WordPress Media Library

WordPress Media Library contains images, videos, audios, and files that can be included in the content when writing a WordPress page or post. We can see many things related to the media in the Media Library, like add, delete, and edit. In this topic, we are going to discuss the different phases of the WordPress Media Library. The following are the steps to understand the WordPress Media Library.

Step 1: Firstly, go to the WordPress dashboard and select the "Media" option and then click on the "Library" option.

Step 2: When we click on the Library option, we can see the various media files, such as images, videos, and audios. If we want to add new items, click on the "Add New" button.

Step 3: We can see a menu bar in the Media Library that consists of many things like List view, Grid view, Filter the images and videos, and search box, as shown in the following screenshot

There are various tabs in the Media Library bar, which are as follows:

1. List View: It shows the media files in the list form.
2. Grid View: It helps to show all the media files in the grid format.
3. Filter the images and videos: It filters the images and videos in the media library.
4. Search box: It helps to find a media file by inserting the file name into the search box.

Adding the Media Files

Now, we are going to know how to add the Media Files in WordPress. WordPress permits us to add various media files, such as images, videos, and audios.

The following are the steps to add Media Files in WordPress.

Step 1: Firstly, go to the WordPress dashboard and select the "Media" option, and then click on the "Add New" option.

Step 2: After clicking on the "Add New" option, click on the "Select Files" option to select the files from our local storage, as shown in the following screenshot.

Step 3: After clicking on the Select Files, add the media files by selecting them and then click on the open button, as shown in the following screenshot.

Step 4: Now, we will see the media files list that we added in the list.

Inserted the Media Files

We are going to know how we can insert the media files into a WordPress Page or Post. Media Files can be inserted from the Media Libraries, URLs, or local storage in the WordPress Page or WordPress Post. The following are the steps to insert the Media Files:

Step 1: Firstly, go to the WordPress dashboard and click on the "Posts" and then click on the "Add New" option to insert the media file in WordPress.

Step 2: After clicking on the "Add New" option, click on the "Add Media" button.

Step 3: Now, we can choose the media file from the library section.

All information on the selected media file will be shown in the Attachment Details on the right side of the screen.

Step 4: Now, click on the "Select" button, then the image will be inserted in the page or post of the site.

We can also upload a file directly from the device by clicking the Upload Files button. Just click on the "Select" button.

Edit Media Files

Here, we are going to know how to Edit Media Files in WordPress. We can handle information about the Media File, which is stored in the Media Library. The following are the steps to edit the Media Files in WordPress.

Step 1: Firstly, go to the WordPress dashboard and select the "Media" option, and then click on the "Library" option. After that, click on the media file name or the edit link.

Step 2: Here, we will see the Media Files list. Now, we can select an image that we want to edit.

Step 3: Finally, we can see the media page with some options shown on the site. The options are as follows:

URL: It helps us to read only a link from the media file.

Title: It shows the media name. If the themes and plugins are designed to be displayed, the title will often show up in the galleries and attachment pages.

Permalink: It is the media attachment page URL. It is also a link to see the attachment page of the media file.

Edit Image button: It helps to edit the position of the image like rotate anti-clockwise, rotate clockwise, flip vertically, horizontally, crop, flip, and more.

Caption: It allows us to provide a detailed explanation of the media file.

Alternate Text: The alternate text for the image is used to describe media and is also used for the availability of images.

Description: It allows us to explain the media file.

Delete Permanently: It helps us to delete the file permanently.

Step 4: After completing all these steps, click on the Update button to save the changes.

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WordPress Themes

With the help of WordPress theme, you can design the layout and appearance of your website in the front-end.

When WordPress is installed, it has a pre-installed theme which is very simple and unattractive. But no one wants a website to be that much simple. To make it more attractive one can install and apply different themes from WordPress.

Themes provide a style (including font styling), colors, page layouts, widget positions, etc. You can change the theme of your site without changing the content of the site. Themes provide a unique look to your site.

Types of WordPress theme

There are thousands of themes available on the WordPress. Some are free and some are paid. You can choose a theme according to your choice.

