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WORDPRESS EDITOR TRAINING This is a step-by-step tutorial of WordPress for Content Editors. This can be accessed at: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/it/tutorials Or by going to: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/it and clicking on the Support -> Content Editor Tutorials -> Wordpress Tutorials

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LOGGING IN ......................................................................................................................................... 4

PROFILE SETTINGS ............................................................................................................................ 5

NAME AND CONTACT INFO ............................................................................ 6

CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD ......................................................................... 7

CREATING A POST .............................................................................................................................. 8

MEDIA LIBRARY ............................................................................................ 9

ALTERNATE TEXT ......................................................................................... 9

IMAGES, IMAGE ALTERNATE TEXT AND TITLE TEXT ....................................... 11

ADDING CONTACT FORMS ............................................................................ 15

HEADINGS ................................................................................................... 16

CHARACTER STYLES ..................................................................................... 17

THE QUOTE AND LIST BUTTONS ................................................................... 18

PARAGRAPH ALIGNMENT ............................................................................. 19

LINKS.......................................................................................................... 21

READ MORE TAG .......................................................................................... 22

PROOFREADING ........................................................................................... 23

TOOLBAR TOGGLE ........................................................................................ 24

STRIKETHROUGH ......................................................................................... 25

HORIZONTAL LINE ....................................................................................... 26

TEXT COLOR ................................................................................................ 27

PASTE AS TEXT ............................................................................................ 28

CLEAR FORMATTING .................................................................................... 29

SPECIAL CHARACTERS .................................................................................. 30

PUBLISHING OPTIONS ..................................................................................................................... 31

SCHEDULING ..................................................................................................................................... 32

PUBLICIZE .......................................................................................................................................... 33

CATEGORIES ...................................................................................................................................... 34

TAGS .................................................................................................................................................... 35

SHARING ............................................................................................................................................ 36

FEATURED IMAGE ............................................................................................................................ 37

CREATING PAGES ............................................................................................................................. 38

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ALL POSTS .......................................................................................................................................... 39

TAGS ................................................................................................................................................... 40

COMMENTS ....................................................................................................................................... 41

DATA SECURITY ............................................................................................................................... 42

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LOGGING IN To begin with the login process for WordPress for Iowa State Extension Blogs, have an administrator create a user for you on the service. They will need your e-mail and a user name before beginning this process. The admin will set the “role” that your account has. There are 5 roles in WordPress: Subscriber, Contributor, Author, Editor, and Administrator. After receiving a confirmation e-mail, login to WordPress to set your desired password. Go to the Extension Blog Login Page to enter your username and password.

After successfully logging in, you will be taken to the WordPress Dashboard, where you can see things such as page creation, comments, settings, etc. This page is a quick look at activities on the site that can be viewed further in-depth.

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PROFILE SETTINGS At the top right of the dashboard screen, it shows your messages/comments, username, and profile pictures. To set up your profile, hover over “Howdy, (Username)” and select, “Edit My Profile.”

On this page, you can edit your profile settings and do things such as add a biography, a profile picture, and change your contact settings.

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NAME AND CONTACT INFO Here you may enter all of your Name and Contact information such as First and Last Name, Nickname, how you name displays. Note: you cannot change your username. Below this is the Contact Info. There you may change your e-mail and list a website or your AIM, Yahoo IM, or Jabber/Google Talk accounts.

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CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD At the bottom of the profile settings page, under Account Management, select “Generate Password.” There is also the option for logging out everywhere, for increased security.

In the new password text area, enter your desired new password. Depending on the password, WordPress rates them as Weak, Medium, or Strong. If the password is weak, then you must select a checkbox in order to confirm it. After entering your new password, select “Update Profile” to confirm your new password.

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CREATING A POST On the left side of the dashboard page, hover over the “Posts” tab and select “Add New” to start blog post creation.

This is the editor for blog post creation. Here you can access all the available options when creating your content. An explanation of each button and their functions follows.

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MEDIA LIBRARY On the page editor, select “Add Media” under where you enter the title of the blog post. After that, click “Select Files” or drop files in the window to choose your content. The file size for each image must be less than 5 MB.

From here, you are brought to an upload screen. You may select your file or drop it in the window. The maximum upload size is 5 MB. Another tab on this page is the Media Library. This is where all your media uploaded is shown. You can edit the information for each image with the tab on the right. For example, you can make it so clicking on the image links to a URL.

