Don’t go out looking for a “WordPress for dummies” book- it will be obsolete before it’s off the presses. WordPress isn’t that complicated and you really can’t screw your site up too badly no matter how hard you try.

The biggest mistake a beginner can make is by changing to a theme that doesn’t have a log-in button- and they can’t figure out how to get back to the dashboard. No worry here- just go to www.yourblogname.com/wp-admin and then type in your user name and password. The user name is typically “Admin” if it’s your blog.

The other place you can screw things up is under the Options menu- by changing the location of your blog. If you happen to do this, someone who knows how to access your MySQL database on your server can get in and change it back.

Other than those two issues- (and it there are others- please feel free to add comments) the most you can lose is a post or page unless your sever crashes. That’s why it’s a good idea to enable the WordPress database back-up plugin in WordPress 2.0 and back up your data to your computer on a regular basis.

If you don’t understand something- and the question isn’t answered here- you can always e-mail me the question at [email protected]  and I’ll try to post a response soon.

Your other solution is to Google your question- more than likely someone has already answered your question online- just type in “WordPress” and “your question” and you should find an answer quickly.

The WordPress documentation on the codex http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page is full of good stuff and getting better every day.

And if you solve a problem on your own, and you didn’t find a good answer with Google- post it in your blog, so you can help others.

WordPress 2.0 Upload Management at D’Arcy Norman Dot Net

Has a great description with screen captures on how to utilize the new picture upload function of WordPress 2.0. So if you are stuck on how to upload and manage your images with the new tool- click on the link above to read more.
This post- is an example of linking to another blog to explain something someone else has already explained. Why re-create the wheel when you can create links to the content you want to talk about.

I’ve decided to add to this post to suggest a change in the next rev of WordPress. While having the image upload and browse window (rightfully) on the same page as the Write post or Write page window- the controls are in two different places- making for a sloppy confusing interface. Ideally, we should be able to upload and browse in the lower section- then drag the image into our post (supposedly available in Firefox) and then be able to click on the insert/edit image button in the tags- and be presented with ALL the options for using a thumbnail and if it should link to a larger image. The only function that should be available in the window below is to delete the image- and only if it asks if it should also delete it from the post if it has been used.

It would also be nice to have image padding controls in the insert/edit image button dialog as well.

This post will create a “Pingback” to “D’Arcy Norman’s” site- showing up in the comment section if he has allowed pingbacks- and to make this post I used the “Press it” tool in WordPress. If you have a lot of pingbacks on your post- it means you did a good job.
The Press It tool is at the bottom of your “Write post” page- it creates a bookmark that you can click on when visting another site- instead of saving the page to your bookmarks- (or favorites if you are using that terrible browser Internet Explorer instead of Firefox) you will instantly be taken to your blog’s “Write Post” page with a title and link already started for you to comment on the other sites content!

Just another way WordPress makes it easy to build your content and your links.

WordPress 2.0 offers a new feature in the “quicktags” menu- instead of just creating a link to a url you now are presented with 3 options.

Link URL is just like before- where you add the full link that you want to link to. Note: in WordPress 1.5 the default box for this had “http://” leading your entry- now you either have to paste an entire link in- or remember to add “http://” before you put your link in.
Target: gives you the option of either having the link open in the same window, or opening a new window. A lot of people will misuse this option opting to always open an external site in a new window- this is really tough for people using screen readers (blind people) who use the back button on their browser to navigate to the previous page- so please, think about accessibility when choosing this option.

The “Title” option is brand new to WordPress and is another key part of code compliance for the blind- and can be a big help to those of us who want to know where we are linking to. This creates the text that displays when you hover your mouse over a link popping up an explaination of where that link will take you.

An example: If I write “my favorite blog on advertising is www.thenextwave.biz/tnw” and make it a link, it is clear to everyone where I am sending you (and will be valuable for your readers that might print out your page)

However, I could also do the same by saying “you can check out this brilliant blog on advertising by clicking here.”

Both link the same way- but the second example is a mystery to those who may want to know where the link will take them before they click.
By hovering over the link you get this pop-up title which can tell a reader where the link will take them.

(click on images for enlarged view)

One last thing about the link tool- is how to make a link to an e-mail message. If I want an e-mail address to launch the default e-mail client (hopefully Thunderbird) you just type: mailto:[email protected] in the URL data entry field (where you would normally type: http://domainname.com) and you will have an e-mail window ready to go. It’s that simple.