WordPress is the most famous website content management system, used by more than ⅓ of website owners and designers around the world, according to statistics from the official WordPress website itself. What makes it so important; This makes us dedicate this article only to explaining its management control panel, or what is called the WordPress Dashboard.
The control panel is the first thing you can see after installing WordPress on your hosting and starting to use it practically.
In order to be able to explain all the parts of the WordPress control panel, we will divide the control panel into three main parts, as you can see in the following image:
The image shows the WordPress control panel divided into three main parts:
The green shaded part (1) indicates the quick toolbar through which you can make some adjustments and view your site’s statistics quickly and briefly.
The yellow shaded part (2) indicates the list of basic tools that you use to fully manage and control your site.
The red shaded part number (3) indicates the visual interface in which there are some shortcut links to create an article, for example, or manage certain parts of the site in a short way as well. However, you can dispense with that interface completely and use the main tools menu to do all the things related to site management. And modify it.
We will start by talking about Figure No. (1) and Figure No. (3) briefly. Then we will discuss the most important form, which is Part No. (2), which contains all the tools through which we can manage the entire site and modify it as we want.
(1): The quick top toolbar
This bar consists of some tools and links that we can summarize as follows:
- The first part indicated by the number “1” is a link with a welcome phrase written on it and next to it is the user name or the name of the site manager. When you place the mouse on it, you will see some links that are used to modify the site manager’s profile, such as the user name, email, photo, and so on…
- The second part, indicated by the number “2” , is a link with the word “New” written on it. When you place your mouse on it, you will see some quick links through which you can create a new article to publish on your site, or create a page and a media file, and you can also create a membership for someone to be A contributor or approved writer within the site.
- The third part, referred to as the number “3,” is a number that shows you the number of comments that visitors to your site have written on the articles that you publish.
- The fourth part, indicated by the number “4”, will show you the address of your site as you named it during the WordPress installation stage, and when you place the mouse on it, a link will appear for you to review your site so that you can see it as visitors see it.
- The fifth part, indicated by the number “5”, is the WordPress tag that appears in front of you, and when you place your mouse on it, some links to the official WordPress website and its technical support forum appear.
(3): The main interface of the control panel
The main interface of the site is the review panel for the site’s status and statistics, so you can view the most important and latest updates by simply entering the control panel. We can divide the main interface into two main parts as follows:
- The first part, which is indicated by the number “1”: It contains some short links through which you can access some sections of your site and modify them, and you can completely dispense with all of these links by using the tools located in the main sidebar of the WordPress control panel, and we will talk about them later, and you can Hide it completely by clicking on the “Ignore” button that appears at the top of the left part of the panel.
The second part, indicated by the number “2”: In this part, you will find some ready-made sections that, when you click on any of them, show you some statistics about your site, such as the health of your site, and whether there are programming problems, for example. It also shows the latest comments made by him. Site visitors, as well as a section that shows you the latest news on the WordPress site, new updates that are announced, etc..
(So this part is only a review part and does not contain any controls).
(2): The main menu inside the WordPress control panel (the most important part)
It is the most important part within the WordPress control panel, which contains all the tools that are used to fully manage and control the site. The following image shows a numbered arrangement of the items and tools contained in the main menu within the control panel as follows:
Note : Please be aware that other elements and tools may appear when you install plugins on your site; It appears in the list for you to use to manage the plugin that you installed.
Now let us talk in detail about the tools and elements in this list in some detail and clarification:
1- Home
This is the first and default item within the Control Panel menu, and it appears automatically when you enter the WordPress Control Panel, where you will see the WordPress Dashboard, which is divided into three parts, as we explained at the beginning of the article.
2- Articles
1- When you click on the “Articles” item from the site controls list, you will notice the “Add New” button. When you click on it, it will open a special panel for you to add a new article – we call it a new post – within your site.
