Dashboard
Posts
Posts are where you can manage your blog content. You can create, edit, and delete blog posts here.
1) All Posts: The All Posts page lists every blog post that has been created on your WordPress site — whether published, draft, scheduled, or in the trash.
2) Add New: Create a new post.
3) Categories: Organize your posts into categories.
4) Tags: Add tags to your posts to make them easier to find.
Media
The Media library is where all images, videos, and other files used on your site are stored. You can upload and organize media files here.
Add New: Upload new media files.
Pages
Pages are static content that doesn’t change often, like an About page or Contact page. This section allows you to create, edit, or delete pages.
Inside the Pages menu, you mainly find two options:
All Pages
Add New
1) All Pages
Lists all the pages on your site (published, draft, or scheduled).
Similar to the “All Posts” screen, you can:
Edit, Quick Edit, Trash, or View each page.
Bulk edit or bulk delete multiple pages at once.
Search for a specific page.
See key details: page title, author, comments (if allowed), and publish date.
2) Add New
This opens the WordPress editor where you can create a new page.
You can:
Set a title and content for your page.
Add images, videos, or blocks (if using Elementor or Gutenberg editor).
Set a featured image (optional).
Publish, schedule, or save as draft.
Choose a parent page (to create a page hierarchy like Services > Web Design).
Set page templates (depending on your theme).
Comments
The Comments section lets you manage all the feedback, discussions, and replies that visitors leave on your posts or pages.
When someone submits a comment on your site, it appears here for review and moderation.
What You Can Do in the Comments Section:
Approve a comment: Make it live on your site so everyone can see it.
Reply to a comment: Write a direct response to the commenter.
Edit a comment: Correct typos or change the content.
Quick Edit: Quickly modify small details like the commenter’s name, email, or comment text.
Mark as Spam: Move unwanted comments to the spam folder (useful for blocking spammy or inappropriate messages).
Trash: Delete comments you don’t want to keep.
Appearance
Themes
Allows you to change your site’s design by switching themes.
You can install, activate, preview, or delete themes.
WordPress offers free themes, and you can also upload premium or custom themes.
Changing a theme can dramatically alter the layout, colors, and overall style of your site.
Menus
Lets you create and manage navigation menus for your site (like your top menu or footer links).
You can:
Add pages, posts, categories, and custom links to your menus.
Arrange menu items by dragging and dropping.
Create dropdown (sub) menus for better navigation structure.
Assign menus to different locations (like header, footer, sidebar), depending on your theme.
Customize
Opens the Customizer panel, where you can edit and preview changes to your site in real time.
You can adjust settings like:
Site title, logo, and tagline
Colors, fonts, and background images
Homepage settings
Widgets and menus
Additional CSS
Some themes provide special customizer options for advanced layout and styling controls.
Theme File Editor
Allows you to directly edit your theme’s code files such as:
style.css(for styling)functions.php(for theme functions and features)Other template files (
header.php,footer.php, etc.)
Important:
Be very careful when making changes here — mistakes can break your site or make it inaccessible.
It’s recommended to use a child theme if you plan to modify theme files, so updates to the main theme don’t overwrite your changes.
Plugins
A plugin is a small software program that you can add to your WordPress site to introduce new features or enhance existing ones — without needing to write code.
Think of plugins like apps for your smartphone:
You install an app to add a new function (like a photo editor or a game).
Similarly, you install a plugin to add features to your website (like a contact form, SEO tools, security, social sharing, etc.).
Important Things About Plugins:
Free and Premium:
Some plugins are free (available in the WordPress Plugin Directory) and some are paid (premium) with more advanced features.Performance Matters:
Installing too many plugins or poorly coded plugins can slow down your site.Updates:
Plugins need regular updates for new features, bug fixes, and security patches.
Add New, Installing and Activate Plugins
You can install plugins in two ways:
Search the WordPress Plugin Directory (available directly from your dashboard).
Upload a plugin ZIP file that you’ve downloaded from another source.
After installing a plugin, you must activate it for it to start working on your site.
You can also deactivate or delete plugins you no longer need.
Plugin File Editor
Like the Theme File Editor, the Plugin File Editor allows you to:
Directly modify plugin code.
Caution:
Editing plugin files can break your site or cause plugins to stop working.
Always back up your site before making changes.
It’s safer to customize functionality using hooks or by creating a custom plugin if needed.
Users
This section manages all user accounts and permissions on your WordPress site.
Creating a User
You can create a new user account manually through the WordPress dashboard:
Go to Users > Add New.
Fill in user details (username, email, password, etc.).
Assign a role based on what permissions you want the user to have.
Optionally send the new user a notification about their account.
Deleting a User
You can delete a user if needed:
When deleting, WordPress will ask whether you want to:
Delete all their content.
Or assign their content to another user (to avoid losing posts or pages).
You can also change a user’s role instead of deleting if you just want to update their permissions.
User Roles
User roles define what actions a user can perform on your site.
The main default roles are:
Administrator: Full control over the site (can add/edit/delete everything, including themes, plugins, and users).
Editor: Can manage and publish all posts and pages, including those written by others.
Author: Can write, edit, and publish their own posts.
Contributor: Can write and edit their own posts but cannot publish them (must be reviewed by an Editor or Admin).
Subscriber: Can only manage their own profile and leave comments; mainly for membership or subscription sites.
Tools
The Tools section provides access to various utilities that help with site management, content movement, and maintenance tasks.
Main Features in Tools:
Import:
Allows you to bring content from other platforms (like Blogger, Tumblr, or another WordPress site) into your current WordPress site.
You may need to install an importer plugin depending on the platform you are importing from.
Export:
Lets you download a copy of your site’s content (posts, pages, media, etc.) in an XML file format.
This file can later be imported into another WordPress site.
Site Health:
Checks your website for performance and security issues.
Provides recommendations to improve your site’s speed, security, and overall health.
Export Personal Data / Erase Personal Data:
Helps you comply with privacy laws (like GDPR) by allowing you to handle user data requests:
Export a user’s personal data.
Erase a user’s personal data safely.
Important Note:
The tools available in this section can change depending on the plugins you have installed.
Example: A backup plugin might add its own tool here for easy access.
Settings
The Settings section controls important configuration options for your WordPress site — including your site’s basic information, how content is displayed, and how URLs are structured.
General Settings
Site Title:
The main name of your website (usually displayed in the header and browser title).Tagline:
A short description or slogan that explains what your site is about (often shown next to the Site Title).Site Icon (Favicon):
Upload a small image (512×512 pixels recommended) that appears in the browser tab and on mobile devices.Membership:
Enable this if you want anyone to register for an account on your site (useful for membership or community sites).Timezone:
Set the local time zone for your website — important for scheduling posts, event times, etc.
Reading Settings
Homepage Displays:
You can choose whether your homepage shows:
Your latest blog posts.
A static page (like a custom designed homepage).
Search Engine Visibility:
This setting discourages search engines (like Google) from indexing your site.
Useful if your site is still under development — but don’t forget to uncheck it when you go live!
Permalink Settings
Permalinks control the URL structure of your posts and pages.
Options include:
Plain:
?p=123Day and name:
/2025/04/17/sample-post/Month and name:
/2025/04/sample-post/Post name (most popular for SEO):
/sample-post/Custom Structure: Create your own URL format using tags like
%category%,%postname%, etc.
Good to know:
A clean permalink structure (like “Post name”) helps with SEO and makes URLs easier for visitors to remember.