Free

WordPress provides many good looking themes absolutely free in the WordPress theme directory. If you are using your site for a small audience or yourself, go for free one. Because there are some chances that same theme is being used by another site.

Premium

Premium themes may cost you starting from $1,000. Prize varies depending upon the design and requirement of your site.

One advantage in premium themes is that they provide a reliable code base and offer support. It gives you a more enhanced security.

How to make a WordPress theme

Building a WordPress theme is somewhat technical work. To build a theme you should have a little knowledge about the following development languages.

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript
• PHP
• Database

You should know how to use a web server.

Selecting WordPress Theme

WordPress theme should be selected very wisely, so that it perfectly fits on your site. You can select any one either paid or free. It should be complemented to your site.

Themes affect a website in a lot of way. Heavy themes which look great may slow down your website and Google will degrade its ranking. If a theme is not coded properly, it becomes difficult to add any plugin or change that theme.

Theme selection is very important as everything for your website depends upon theme.

Given below are some of the points which may help the users to select a theme for their website.

Look for Simplicity

Your website should look good, but for that you shouldn't compromise with your site's functionality. Theme styling should not be complicated. Complexity will make things difficult for your users. All you need is a good theme, so don't go for an attractive one compromising your users.

Responsive

Your theme should be compatible with all type of screen sizes. A large number of traffic generates from devices other than laptops and PCs. Google also gives better ranking to the responsive sites. Lot of themes is by default responsive but still there are some themes which are not responsive. So look for a theme which is responsive to make your website accessible by all device users.

Browser Support

Make sure the theme you select is supported by all the browsers. Before selecting it, test it on different browsers for mobiles as well as laptops like Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Firefox.

Plugin Support

Plugins are very important for a WordPress site. They enhance the functionality of your site. Make sure that your selected theme must support all the popular plugins.

Multilingual Support

Your theme should support multilingual to support different languages for users.

Help Option

Only some developers provide support option with free themes, not all. So, if you messed up with your site then you may have to solve it on your own. So rather than facing all these problems, you should better choose a theme which has a good documentation and support help option.

SEO Friendliness

To increase your site performance on search engines, choose a theme which is SEO friendly. Many theme developers will let you know whether their theme is SEO friendly or not.

Ratings and Reviews

Before downloading a theme, have a look on its rating and reviews. A theme has both good and bad reviews, but if there are more negative reviews then read it carefully and consider it once again.

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WordPress Appearance

Appearance is to manage your theme. From here you can install, delete, update and activate themes. Its menus allow you to change your site's appearance and behavior.

Depending upon the theme, some of the appearance menu may not appear to you because some of the options under appearance are theme based.

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How to Manage Theme

For theme management, go to Themes

All the installed themes will be displayed. Hover a theme and click it for theme description.

Look at the above snapshot, these are the themes installed in our site. After clicking on a theme, theme description page will appear in front of you.

Look at the above snapshot, it displays theme description like version, tags and information. If you want to implement this theme then click on Activate button, and to see the preview of theme click on Live Preview button.

We have activated a theme and got a message as shown in below snapshot.

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How to Customize Theme

Theme customizer allows you to design your site with your theme. It gives a new look to your site.

Go to Appearance > Customize

Look at the above snapshot, on the left side it is customizing section and on the right side it is the theme we have selected. Any changes made on the left side will be displayed on the right side of the screen.

At the left side of the screen, following options are present,

• Active Theme -It shows which theme is currently activated on your site. On our site, Twenty Fourteen theme is activated.

There is an option to Change the theme. When you'll click on it, you?ll see other themes which you can activate.

• Site Identity - It specifies basic site information.


Look at the above snapshot,

Site Title - Enter your site title in the text box.

Tagline - Enter a tag line matching to your site.

Checkbox will enable and disable the site title and tag line.

Site Icon - it is used as an icon for your site in the browser.

• Colors - This option allows you to change the color of your site by changing site color and background color.


Look at the above snapshot, you can see the options for site color and background color.

To change site color



Look at the above snapshot, by clicking on site Title color, many color options will be shown. We have chosen color with code #dd9933. My site title has been changed to the same color. There is a base color scheme as a vertical bar from where you can set the color of your choice.