2- Within the Add New Articles panel, you can add the article and customize it as you want, exactly as shown in the picture. Where in Part No. “2” you can write the title of the article or blog post that you want to publish under this title.
3- Also, in Part No. “3”, you begin writing the entire content of the article, and you can use the toolbar at the top of this part; To help you modify the format of the article, such as: increasing or decreasing the font size, adding main headings and sub-headings within your articles, as well as adding many different content elements such as: the numbered list element and the unnumbered list element, and adjusting the alignment of the text within the content to be right or left, in the middle as You want.
4- In Part No. “4,” you can add some formatting aspects to the article. For example, you can choose the article’s classification from the “Categories” list, which you can create from Part No. “1” by entering the categories. Choose the appropriate classification for your articles or internal pages on the site.
In Part No. “4” you can choose a prominent image for the article to be displayed alongside articles while they are displayed within your site.
It is noteworthy here that you can also insert images and videos within the content of articles itself by clicking on the “Add Media Files” button that appears to you above the box for adding article content, which we will also talk about in the next section on “Media.”
5- Finally, Part No. “5”, which is the part through which you can save the article as a draft (it is saved but not published to visitors) or publish it by clicking on the “Publish” button so that it appears inside the site in front of your visitors, and they can view the article, view it, and comment on it if You have enabled comments under your articles.
3- Media
Media is the media center of your site, through which you can upload photos, videos, and various graphic elements that you include in new articles or pages on your site.
To add a new media file, such as a photo or video, to your media library, all you have to do is go to the “Media” item in the Tools menu, click “Add New,” and then click “Select Files.” A panel will appear for you to select the files you want. Upload it from your personal device to your site’s media library.
Note : Uploading media files, such as photos and videos, can be done through the “Media” tab, or you can insert files directly while you are working on adding a new article or page, as we talked about above in the section on adding articles.
4- Pages
The “ Pages ” tab is very similar to the “ Articles ” tab, through which you can also create an internal page for your site, and when you click on “Pages” you will find the “Add New” button, and when you click on it, it will open for you the Add a new page panel like the one we talked about. In the “Articles” tab, you can add the page title, then the page content, and you can also add a prominent image of the page and publish it so that it appears in your site’s page list.
Note that the pages that you create within your site can be shown in the form of an ordered list within your site. This list appears on all pages of the site, specifically at the top of the site, and through it the visitor can choose the page whose content he wants to browse.
Note : You may get confused and ask what is the difference between pages and articles?!
Yes, there is not a big difference between a page and an article on a WordPress website, but we can say that the articles that you add from within the WordPress control panel and then publish them; They appear automatically, one after another, on the “Blog” page of your site. We will explain this in the “Settings” tab and talk about ways to choose and display the blog page of your site.
5- Comments
The “Comments” tab represents nothing more than a page through which you can view visitors’ comments on your articles and website pages, and agree to publish the comment or not. You can also add a response to someone’s comment, or delete the comment and place it in the “Trash” if it is annoying or inappropriate. This is done through the list of options that appears to you below each comment.
6- Appearance
The “Appearance” tab is considered one of the most important parts through which you can control the look and feel of your site to visitors. The tab contains the following links in order:
- Templates
You can choose the template that you want to apply to your site, with some suggestions for templates that you can choose and activate, and their format and design will be applied to your site.
In the “Templates” list, you will find many available templates that you can install any of on your site. You can also click on the “Add New” button if you have a template and want to upload it and apply it to your site design.
The more you change the template and install new ones, the more you will notice that the look, format and design of your site has completely changed, so use this tab to get the look you want for your site. You can install a template on a website in one of the following two ways:
First method: Search for an available template
As the picture shows you, we searched for the Twenty NineTeen template, as shown in picture number “1”. When the desired template appears; In step number “2”, you can either click on “Activate” so that the template will be activated directly on your site, or click on “Live Preview” so that an accurate preview will open for you showing you what your site will look like after activating the template on it. If you like it, you can then do Activate the template.
