kearao

Thanks, iridiax. Now I have an idea what to do.

After I posted yesterday, it occurred to me that an alternative might be just to use the “export” tool every few days.

Would that be a viable option, do you think?

Thank you for your kind help.

MichaelH,

I see the Message box now too, but it was certainly not there a few hours ago. Must be that software dybbuk again?

@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.

@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.

@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. ??

@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. ??

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!

Okay, but there was no good reason for rudeness. I hope you’ll become less rude in future.

Figaro, thanks very much for your reply. I must say that I am feeling very unhappy and lost as I go through this adjustment process. Is there a way that I can cut through some of that feeling, e.g., by learning some php? I’ve looked at the widgets, briefly, and my heart sinks at the thought of teaching myself by trial and error (mostly error). I just want to lessen the pain of the learning process.

Chanel, thank you again for your help.

I hope that you will become less rude in future. It isn’t kind, after all. You don’t know the person to whom you are doing it — maybe they are not as bright as you are, maybe they are stressed by financial or health problems. They are invited to post here for help, and they should be able to expect courtesy in receiving it.

You were trying to help me, and you probably have. It wasn’t necessary to try to inflict pain at the same time.

Okay, I’ve gone to Appearance > Theme > Editor. Actually, I’ve been there before, but it uses a language that I don’t speak. I simply do not know how to modify that page so that my sidebar will look the way I want it to.

So, taking sidebar.php as an example — are all the modifications I want to make going to look like this? If so, how do I learn to do them? Do I have to learn php? Does everyone who uses WordPress use php?

Chanel, I’m grateful for your reply. I’m using 2.7 and the default theme.

The greymatter comment is, nonetheless, probably unfair. I try hard to be self-reliant. A few years ago, for example, I built my own computer as an effort in that direction. So while the help is much appreciated, the snark is probably really not warranted.

Can you give me an idea as to what I should do to make better use of WordPress? Should I buy one of the third-party books? I know html pretty well, but have no experience with css or php.

The permalinks question is a good example of the unnecessary difficulties. There is surely a single sentence somewhere that would tell me how to turn them on. I don’t care if they are ugly or pretty or in between. But it should be extremely simple to turn them on. (Why aren’t they on by default?)