Blogging 102Getting Customized!

Choosing your theme

• A WordPress Theme is the design of your blog. Much like every magazine has its own unique design, so do blogs.– you can easily preview and activate standard

themes from the Appearance > Themes area of your blog’s dashboard.

Choosing your theme

Here’s an example of a “photo blog” format using the the “Monotone” theme

Choosing your theme

Here’s an example of a “news blog” format using a three-column theme

Choosing your theme

• What is the goal of my blog?• What kind of vibe do I want to set for my

readers?• Is my blog personal or professional?• Do I want to display wide-format photos,

images or videos?• Do I want to customize my header? – The header is the big top area of the blog; some

themes allow you to add images or design that header all on your own

How to activate your theme• When signed in, make your way

to Appearance > Themes to browse the collection of WordPress themes from your dashboard.

How to activate your theme• Select Feature Filters if you want to narrow your

theme search by color, column number, width, or features.

Adding Widgets

• After choosing a theme, you might want to further customize your blog by adding “widgets.” Widgets are mini-applications that allow you to quickly and easily add content and special features to your blog’s sidebar. – Go to Appearance > Widgets in your dashboard.

It’s worth exploring the Widget area and finding the ones you like.

Why Widgets?

• You can… – add a Search button– add a link to your Twitter feed– add a widget that shows your most popular posts

Activate a Widget

• Drag it from the main portion of the widget page, and drop it into the sidebar section on the right of the widgets page.

• Adjust settings by clicking the down arrow.

• Be sure to hit save and close when you’re done with a widget.

Example

Bonus Round: Add a blogroll

• Add a Blogroll by using the Links widget.• Go to Appearance > Widgets in your dashboard

Add a blogroll: create link categories• You can also create new link categories if you want to

organize links by topic.

Resources

• http://learn.wordpress.com/• http://wordpress.org/support/• http://codex.wordpress.org/

New_To_WordPress_-_Where_to_Start• http://theory.isthereason.com/?p=499• http://wordpresshelp.org/

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