Second method: Download a template online and then upload it
You can search online for “WordPress templates,” download them, and then upload them to suit the look and feel of your site to visitors.
You can also search the free WordPress theme store to get your favorite theme for free.
As shown in the picture above, the method of raising the mold is very easy. You go to (Appearance >> Templates >> Add New >> Upload Template), then choose the template file you want to download and upload, and click (Install Now). After downloading the template, activate it on your site with ease.
- Customize
When you click on this tab, it will open for you a complete modification form on your site, through which you can see many of the tools that you use to modify many parts and elements of the site, such as changing the site’s logo and main title, as well as modifying colors, text sizes, and the arrangement of elements within your site.
- Widgets
In the “Widgets” tab, you can easily add some ready-made elements to your website pages. The previous image shows adding some fixed parts by dragging and dropping with the mouse and placing them inside the “Blog Sidebar” part, such as the “Latest Comments” item, which shows visitors’ comments in this part within your site. The “Latest Articles” element shows the most recent articles published on the site, as well as the “Search” element, which displays a search box within your site so that visitors can search for the article or page they want with ease.
- Lists
From the “Lists” tab, you can easily create a main menu that appears in the top bar of your site and contains the pages, articles, and categories that you want to appear in the list.
Creating the list is very simple and follows the following steps:
- First, write a name for the list you want to create, such as “Main Menu.”
- Click on the button: “Create List”
- Now a main menu has been created on your site, and you can now add the pages and articles you wish to place within it using a drag-and-drop method with ease. As shown in the following picture:
Header
In the “Header” tab, when you click on it, the design custom that was opened in the “Customize” tab will also open for you so that you can modify the site header or the upper part of it, which includes the background image, site title, etc.
- Template editor
In this tab, you can modify your site’s code, and we certainly do not recommend entering it if you do not have sufficient programming experience and know exactly what you intend to do within the site’s code.
Incorrectly modifying the site code may ruin your entire site, so be very careful.
7- Additions
The “Add-ons” tab is used to manage the add-ons that you have installed on your site or intend to install later.
WordPress Plugins are some files that, once installed on your site, provide you with many additional features that your site was missing. For example, there is a plugin that is used to place sharing buttons via social media sites below articles within the site, so that the visitor can share the article that he likes in a way. Live on his social media account by clicking the share button.
To install a new plugin on your site, you can click on Add-ons >> Add new. You will see a list of many of the plugins suggested to you by WordPress, as well as a box to search for the plugins you want to install.
After accessing the add-on you want, all you have to do is click on the “Install” button and then “Activate” next to the add-on and the add-on will be automatically activated and it will start working automatically within your site.
Warning: Be careful and do not install add-ons that you do not know how they work and their usefulness. Sometimes installing a lot of add-ons without needing them may cause great slowness in your site and may cause harm to the site in various ways.
There is another way to install plugins on your site; You can download one of the add-ons as a compressed file over the Internet, and then click on the “Upload Add-on” button as shown in the image above, and then click on “Activate Add-on” after the upload is complete, and thus the add-on is active and working properly… and the matter is very simple. !
8- Members
Through this tab, you can manage the members and people allowed to enter the site’s control panel and participate in the site in one way or another. This tab contains three main elements as follows:
- All members: In this part, you can view all the members registered on the site and the permissions that each member has. You can also modify the list of members in terms of modifying the permissions they have or deleting a member entirely.
- Add new: In this part, you can add a new member with you in managing the site to write and modify the site and determine the permissions allowed to him as follows:
As you see to add a member, you add his data, such as the user name (the name that the new member will use to log in to the site) – the email – and the rest of the data, including the password (which is also used to log in to the site).
In the “Rank” field, you will see many permissions that you can grant to the new member. If you choose “Contributor,” the member will be able to add articles to the site without modifying his articles or the articles of other members. He just writes the articles and sends them to the manager for review and approval.
If you choose “Writer,” he will be able to write articles, review them, and approve or reject amendments.
