but is only being displayed at 500 pixels by 400 pixels, then you should resize the image so that it is 500x400 pixels.

The UVM web team recommends http://ipiccy.com/ and http://www.picmonkey.com/ for free online photo editors, as well as http://www.sumopaint.com/ which is a free photo editor similar to Photoshop lite.

How do I make a banner of images at the top of my site?

There are a massive amount of WordPress Plugins available to enhance various parts of your site. One of these plugins is called “Soliloquy Lite,” which makes it easy to create a custom scrolling banner on your website which you can fill with your own images.

Link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/soliloquy-lite/

Other resources:

WordPress for Beginners: http://www.codewryter.com/wordpress-for-beginners/

Recommended tutorial videos: http://77webstudio.com/videos/

How to Start a Blog: https://www.designbombs.com/how-to-start-a-blog/

How to Make a Website in 50 mins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ETN9H9DnSg

How to Create a WordPress Theme: https://www.designbombs.com/create-wordpress-theme-introduction/

Domain Names

A domain name is essentially a purchased name for your website’s location. Apple.com, Google.com, and UVM.edu are all examples of domain names. It is important to have a short and concise domain name that clearly indicates what your website is about. Purchasing a domain name will make your website look more professional than simply using a default URL, such as yourname.wordpress.com.

To purchase a domain name:

https://www.dynadot.com/

https://www.godaddy.com/

Who can help me if I get stuck?

  1. Web Wizards
    http://www.uvm.edu/webwizrd/
    A team of students that work tirelessly to keep the CEMS portion of the UVM website running smoothly, we can help you with your WordPress issues, however we are unfortunately quite busy, so it may be better if you…
  2. Private Assistance
    Marjorie Ray is a WordPress expert who has lots of experience with the different versions of WordPress as well as plugins, themes, site maintenance, and more! She can be contacted at http://www.codewryter.com/ or by calling 802-365-9319.

How can I keep my website updated?

WordPress automatically applies minor updates to your website in order to promote better security and to streamline the experience overall. Depending on the version of WordPress you are using (.com or .org,) major updates or plugin updates may or may not be automatic. The following guide will explain how to make core and plugin updates automatic if they are not already: https://www.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress/auto-update.htm