What is Wordpress

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The WordPress Dashboard

Back to: WordPress 101
This free tutorial video provides an overview of the WordPress dashboard, which provides access to the functions and features of your WordPress-powered website.
Covered in this free video:

• Familiarizing yourself with the WordPress Dashboard.
• How to customize the WordPress interface just for you.
• Hide Dashboard modules you rarely use.
• The collapsible navigation menu and functions.
• The default modules that are available to users.
• How to use the Quick Draft module to quickly save ideas.

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The WordPress Dashboard

In this video, we take a quick tour of the WordPress Dashboard, which provides access to all the site management tools for your website.
To access the WordPress Dashboard and begin managing your site’s content, click the “Log in” link on your site’s homepage. Or, if your site doesn’t have a login link, you can simply type “/wp-admin” at the end of your website’s URL to pull up the login screen

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Enter your username and password, then click the “Log In” button.

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The Dashboard is the first screen you’ll see when you’ve successfully logged into WordPress. Each screen in the Administration area contains three sections:

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1. A Toolbar across the top of the page,
2. the Main Navigation Menu on the left-hand side, and
3. the main work area on the right-hand side.

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The first time you log into your WordPress Dashboard, you’ll be greeted with a Welcome module that contains some links to help you get started, including shortcuts to customize your site’s theme, begin creating content for your site, manage widgets or menus, enable comments, or learn more. When you’re comfortable with the Dashboard, you can Dismiss this Welcome module.

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At the top of the Dashboard is the Toolbar, which contains links to the most commonly-used administrative functions, including links to find more information about WordPress, view documentation, and visit the support forums if you need help.

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Hovering over your site’s name reveals a link to visit the public view of your site. And, when you are logged in, the Toolbar remains across the top of your site while you browse, enabling you to quickly Customize your site or create new content at any time.

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Hover over the site name again to return to the Dashboard or any of the other panels in the Administration Area.

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The toolbar also displays simple notifications if there are updates available for your site’s theme or plugins, or if there are new comments to approve. And, you’ll find quick-links to create a new post, upload media files, add a new page or create a user.

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On the right-hand side of the Toolbar, you’ll find links to Edit Your Profile or Log Out. By the way, it’s a good idea to visit your profile right away and set up your personal preferences.

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These options allow you to customize WordPress to work best for you. You can even choose from a number of different color schemes for the Admin area.

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If you like, you can enable keyboard shortcuts for moderating comments, and you can choose to hide the Toolbar while you’re viewing the front end of your site.

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Be sure to complete your name and contact information, and enter a brief description about yourself. You can also change your Profile Picture, which will appear next to your name throughout the site.

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It’s always a good idea to generate a strong password, to keep your site secure. WordPress will even generate a secure password for you. And, speaking of security, if you’ve logged into your WordPress site from another computer or mobile device, this button will log out any other sessions, besides the one you’re currently using.

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To return to the Dashboard at any time, simply click the “Dashboard” link at the top of the main navigation menu.