Starting to edit WordPress

WordPress, it is not difficult.

Add /wp-admin to the WordPress site address.
Login and the screen should look like this:
You can update your profile details under Profile.
You can contribute site content with Post, Add New
Have a play, make mistakes, and when you have written something you think you want other people to read, click one of the Updates Categories
When you Submit for Review – then I will get a message asking to check it and publish it when it is a good time.
Mess around, create stuff if you wish or you can submit an article if you wish or just get used to the very basics of how content can be created for the site (don’t worry, there is more!)
If you do not Submit for Review, nobody will see it.  You can list articles you have written, edit them or trash them.

How to Specify

The establishment of a system revolves around two core concepts:

  • the data model
  • the view of it that is manipulated by users

To achieve an interactive front-end system, it pays to have a backend that is very clear, a testable data model that acts predictably.

You can of course link in unlimited data to the core of predictable modules, using their individual or a combination of key fields together and attaching unformatted data to that, providing unlimited expansion.

  • The developer has to look at the data model from an inside first perspective.
  • The user wants to explain the view and how it is manipulated by users, often in an abstract or fictional manner.

The trick is to understand the interactions between entities in an abstract way but to not try an explain implementation detail in any way but to explore how the primary elements of the system interact. By defining these interactions, it is possible to make a machine that treats data in the same fashion, although implicit rules are no longer a complication in the process.

It is probably best to define the data elements to increase understanding of the form of the system. Then the front-end (the content of the dash-boards) has some logic behind it. The very basic thing is data.

Or is it better to define data in the abstract pattern afforded by NOSQL style database records. The central part of the database should be expressed in language without difficulty. It is important to enable interactivity to be written without it being stuck in conceptualisation phase.

Phishing and Scams

You can let a few AI robots interact harmlessly for ever with phishing scammers.

All you do is forward the suspect email to me@rescam.org and let the bots in the cloud do the rest!

See: https://www.rescam.org/

Picking and specifying web colour

Or color – the American spelling is used on the web.  The English version is used in novels.

We have a system for specifying a colour with 256 stages for each primary.

RGBA = Red Green Blue Alpha.  Alpha is the opacity level, and defaults to 1 (100% – i.e. no transparency).

Technical

Hex colours are expressed as a triplet of hex numbers (i.e. hex numerals from 0 to 15 are reprented as 0, 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E.   255 is represented as 0xFF or just FF

Each colour can be represented with a leading #RRGGBB series, or as an rgb or rgba function.

Examples

#000000 = no colour = black

#00ff00 = 100% green

#ffff00 = 100% yellow

rgb(23,34,45) = #233445

rgb(255,0,0) = red = #ff0000

Useful Link

For a useful colour tool to mix your own pallet try this:

https://www.hexcolortool.com/#8dbfb6

How to: WordPress: Make a post 2

You are creating a post.  What do you do now?

The important things to really get right are:

  • Good Title
  • Vivid Body
  • Logical Category
  • Lexical Tags

Title

The title has to attract keyword engines as well as humans.  Make them keyword rich, as this is the most commonly seen version of your website.

Body

The Body content needs to communicate its meaning with the reader being the most important person in the world.  Not in a direct second person or

The reader is the most important person in the world.  The tone should be bright and direct, not confrontational.  It should be simple to move forward.

 

Sites have gone from being content rich snappy menu systems to everything living together on one page, the Single Page Application or SPA.

The best WordPress sites seem to combine these ideas in a visual metaphor that supports navigation rather than function, whereas framework sites can become more adventurous.

Category

Organise your pages by Category, religiously add 3 or 5 tag keywords.  Do not publish anything Uncategorised unless you use it to hide articles, which I think is a good way to remove an article from a menu infrastructure.

Tags

The trick is to find a balance between and to reuse keywords as much as possible, not create a vast army of different top-level keywords.  

I think a simple tree structure that is 4 – 7 options at each level and about 4 levels deep is about right – but it depends on the content and if you can be bothered with tags.  I think they are a good idea if they help increase the semantic difference and relevance of the page in a multitude of combinations.  It is the scattered crumbs that may attract people and search engines apparently eat them for breakfast.

Discussion: Allow comments

Personal decision but I prefer it if only a very few article pages on my sites allow users to comment.  It just looks wrong on a Contact Us here page, but if you are a business, it is quite valid.  But for many sites, be selective about adding Comments on Page content but allow it on Posts.  Generally, not always.

 

How to: WordPress: Make a post 1

Login to your wordpress account:

websiteaddress.com/wp-admin

the top black menu is a quick way to do useful things in WordPress.

on the Left is a W in a circle (wordpress link), then a HOME button and the site name.  Then indications of how many updates are available, how many comments and then the  [ + New link ] to add new Posts.

The left hand menu also allows you to list and add new posts.

If you are currently an AUTHOR – you can only add posts.    Your admin will setup Categories for these.  Each post belongs to one or more categories and the selection of the category agrees with the Menu items in the Updates item of your main menu.

Your site Admin will help you to add new categories and may advise you to keep categories list to an absolute minimum.

Posts, Post Categories and Pages can all be menu items but as an Author, you can not add to menus.   You admin will do this for you.  Simply assign it to an existing Post Category and your post will be accessible from the menu.

Or, assign it to the Admin category, and Slack the post URL (the link near the top of the page that appears under the title when you have added the title) to the admin.   Admin posts do not appear on your public site, usually.