All Entries in the "Tutorials" Category
WordPress 3.0 Menu Manager
If you have recently updated your sites to WordPress 3.0 you probably haven’t noticed a huge difference in the functionality of your site. That is because even though WordPress 3.0 comes with some awesome new functions, unless your theme supports those functions you won’t be able to use them. Anyone who has read my sites knows I’m a huge fan of the SoloStream themes. Michael Pollack the smart designer behind the original SoloStream has created updates for all of their premium themes, so that we can take advantage of all of the new function in WordPress 3.0 with the premium themes we are already using.
One of the new functions that really stands out is the menu manager. With 3.0 we can create custom top and category navigational menus. We can even create custom links and drop then into any navigation window. Anyone who has ever tried to create a page that is just a link in the past will appreciate this function. For instance have you ever used an older theme that didn’t have a home page? With the custom menu button you can easily create a home page custom link.
The category and navigational pages can be reordered in a drag and drop fashion. You can even create subcategories and parent child pages. These new functions brings WordPress one step closer to being an inclusive CMS. If you want to use these functions you need to make sure your theme supports them. The new 2010 supports all of the new functions, if you are using a premium theme make sure it supports 3.0 or has an upgrade available.
Here is a SoloStream video that gives a great visual example of how to use the new menu manager. Below that video is a WordPress video that highlights the new functions of 3.0
Popularity: 8% [?]
Edit Images Within The WordPress Image Editor
Uploading images and videos in WordPress is so much easier than it used to be. To add an image just click on new post and upload insert and go from there. You can even upload headers and banner images just by uploading and then copying the image url. In fact you can even edit images within WordPress now. I was going to make a quick video about this, but instead I found a video by my favorite theme designer, Michael Pollack.
Popularity: 12% [?]
How To FTP Using FileZilla
Most seasoned webmasters are very familiar with FTP, but sometimes people new to the web are a little intimidated by using FTP. After awhile this will become second nature. But for those people just getting started here is a brief tutorial.
First off you need to download an FTP client. I would recommend FileZilla, it is free and works really well. FileZilla has recently come out with a new server edition of FileZilla but the client version is all you really need at this time.
If you want to learn more about using the Server edition of FileZilla you can read this tutorial by LifeHacker, but keep in mind that FTP is not secure so you will want to run your server over a VPN, you can do this with an application like Hamachi.
Once you have FileZilla installed, using it is a breeze. The first thing you do is enter your Host Name which is simply yourdomain.com you can also use your site’s IP address. Then you enter your cPanel user name and your cPanel password. Some people get this mixed up with their WordPress user name and password, but it is your cPanel info.
If you are not using cPanel hosting then it is the ftp user name and password of your site. Usually the port is port 21, so you can just leave that blank and it will default to port 21. Click on Quickconnect and you should be connected to the server where your website is hosted.
Another way to log in to your site is to use the Site Manager. This is my preferred way because the site manager will save your info and automatically log you in to your site just by clicking on the sites name in site manager. When you have multiple domains this is definitely a time saver.
If you would like to save your login info using the site manager, click on the site manager icon. Then click on New Site. Enter the name you want to use to identify your site. Then enter yourdomain.com into the host name, change the logontype to Normal, and enter your cPanel user name and password. Click on connect and you will be connected to the server your website is hosted on, and the info will be saved. So next time you want to access this server just click the scroll down arrow of the Site Manager and click on your sites name.
Once you are logged into the server of your site it is just a matter of finding where you want the file to go on the left side of the screen and finding the file you want to transfer on the right side of the screen. You can just drag and drop the files you want to transfer. Another nice thing about FTP is the files you move are copies so the original file stays intact. You can use this to edit files on your server.
Just drag the file you wish to edit to your desktop, make the necessary changes and then when you drag it back to the right side you will be prompted to overwrite the original file. Just say yes. The dragging and dropping is pretty simple, but I have been experimenting with Jing a little, so I made a quick screen cast.
Hint: For better viewing click on the full screen icon in the bottom right corner of the video. To exit full screen hit the escape key.
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Popularity: 28% [?]
How To Move A Blog
Moving a WordPress blog, can be a little more complicated than moving a static site, because of the WordPress database.
If your current blog is on cPanel, the easiest way is to use cPanel to create a full backup, and then have the hosting company of the new user install it for you.
You may be able to ftp it to your pc, and then email it to them, or even better remote ftp to a file on their server. Unless you have a dedicated server and shell access, you won’t be able to install the files yourself.
Another easy way is to give your hosting company access to the cPanel of the site you want to move. That way they can download whatever files they need to do the transfer.
Once the site files are transferred then you can change the dns of the domain to point to the new hosting server.
If you are not using cPanel, or want to do the install yourself you can follow these steps:
1. Download the site files (everything in public html)
2. Download database tables using PHPmyadmin http://web.archive.org/web/20080822132551/http://www.clearpointsystems.com/wp04/?page_id=18
3. Create an account on the new host.
4. Create a new database on the new account.
5. Write down the new database name, user name, and password.
6. Import the tables from your backup into your new database.
7. In the site files you downloaded find wp-config.php, edit this file so that the database name, user name, and password are the same as the ones you wrote down for the new database. Also make sure the db host matches with HostGator it will be localhost.
8. Upload these site files to the new server. When the dns changes you will know if it worked.
This will work in most cases. But there is a limitation to the size of the database you can transfer this way. So if it is a very large site you will still have to email your hosting company and have them install the database for you.
I usually use DreamWeaver to edit wp-config.php but you can use a text editor such as notepad, then use ftp to overwrite the old file.
Popularity: 46% [?]