ALTERNATE TEXT

WEB ACCESSIBILITY TIP All videos uploaded to an ISU Extension and Outreach website should have captions enabled and correctly written. View the Advanced Course for instructions on adding and editing videos.

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To add alternate text to an image in your media library, select one of your images and enter the alternate text descriptor for your image in the Alt Text text box in the new attachment details window.

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IMAGES, IMAGE ALTERNATE TEXT AND TITLE TEXT ALTERNATE TEXT Each uploaded image has two text fields: alternate text and title. You will learn about the art of alternate text and title text now to help you as you upload images later on in the course. Alternate text is required on all Drupal 7 sites. Alternate text provides a textual alternative to non-text content, such as images. Alternative text serves several functions:

• It is read by screen readers in place of images allowing the content and function of the image to be accessible to those with visual or certain cognitive disabilities.

• It is displayed in place of the image in browsers if the image file is not loaded or when the user has chosen not to view images.

The key principle is that computers and screen readers cannot analyze an image and determine what it is without alternate text. The Alternate text should:

• be accurate • be briefly and clearly expressed • NOT be redundant • NOT use the phrases "image of..." "graphic of..." or "logo of..." to describe

the image Logos and other word art are easy to add Alternate Text to; simply restate the text included in the graphic. Example of Alternate Text for an Image

The correct alternate text: Butterfly on a leaf Example of Alternate Text for an image of text

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The correct alternate text: Iowa State University Extension and Outreach

WEB ACCESSIBILITY TIP Websites flunk accessibility tests for many reasons. At the top of the list is images with no alternate text. Web pages that contain images without alternate text are considered inaccessible. Alternate text errors are one of the easiest accessibility issues to correct.

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TITLE TEXT Your title text is the text that your site visitors will see when they hover their mouse over your image. Title text is also helpful for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (definition). Ideally, an image title should follow the same rule of a regular page title – it should be relevant, catchy and concise.

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IMAGES You cannot just copy and paste photos found on the internet. You have to assume any image you find online is protected by copyright. You shouldn't download an image from the internet without permission to use it, whether the permission is in written form from the creator, it is fair use, or the license of the image allows it. Learn more in the Appropriate use of Images video below.

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ADDING CONTACT FORMS You may include in your post a contact form so that your readers may contact you. To add one of these forms, click on “Add Contact Form” above the toolbar.

In the picture shown above, the default fields in the contact form are shown. You may change these fields by clicking on the form in the text box, then click on the “Edit” button, which is shown with a pencil icon.

In the editing of the contact form, you may customize how you want to be notified by the form submissions, and you may change the label and types of the fields in the forms. You can also make certain fields required before a view may submit the form.

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HEADINGS Headings are a great way to organize your content within your posts. The size of your headings symbolizes the importance of the content. To change the headings of your text in the editor, select the drop-down menu on the left that says “Paragraph” by default. This also displays the shortcuts to change your headings. The shortcuts may be different depending on your operating system or web browser.

WEB ACCESSIBILITY TIP Headings are used by screen readers to give users a way of navigating through web pages and determining level of importance. This is why it is important to use headings instead of just using bold text. Try to go in order when using headings as well.

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CHARACTER STYLES Some character style options such as Bold and Italics are located next to the heading styles box. To bold your text, select the “B” letter and to Italicize your text, select the “I.”

WEB ACCESSIBILITY TIP The underline button has been removed to comply with Web Accessibility guidelines. Only links should be underlined (and this is done automatically). Underlining other text that does not link anywhere confuses users and makes the content difficult to understand.

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THE QUOTE AND LIST BUTTONS The list options included in the WordPress text editor are bulleted lists and numbered lists. To select the bulleted list, click on the bulleted list symbol to the right of the Italics symbol. To select the numbered list, click on the numbered list symbol located to the right of the bulleted list symbol.

Using quotations can help for readers to understand if another source is providing the information in the article. To add block quotations to your text, select the “Quotation” symbol located next to the Numbered List.

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PARAGRAPH ALIGNMENT In the WordPress text editor toolbar, there are three options for text alignment: “Left Aligned, Center Aligned, and Right Aligned.” These alignment options are located between the Block Quotations and Link symbols.

LEFT ALIGNED

This text is left aligned. It is recommended that you use body text as left aligned. CENTER ALIGNED

This text is centered. It is not recommended to use center aligned in paragraph form, but may be used for titles and headings.

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RIGHT ALIGNED

Right aligned is not recommended to use for body text, but could be used with much fewer words to make your post more visually interesting.

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LINKS To add a link to your post, click on the “Insert/edit Link” button that is represented by a chain-link symbol.

