WordPress websites: Logging in for the first time

Once you've received your username, password, and login URL from either the site administrator, or your Commanding Officer, you'll need to log in for the first time and get to know the system.

Don't get too nosy!

Generally, it's pretty difficult to mess things up on these sites. However, you are encouraged not to touch something if you're not sure what it's for. Commanding Officers will have access to many administrative functions that they'll never need to touch, like Presentation, Plugins, and Options. Unless you're completely sure of what you're doing, please do not enter these areas.

The login screen

Whoever sent you your username and password will also include the URL for you to log in at. Head to that location now. You should now see a screen that looks like this:

The WordPress login screen.

Enter the username and password that were provided to you and click "Log In."

The Dashboard

Once you've logged in, you'll be brought to the Dashboard:

The Dashboard.

This area provides you with some information which you may, or may not find useful. However, this will always be the jumping-off point for you, so you'll need to get familiar with the links near the top of the page.

Set Profile options

Now it's time to change some of your profile options and preferences. Click on the Profile link:

Link to Profile Settings.

You'll now arrive on the Profile Settings page:

Profile Settings.

There are a few settings that need to be taken care-of:

• Visual Editor / Use the visual editor when writing: You will probably find the Visual Editor to be useful if you're not familiar with HTML conventions. However, if you use the Visual Editor, you cannot copy/paste text into the editing box while creating posts or pages without clearing the formatting first. This will be explained more in a later section, but keep in mind that if you use the Visual Editor, you will have an extra step of having to copy and paste the text into Notepad, and then copy and paste it into WordPress, otherwise formatting will not display properly. If you are somewhat familiar with how HTML works, then un-check this box and simply use the normal editor - you will find it vastly cleaner.
• First name: Enter your character's first name.
• Last name: Enter your character's last name.
• Display name publicly as: Pass this for now, we're going to save, re-load, and come back to this.
• Contact Info section: Please make sure your e-mail address is right, and then fill in any other information you wish.
• New Password:: If you'd like to change your password, go ahead and follow the instructions in the section.

Once you've completed these sections, click the "Update Profile" button. The page will reload.

Now head back to the "Display name publicly as" section, and click the drop-down box. Pick the option that shows your character's first and last name. Once you've done that, go down to the bottom of the page and click the "Update Profile" button again.