Very disappointed, so far

1. Permalinks is already in every theme on earth by default. It’s mostly located in the title of you post.
2. Yes, WordPress is a PHP application and using XHTML for structure and CSS for design.

If you want to learn more, there are always good resources at the Codex (www.ads-software.com) or https://www.wprecipes.com/ https://www.wpzoom.com/

Anderton, (1) Thank you for the info. I think it’s pretty much customary now to have a permalink at the bottom of each blog post, and that’s what I was hoping for. (2) Believe it or not, your assignment of structure and design has actually helped me.

Codex seems oddly impenetrable to me. The two sites you suggest look much more approachable, and I look forward to browsing in them. Thanks for the suggestions!

hi i hope to offer you a less technical answer to your problem KearaO although im using 2.6 atm

As Figaro has already said simply use the Widgets page.

on the right hand side you will see a drop down box where you can select the sidebar you wish to add remove widgets to/from (depending on the theme you using there should be 2 or 3)… select the bar you wish to edit and click show (im hoping its the same or similar as 2.6)

once the page reloads simple add from the options on the left the widgets (i prefer to think of them as mini-applications), they will then appear in a list on the right.

while on the right hand side you can simply drag and drop the widgets in order so click and hold on the widget u wish to move and then move it to the top, bottom or middle etc and then drop it into place.

remember to click save changes.

also remember that if you have a widget added to say sidebar1 you will not be able to add it to sidebar 2. you would have to remove it from side bar 2 (click edit then remove) > save changes then select sidebar 1 and then add it > save changes

hope this helps you move the blogroll…

i apologise if the version difference means this info is irrelevant…

DJH

@figaro

I didn’t take @chanel’s comments as trying to be rude. Remember, it’s easy to miscommunicate meaning online–lack of nonverbals, gestures, etc. When in doubt, you should always give people the benefit of the doubt in the online environment.

Just to finish up this topic, Chanel herself described her own comment as rude. I appreciate your recommendation in general, but I think it’s also relevant that I was posting in this forum for the very first time. Under all the circumstances, a suggestion to “use your head” was just uncalled for.

. . . . Just keep at it and it will get easier and less frustrating as you experiment and learn.

Thank you for your various reassurances. They are most welcome and will, I’m sure, be very helpful. ??

Just to finish up this topic, Chanel herself described her own comment as rude.

I SAID I WAS BEING SARCASTIC ABOUT BEING RUDE!!! For crying out loud…

Side note: It’s funny how you want to call everyone “rude” when YOU’RE actually the rude one sprinting to www.ads-software.com to COMPLAIN how DISAPPOINTED you are in wordpress.

movabletype

@djhicks,

DJ, thank you so much for your kindness. Your instructions were great, and I now pretty much have my sidebar the way I want it.

Thank you again. ??

glad i could helps especially with my first post lol!

enjoy

@strangeattractor

Thank you for your wonderfully informative and helpful reply.

1: The info on themes is very helpful. Thank you for all of it.

2: I’ll have to familiarize myself with plug-ins (and widgets), I guess.

3: The tip re not editing my theme through the admin panel sounds like an important one. I wouldn’t know where to begin re a CSS/PHP editor. Would I use one to do both? (Again, how would I learn how to do such editing?) And how would I ftp to my blog? I’ve used ftp with other sites. I guess the instructions are somewhere on the dashboard, or in Codex?

4: As to a theme, I think all I’ll want to do is modify an existing theme. It all feels confusing and rather threatening at this point, but I’m beginning to have a little confidence that that will pass as time goes on.

5: Yes, that’s exactly how I feel about Codex. The tip re googling for WP tutorials is helpful. It can make so much difference to have just the right word.

6: Thank you for telling me more about the forum. I didn’t intend my post to be angry, but did feel a need just to express my unhappiness and dismay.

——–

I’m heartened by your own experience with WordPress, and I thank you for sharing it. I appreciate the admission as to your own frustration too.

Thanks for a terrific, and very generous, reply.

