Blog

Assuming you have already logged into your WordPress Dashboard we are now going to look at your WordPress Profile. Including help on editing your password and adding new users.

First thing is first – Look at the left hand sidebar and select the “Users” tab. By clicking the little arrow next to the word “Users” you will see some more options. Below is an example of how it all should look. But first you need to select “Your Profile”.

Updating your WordPress Profile

Your WordPress profile is essentially your own user profile on your own WordPress platform website. You can add information about yourself which others who view your profile can read, it will also show on your posts if you have that ability to show the info enabled on your website.

Visual Editor: The best advice is to keep this unchecked. When you make a blog post or edit or add a page on your website, there is a tab above the page which allows you to see how your post will look on the page, which is helpful if you have no understanding of HTML code.

Admin Color Scheme: This is personal preference, it will simply change the colour of your admin colour scheme, it does not make any changes to the look of your website.

Keyboard Shortcuts: Again, personal preference and will not usually be major to you. But enable shortcuts on comments. There is more info you can read next to the option to help you decide. If in doubt, leave alone.

Show Admin Bar: There are two options “when viewing site” and “in dashboard” again personal preference. If you look at the top of your page when you are logged in to your Admin dashboard in WordPress, you will see a panel at the top with some options including “Visit Site”, “Add New”, “Comments” and more. These are also subject to change with updates, but you do not need to worry about that. Anyway, if you want that bar only to show when you are in the Admin Dashboard, you need to select “in dashboard”. If you would like to see that whenever you are logged in, including when viewing your website (which makes it quicker and easier to go backwards and forwards from the frontend of your website (what the general public see) to the backend (your secure admin area in this case the admin dashboard) select “when viewing site”.

It is important to know that ONLY YOU can see the dashboard panel when viewing your website when you have selected “when viewing site”, your website visitors still see your website the normal way. To test this you can always log out and view your website.

Name

Username:

This is your own username, what you type into the “username” section to log in. It cannot be changed

First Name & Last Name:

Fill these in and something interesting happens in the next section. As I will explain. You do not have to, but you will see why it is useful next.

Nickname:

If you wish to mask your username (you might have called it “admin” for example) you can change it to something else. Next how your nickname and the previous option are worth filling out.

Display Name Publicly as:

If you have filled out the last two options, or if you have a username and filled out the next option this option comes into play. Instead of displaying your username after your blog posts, you can display your first name and last name, or just your first name etc. There is a little drop down menu now because you have edited the above info. Excellent for letting people search posts by author in an easy to follow way. Also good if you want people to do guest articles.

Contact Info

The only really important one is your email, because it is where any info from the website will go to. If it is an admin account and you change your email address, this is where all your comment updates will go to. It is also where your password info will be sent to. Your email address will also be associated with your Gravatar Photo. If you would like a photo of you or your logo to show next to your blog posts you can create a gravatar. A gravatar is a little avatar that lets people see who you are. It is easy to do, just open a free account with Gravatar to get started. The rest of the options are straight forward.

About Yourself

Tell people a little bit about yourself. This info will show if you have the option enabled in your author info in your posts.

New Password:

If you have been given a password by your web designer it is a good idea to change your password to one that is easy for you to remember.

Next Tutorial: How to add a WordPress blog post. Previous Tutorial: How to login to your WordPress Admin Dashboard