To change background color


• Header Image - It will select an image for the header of your site.


Look at the above snapshot, this is the image we have selected as the header. By clicking on Hide image, we can remove this photo from the header.

You will get an option here to crop your image as you want.

• Background Image - Select an image for your background from here.


Look at the above snapshot, after selecting an image above options will appear.

You can Remove the image if you want. And from Change Image option, you can change the image.

Background Repeat determines if your image is repeated or not.

Background Position determines image to be positioned left, right or center.

Background Attachment determines whether to display image as fixed or scroll.

• Menus - Select the menu type to appear on your site.


Look at the above snapshot, there are two options or menu.

In Menu Locations, two types of menu locations are there.



Look at the above snapshot, there are two positions for the menu, one is top and other is sidebar.

In Menu 1, following screen will appear.



Look at the above snapshot, you can select the checkboxes according to your need.

• Widgets - Themes have sidebars either on left or right. You can add, remove, move up or down widgets into sidebars according to your choice.
  

  Look at the above snapshot, you can move the widgets according to your need in all the three sidebars.

  

  Look at the above snapshot, we have added Recent posts widget in the Footer widget area. Just choose a widget from the given options and it will be on your sidebar menu.

• Static Front Page - Home page will be either static or display latest posts.


Look at the above snapshot, you can choose an option to display static or latest posts.

How to Manage Widget

Widgets are like blocks having specific codes for different functions. In any sidebar you can add and remove widget as per need through drag and drop.

Look at the above snapshot, following options are available,

Available widgets, these are available to you to add to the sidebar.

Inactive sidebar (not used), these are not used.

Inactive widgets, these are the removed widgets from sidebar.

Select a menu and use drag and drop option to any widget in the desired location.

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Wordpress Users

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User Role

User role determines the access permission to the users of a WordPress site.

There are five user roles:

• Administrator - An administrator has full rights over a site. They can do anything from adding a post to deleting the other user's post. They have the authority to design a website by installing plugin and adding themes. They can even change the existing user?s password, delete them or add them.

Administrators are basically the site owner and they have the full authority over their site.

• Editor - They deal with content section of a site. They have the right to add, delete, edit, or publish even others posts. They can also add, delete, or edit comments.
• Author - They only deal with their own posts in all manners like creating, deleting, editing, publishing or uploading images and videos. They can delete their post, even if that is published. They can't create a new category, they have to choose from the existing one. Although they can add tags to their post.

They can't add any page or modify it.

• Contributor - A contributor doesn't have right to publish their post or page. They have to send their post to the administrator to review. And once it is reviewed, it can't be further edited by the contributor.

They can't even upload image or videos files in their own posts.

• Subscriber - Users which are subscribed to your site can log in and update their profile. They have the authority to change their passwords when they want. They can only read posts and leave comments on your posts.
• Follower - They don't have any right. They can only read and comment on your post. They are only signed up in your site to receive notifications every time when you update a post.
• Viewer - They can only read and comment on a post.

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How to Add Users

When a user is registered into your site, you'll get a notification. So you can edit a user's role according to your choice.

Click on Users > Add New

Look at the above snapshot, fill all the details and click on Add New User button.

 

Look at the above snapshot, a message is generated at the top stating, new user created.

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How to Edit Users

To edit users, go to Users > All Users

Look at the above snapshot, this is the list of users.

Click on a user's Edit button.

Look at the above snapshot, here you can edit and modify the details.

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How to Delete Users

Click on Users > All Users, users list will appear.

Look at the above snapshot, select Delete option.

Look at the above snapshot, click Confirm Deletion to delete this user.

There is one more method to delete a user. Click on Users > All Users

Look at the above snapshot, select a user by clicking on checkbox, from drop-down select Delete and then click on Apply button.

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WordPress Menus

WordPress Menus

The Menu is a list of options presented to the user. They are mostly used as a navigation building method on WordPress websites. Usually, the common content management system's installation is followed by a default menu that provides links to pages at the top level. These menus can be used at the top of the sites with links. It is generally used as a horizontal menu with links like home, email, contact, or pages.

Defining a WordPress Menu

Firstly, we need to define a WordPress menu before adding items to it or use it. We can use the following steps to define a WordPress menu.