Paste the URL or search it in the Links bar, click on the blue Apply button or press enter or return on your keyboard and your link will be inserted in the textbox.

You can also edit options with your link by selecting the Link options, represented by a gear. Here, you may change the URL and how it is shown in the text. You can also have it open in a new tab or link to existing content on your site.

WEB ACCESSIBILITY TIP If you link text, do not link non-descriptive text. Make sure the words that you link describe what the link is for or where it is taking you. Wrong Way: Order your new computer today! Click Here Correct Way: Order your new computer today!

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READ MORE TAG When you have created a body of text, if you want to hide a certain part of it, you can select “Insert Read More Tag,” located to the right of the links button.

The Read More tag inserts a paragraph break in your text that makes the reader click on it to reveal the rest of the text.

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PROOFREADING By selecting the proofreading button, which is represented by the letters ABC with a checkmark underneath, all misspelled words in your text are highlighted with a red underline.

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TOOLBAR TOGGLE On the toolbar, there are many options to consider when writing your post. You can change paragraph alignment, bold the text, add quotes, etc. The button called the “Toolbar Toggle” shows more options in the toolbar menu that were previously hidden.

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STRIKETHROUGH To add a strikethrough to your text, select the “Strikethrough” button represented by the symbol “ABC.”

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HORIZONTAL LINE A horizontal line can be used to separate your content. To use this, select the “Horizontal Line” button located to the right of the “Strikethrough” button.

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TEXT COLOR Your Iowa State blog will have to follow the set branding and accessibility guidelines. Branding information can be found in the Iowa State Extension & Outreach Web Style Guide

Iowa State Extension & Outreach IT has a page with information all about Universal Design and Digital Accessibility. Do not stray from the branding guidelines or make changes that would decrease accessibility. Horizontal rules and headings are a great way to make your content standout instead of using different fonts and colors.

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PASTE AS TEXT

After selecting Paste as Text, paste is now in plain text mode. Contents will now be pasted as plain text until you toggle this option off. If you’re looking to paste rich content from Microsoft Word, try turning this option off. The editor will clean up text pasted from Word automatically.

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CLEAR FORMATTING

After pasting text into WordPress, use the “Clear Formatting” button to remove any of the formatting the text previously had elsewhere.

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SPECIAL CHARACTERS After clicking on the Toolbar Toggle button, the button for special characters will appear. It is represented by the Greek letter “Omega” (Ω)

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PUBLISHING OPTIONS

Before publishing your blog post, you may change how it is viewed or not viewed after its completion. In the drop-down box beneath the status, you have the option for “Draft” or “Pending Review.” You can also change how the post is viewed. If set to public, all online users may see it. Under the “Public” button, there is a checkbox to make the post “stick” on the front page. This means that it will stay atop the front page even after newer posts are created. If it’s post is set to private, only administrators may see it. The last option is “password protected” to make a more secure post.

When you are done setting your publishing options, you see what they final post will look like before being published by selecting “Preview.”

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SCHEDULING Sometimes, it is desirable to schedule content to be published at a later time automatically. For example, you might be going on vacation and have a time sensitive matter that needs to go up while you will be gone. You can add the content and schedule it to be published on a specific day. Likewise, you can schedule content to be unpublished on a specific date and time.

To schedule a content type for publication in WordPress, you can set the times in the “Publish” settings. Click. “Edit” next to “Publish Immediately” and you will see boxes where the date and time may be entered.

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PUBLICIZE Sharing your post can also be done in the “Publicize” area. There are options to connect to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Path, and Google+. Clicking on those links will bring you to a settings page where you may link your social accounts to your WordPress site.

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CATEGORIES

The picture above is from the “Add New Post” page. Here, the option to insert the post under a specific category can be done. Categorizing your blog posts will help you and your readers to find the content displayed by what they are interested in. To find the categories page, hover over “Posts” on the left sidebar and then select “Categories” in the sub-menu that appears. Category terms are broad classifications that link blog posts with similar content. Category terms usually either describe a post's origin or convey information about its content. Category terms differ from tags by being much broader. Category terms will describe the general topic of a post while tags describe details about that post.

On the left side of the Categories page, enter the name and description of the category you wish to create. Another category can be selected to be the parent of the category you are creating. Open the drop-down box under “Parent Category” to do this. After clicking “Add New Category,” your category will be listed in the box on the right. In this box, you can manage all your categories.

