Getting Started with Wordpress

Approximately 35% of the Web uses WordPress so you’ve most likely browsed to a site using it. Wordpress has what are called “page builders” making it entirely easy to create attention-grabbing webpages. Rice University has made available the use of page-builder called DIVI Builder that come with over 100 pre-designed layout packs.

Wordpress Dashboard

From your Wordpress dashboard, you have a bird's eye view of Google Analytics (which you can setup later with a Google Account) and any recent changes.

Wordpress Themes

In Wordpress Themes, you can change the look and feel of your website.

If you would like to proceed with creating a new Wordpress site on Rice platform, then you can register for your free site at https://blogs.rice.edu/wp-signup.php with your NetID and password. Your site URL will be something like http://hello.blogs.rice.edu (where 'hello' will be the name you choose. You can select any name, provided it is not already taken). We can take the word "blogs" out of your URL when you're ready to launch the site, just let us know when the site is ready for this. The Rice Blogs site is a self-service Wordpress environment.

Our Web Team is available to help you with choosing a template, and setting it up for you and I can assist with any questions you may have.

We also have guides if you need help getting started with your site: https://help.edublogs.org/user-guide/ and http://about.blogs.rice.edu/.

Please also ensure that your site and content conform to WCAG 2.1 AA based on the Rice accessibility policy 851 (https://policy.rice.edu/851).

Quick Tips

Need a few quick tips to get started? Here is a brief list of how-to pages for creating and working on your blog. For the full user guide, see http://help.edublogs.org/user-guide/.

Image Formatting

– there is a new plug-in for customizing images. You can also add padding and borders manually if you like. See the post on Formatting Images for details.

Default Plugins

For highlights, see http://help.edublogs.org/overview-of-plugins-available/. Note: Rice.edu web sites cannot be used for commercial purposes. Even if plug-ins like Paypal donation and payment tools are listed as options, they are unavailable for blogs.rice.edu sites.

Using widgets, javascript, iframes, etc.

Just past the embed code into the text version of your blog page. Read more details.

Embedding Google Maps

See Edublogs’ help page about the working with maps plug-in.

Is my blog accessible?

Yes, as long as you choose an “accessibility-ready” theme.

Turning off Comments

Change the default setting for comments. See the “Comments Off!” post for quick tips on turning off comments for existing pages or posts. Adjust privacy settings to protect your full blog or just individual pages.

The full blog options include:

  • All Visitors must have a NetID login.
  • Only registered users have access (Users>All Users)
  • Only administrators of this blog can view
  • Anyone that visits must first provide this password: xxxxx (Admin sets)

My content for one page made it really long, how can I set up an index of jump links or anchors?

Although EduBlogs doesn’t have a built in solution, you can add some simple HTML code for anchors. Instructions can be found at http://www.wendycholbi.com/anchor-links-jump-links/.