The highest rank is “manager,” who has all the powers of the site manager, and he can also remove one of the other managers from managing the site.
Your account: Here you will find your personal account data, which you can modify at any time you wish or update the data in it.
9- Tools
The “Tools” tab contains many useful tools for website owners to deal with data extensively. For example: If you own another website and want to import content from it and then insert this content into your current site, you can use the “Import” tab, and then choose the type of site you want to import data from, such as “Blogger” or “WordPress”. You begin to follow the instructions and install the add-ons that are automatically suggested to you in order to import content from another site to your current site:
In return, you can export your current location data; Which includes your site content data, such as articles, pages, categories, and other data within your site. You can choose the type of content that you want to export and keep, or you can choose “All Content” to download and export the entire content in a file that you can download and keep or use later as you wish:
In the “Site Health” tab, you will find a detailed and very useful report on the health of your site in terms of the required updates and whether there are some programs that need to be updated or repaired. Following this tab will keep you constantly informed of the health status of your site so that you can quickly fix any defect that may befall it. The following image shows a report on the health of a site from within the “Site Health” tab:
As for the “Export Personal Data” and “Erase Personal Data” tabs, they can be used if you want to obtain a copy of a user’s data within the site, or you want to delete the member’s data completely, and to do that you must send a confirmation invitation via e-mail. For the member whose personal data you wish to amend, and if he agrees to the invitation, you can amend as you wish:
10- Settings
The “ Settings ” tab contains a lot of site settings controls. The image above indicates the “General” tab, from which you can specify the site name, address, and description line (this data may help your site appear on Google search pages, so be sure to choose the words that users are expected to search for your site or your site’s specialty). There are some additional settings on that page as you can see.
Next comes the “Writing” tab, through which you can also modify some largely unnecessary site settings.
But more important than this is the “Reading” tab, through which you can make many important changes that may be very necessary for your site:
As you can see in the image above, you can determine the appearance of your site’s home page using two options:
- The first is to make the home page display recent articles that have been published.
- The second is to choose one of the static pages that you created and design within your site and make it appear as the home page of your site.
You can also specify the number of articles that are displayed on the articles page and designate it as the home page of the site if you wish.
As for the last option, which is related to “visibility to search engines,” do not misuse it, because if you put a tick next to the option “prevent search engines from archiving the site,” you are writing your site’s death certificate yourself, as your site will not appear in front of millions of people interested in your field of work or the useful articles that you provide. for them.
As for the “Permanent Links” tab, through it you can customize the form of the links for your site, and you can choose the format, form, and composition of the link that you want for your site. We advise you not to change the format and method of installing the links except after consulting an expert in site archiving or SEO, because this choice may affect On your site and its appearance in Google search:
Note regarding permanent links: The best way to set up a permanent link is (article title) as shown in the image above, as the link contains the title of the article being published and therefore has a greater chance of appearing in search engines.
How do I know that my version of WordPress is up to date or how do I update?
You can easily identify templates or plugins that need to be updated within your site, and you can also see the version of WordPress that you are using and whether it needs to be updated or not, by entering the “Updates” tab under the keyword, and a report similar to the following image will appear explaining to you Status of updates available within your site:
How do I change the color, shape, and appearance of the WordPress dashboard?
The WordPress control panel provides you with many options for modifying the appearance and appearance of the control panel, by entering the “Your Account” tab, which is affiliated with the “Members” tab. Within this tab, you will find many options for modifying and changing the appearance and form of the display of the site’s control panel, as you can see in the following image. :
In conclusion, as you can see, the WordPress control panel contains all the settings and options that help you build and customize your site exactly the way you want.
You may find it somewhat difficult to use the WordPress control panel, especially if it is your first experience. It is normal for you to feel some very unfamiliar points, but I can assure you that with time and practice you will find dealing with the WordPress control panel one of the simplest and most enjoyable things you will ever encounter.