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TAGS Add tags to your post in the Tags box beneath Categories. Separate your tags with commas. You may also choose tags that have been commonly used in your site.

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SHARING This checkbox gives you the option to show or not show the social media sharing buttons on your post.

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FEATURED IMAGE To set the featured image for your post, click the link in the Featured Image box. This will take you to your media library where you can select the image.

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CREATING PAGES Pages are slightly different than posts. The previous section on posts is meant for the creation of blog posts. Pages are for more permanent information on your sites, for example About Us pages or Privacy Policies. Pages use the same kind of text editor as the blog posts, so the information on content creation is alike to the previous section of this training.

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ALL POSTS To find the page with all blog posts listed, hover over “Posts” on the left side of the screen and then select “All Posts” in the sub-menu that appears.

On this page, you may look through all of your blog posts. You may edit or delete them by checking the box next to their title and selecting “Bulk Actions” or by hovering over the post, the options Edit, Quick Edit, Trash, and View are shown. There is also an option to sort all your blog posts by a specific criteria. You may sort them by Title, Number of Comments, and Date by selecting the headers for those words in the table.

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TAGS Tags are often referred to as keywords and are more specific descriptions of blog posts than category terms. Tags should be as few words as possible, preferably less than two. Tags, like categories, should not be redundant. If you have a group of blog posts that have some content about the same thing, use the same tag in each post. Check to make sure that the word form that you are using as a tag is the same form used on another post (e. g. flower vs. flowers). The tagging system will not connect two posts if they use slightly different tags. Try not to use multiple forms of the same word in your tags, either. This merely creates a confusing mass of redundant tags. The search engine will pick up on title words, so tagging with those words is not needed. Tags are not pre-defined and are set by the content editor as they add or edit content. To find the tags page, hover over “Posts” on the left side of the screen and then select “Tags” in the sub-menu that appears.

On the left side of the page, enter the name and description of the tag you wish to create. After clicking “Add New Tag,” your tag will be listed in the box on the right. In this box, you can manage all your tags.

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COMMENTS

To access the Comments page, click on “Comments” on the sidebar tab under Pages.

This is the comments page. Here you can view the comments on your posts and there are a few options such as approving comments and replying to them. Each comment says the Name and E-Mail Address of the account that commented, along with the post it is on and the date and time posted.

On the area of the page that shows the comment, more options can be seen by hovering over the area. The options here are Unapprove, Reply, Quick Edit, History, Spam, and Trash. Reply and Quick Edit open a text box within the current page. “Edit” takes you to another page that contains more options than “Quick Edit.” The “History” button shows all the changes that have been made to the comment and the time that those happened. “Spam” sends the comment to Spam tab and removes it from the blog post. Press “Trash” to send the comment to the Trash tab, where the comment is removed altogether.

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DATA SECURITY What information is considered private/confidential?

• Protected class- age, race, religion, sex, disability, etc. (refer to justice statement)

• Photos and videos if you do not have a release • Social Security numbers • Credit card numbers • Banking information • Background information (for employment and volunteers) • Anything health related with people who do not need to know • Personal addresses and phone numbers (PII) • Personnel information • Passwords

NOT JUST YOUTH - INCLUDES ADULT INFORMATION TOO When you receive private/confidential information, consider....

• Do you need it? • Do you need to keep it? • Where do you keep it? • How do you dispose of it securely? • Are you following records retention policy?

What is my responsibility?

• To keep information private, confidential, and secure; obligation of every council member, employee, and volunteer

• To protect the safety and identity of individuals, especially youth • To be responsible use when accessing systems, use of email, and use of social

media • If mishandled, there is not only organizational liability there can be personal

liability Examples of unsecure information sharing

• Google Docs • Email • Facebook private message • Posting on webpage • Social media • Webinar recordings

Examples of secure information sharing

• Cybox • Password protected documents • Written permission to share contact information • Only share information with people who need to know

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What if information was shared insecurely?

• Call Extension IT, who will help to o – Remove information o – Report to the University if necessary o – Secure devices

• Call Extension HR to discuss follow up

Resources

• Extension IT- 515-294-8658 or eit@iastate.edu • Extension HR- 515-294-1444 or exthr@iastate.edu • Iowa State University Data Classification Policy • Iowa State University Electronic Privacy Policy • ISU Extension and Outreach Social Media Policy

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach does not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or status as a U.S. veteran. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to the Diversity Officer, 2150 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, Ames, Iowa 50011, 515-294- 1482, extdiversity@iastate.edu. All other inquiries may be directed to 800-262-3804.