And hey, if you’re still disappointed…there’s always GREYMATTER.

whats the BIG deal with saying that. My GOD. Do you write code for greymatter? Where on earth is that a dig on anyone here?????

3: The tip re not editing my theme through the admin panel sounds like an important one. I wouldn’t know where to begin re a CSS/PHP editor. Would I use one to do both? (Again, how would I learn how to do such editing?) And how would I ftp to my blog? I’ve used ftp with other sites. I guess the instructions are somewhere on the dashboard, or in Codex?

Actually, I think Figaro’s post, above, on just focusing on the WP dashboard for now, is very good advice.

You can do all the ordinary blogging activities — making pages, posts, links, categories, tags, etc. from the straight-up vanilla install. And also rearrange widgets, as DJHicks noted. Get familiar with what you CAN do with WordPress first, before getting into more advanced stuff like customization.

Most of my post was concerned with more advanced customization (something many WP users never do at all) because of your question about PHP and editing themes.

But in re: your question about FTPing… if you’ve used FTP before, it’s not any different. You’re just uploading files to your site. And most of the time, the only folder in the WP installation that you’ll be changing is the “wp-content” folder, which contains your themes and plugins. (And when you do get around to this — if you don’t have an FTP client you like, I recommend the free Filezilla client.)

But really, don’t worry about that stuff yet — familiarize yourself first with the admin panels, and try stuff out there. The learning curve for the admin panels and regular, ordinary use of WordPress is NOT difficult, you’ll see.

Stick to the basic sections of the codex, and disregard stuff about altering themes and CSS and PHP etc. right now — NONE of that is necessary to use WordPress as blogging software.

But you’ll probably get interested in that stuff later…. and then you’ll be sucked in! ??

Have fun!

whats the BIG deal with saying that. My GOD. Do you write code for greymatter?

I may be wrong, but I believe the phrase “greymatter” was mistaken for referring to literal “grey matter” (i.e. between the ears) as opposed to a software reference.

ohhhh, ok, that explains the “use the head” reference, which I didnt get at all. Moving along, I guess.

lmao!! @ whooami. I didn’t get it either, lol.

Man, this topic made my NIGHT. I was telling my homegirl that there’s this guy on wordpress forums about to commit suicide over PHP INCLUDES.

@strangeattractor,

Your advice to stick to the Dashboard and Codex is, I’m sure, best for the present. Thank you for making that point.

But in re: your question about FTPing… if you’ve used FTP before, it’s not any different. You’re just uploading files to your site. And most of the time, the only folder in the WP installation that you’ll be changing is the “wp-content” folder, which contains your themes and plugins. (And when you do get around to this — if you don’t have an FTP client you like, I recommend the free Filezilla client.)

For the last few weeks I’ve been using Kompozer to upload to another site and am pretty satisfied with it. My main question, I guess, would be about the info I need to give Kompozer. I tell it to upload to . . . ? I know the answers are simple, but my brain gets tired and just sits there and looks at me when I ask it these questions.

I’ve done lots and lots of technical work in the last five days and am probably just worn out.

Thank you again very much.

For the last few weeks I’ve been using Kompozer to upload to another site and am pretty satisfied with it. My main question, I guess, would be about the info I need to give Kompozer. I tell it to upload to . . . ? I know the answers are simple, but my brain gets tired and just sits there and looks at me when I ask it these questions.

It’s wherever you put your WordPress installation… I’m assuming you have it up on some hosting service’s server, so it’s the info you need to log into that server. If you installed WP in the root directory, you’ll find the files there (and again the “wp-content” folder is where the themes and plugins are); if you installed in https://www.yoursite.com/blog/ then you’d go into that subdirectory to find the WP files.

WordPress “software” is just a whole bunch of files — it has files in the main directory such as config.php, and then the rest of them are just in three folders. Your data is stored in your MySQL database. You’d have to contact your hosting service to find out more about that.

And if you’re on a new hosting service and don’t know the login info, you’ll have to check with them…

Okay everyone … we will now all join hands, put on our BIGGEST smile, and sing a rousing rendition of Kumbaya!

Please…. we mustn’t hurt anyones very tender feelings, now.