How to Style WordPress

Using Plug-ins and Widgets

Jeff McLeod

Jeff@JeffMcLeod.ca

Powerpoint accompanying this article

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Copy of WordPress with all my favorite plugins already included

In this article I’m talking about:

1. Setting up the Look and Feel
2. Setting up Social Media/Social Networking

This is my little list of things I think you should download and how I think you should configure them. To understand my thinking watch the video at http://jeffmcleod.ca showing you how and why I choose all of this. Also you can download all of these plug-ins in one file from the website.

1. Set-up the Look and Feel
   1. Delete the example comment and post

1. Go to Appearance->Themes->Add New: Upload (or you can see what WP has to offer). Activate the theme

1. i.     Go into the FTP and change the logo to the client’s logo (wp-content/themes/themename/images/client-logo.png)

1. Note: this is only if you are using the templates that I provide at http://jeffmcleod.ca
2. ii.     Go to Appearance->Editor: Header and ctrl-f for ‘client-logo.png’.
3. iii.     Make the file path the same as the path of the logo you just uploaded
4. iv.     Save changes
5. Go to Plug-ins->Add New, search for “Excerpts Deluxe”. Install and activate.
   1. i.     Set “Cutoff after:” to 200 words
   2. Set-up Social Media/Bookmarking
      1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Share This”, install and activate

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Sociable for WordPress 3.0”, install and activate
   1. i.     Settings->Sociable WP3
      1. choose which buttons you want (I add Google Buzz, LinkedIn, Technorati, PDF, Email, and RSS)
      2. Check Position: “Front Page…”, “Individual posts”, and “Individual pages”
      3. Check “New Window – Use “target=_blank”

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Subscribe to Comments”.  Install and activate.

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Quick Subscribe”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     Go to Appearance->widgets and add this

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Twitter Badge”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     Settings->twitter badge: enter your twitter account, and I like to change the text and colour here, but that’s a personal preference

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Facebook Fan Box”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     Go to Appearance->widgets and add this
   2. ii.     Get your FB id (long number in URL of you Page) and add it here
   3. iii.     You should view your page at this point to see if the Facebook Fan Box fits into your sidebar properly.  You may have to play around with the width

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “WP Post Notifier For All”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     If people want to be taken off the list you do it in this plug-in’s settings

1. Take over the world!
   1. Start pushing your great content now that everyone will share it and subscribe for more!
   2. To find out how to create great content go to www.jeffmcleod.ca
   3. If you missed the videos on how to install WordPress, or how to set up your SEO watch those videos too.
   4. Share this video with other!

You can get all of these plug-ins in one file (so you don’t have to download each individually) at http://jeffmcleod.ca

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