Step 1: First, log in to the WordPress Dashboard and click on the "Appearance" menu option, as shown in the below screenshot.

Step 2: The "Appearance" menu option opens a sub-menu where we choose the "Menus" option to bring up the Menu Editor.

Step 3: After selecting the "Menus" option, choose the "Create a new menu" option shown in the red rectangular box at the top of the page.

Step 4: Now, enter the name to create a new menu in the "Menu Name" box.

Step 5: After that, click on the "Create Menu" button to create a menu.

Adding Menu Items

In this section, we can add several link type options to the menu like Pages, Posts, Custom Links, and Categories. The following are the steps to add items in the menu.

Step 1: Firstly, Find the pane entitled Pages.

Step 2: Choose the "View All" link to see a list of all recently published pages on the WordPress site.

Step 3: Now, we can add Pages by clicking the checkbox corresponding to each page title.

Step 4: To add our selection to the menu that we created in the previous step, click on the "Add to Menu" button shown in the red rectangular box at the bottom of this page.

Step 5: After that, click on the "Save Menu" button.

Now, the new custom menu has been saved in the WordPress site.

Deleting a Menu Item

If we want to delete an item form the menu, we can use the following steps:

Step 1: First, find the menu items that we want to delete in the menu editor window.

Step 2: Next, click the arrow icon at the top right corner of the menu item.

Step 3: Click on the "Remove" option. The menu item or box will be removed immediately.

Step 4: Finally, click on the "Save Menu" button to save the changes.

Customizing Menu Items

There are various customization Menu items available; some of them are as follows:

• Navigation Label
• Title Attribute
• Link Target
• Link Relationship
• CSS Classes
• Original

Navigation Label

This field defines the title of the item on our custom menu. Our visitors will see this when they visit our site or blog.

Title Attribute

This field defines the alternative text ('Alt') for the menu item. This text will be shown when the user's mouse is hovering over the menu item.

Link Target

It allows users to choose the "Same window or tab" or "New window or tab" from the dropdown menu.

Link Relationship

It allows us to automatically create XFN features to demonstrate how we are connected with the authors or owners of the site to whom we are linking.

CSS Classes

It provides the optional CSS classes to the menu item.

Original

It provides a link to the source of the menu item that helps us to see the page or post.

Creating Multi-Level Menus

WordPress Menu Editor helps us to build a multi-level menu using the "drag and drop" interface. We can drag the menu items up or down to change the order you want to appear in the WordPress menu. We can also drag menu items left or right to build sub-levels in the Menu.

If we want to create a menu item a subordinate of another, it is required to place the "child" under its "parent" and then drag it slightly to the right. If we want to create a multi-level menu, we can use the following steps:

Step 1: Firstly, move the cursor over the "child" menu item.

Step 2: Drag it to the right while holding the left button of the mouse.

Step 3: Now, release the mouse button.

Step 4: Repeat all these items for every sub-menu items.

Step 5: To save the changes, click on the "Save Menu" button in the Menu Editor.

How to add custom links to the Menu

If we want to add the WordPress menu's custom links, we need to follow these steps:

Step 1: First, we need to click on the Custom link option in the menu's left column. Every custom link requires a URL and the Link Text.

Step 2: After that, click on the "Add to Menu" button to add a link.

These custom links are useful for situations when we need to link to a page not listed in the left column, such as an external website.

How to link to category pages or tags

If we want to add the post categories or tags to our menu, we can use the following steps:

Step 1: First, click on the categories tab in the left side column.

Step 2: Now, choose the one tab that should appear in the menu.

Step 3: After that, click on the "Add to Menu" button to add a category or tab.

How to Add a social menu

Creating a menu for our social accounts is much easier than creating a regular one. To create a social account in the WordPress Menu Editor, we can use the following steps:

Step 1: First, click on the "Create a new menu" link.

Step 2: Now, input the name of the menu and click on the Create Menu.

Step 3: Next, check the bottom of the "Social Links" menu box, and use the Custom Links tab to add links to the social media menu.

Step 4: After completing all these steps, click on the "Add to Menu" button to add a social menu.

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