WordPress Menus Themes Plugins

Summary: Taking overview of Menus, Themes and Plugins.

Menus in WordPress

• Go to the WordPress Dashboard.
• From the ‘Appearance’ menu on the left-hand side of the Dashboard, select the ‘Menus’ option to bring up the Menu Editor.
• Click the link Create a new menu at the top of the page.
• Enter a name for your new menu in the Menu Name box
• Click the Create Menu button.

Themes

A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. These files are called template files. A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software. Themes may include customized template files, image files (*.jpg, *.gif), style sheets (*.css), custom Pages, as well as any necessary code files (*.php).

Ways to install Themes

• The automated Theme installer for Themes located in the WordPress Theme Directory
• The upload method for any Theme that is located in a ZIP file on your local computer
• The manual method via an FTP connection from your local machine to your host
• The manual method via a hosting control panel such as cPanel

Plugins

A WordPress plugin is a software that integrates with your WordPress site to enhance or add new features, enabling the creation of diverse websites such as online stores, portfolios, and directories.

Ways to install Plugin

• The automated Plugin installer for Plugin located in the WordPress Plugins Directory
• The upload method for any Plugin that is located in a ZIP file on your local computer

WordPress Widgets

WordPress widgets add content and functionality to the widget area. The widget area is a pre-defined area by the theme, typically located in the sidebar or footer, but varies from theme to theme. Examples are the default widgets that come with WordPress; for Categories, Tag cloud, Search, etc. Plugins will often add their own widgets.

Widgets were originally designed to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress Theme to the user, which is now available on properly “widgetized” WordPress Themes to include the header, footer, and elsewhere in the WordPress design and structure.

Widgets require no code experience or expertise. They can be added, removed, and rearranged on the Theme Customizer or Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress Administration Screens

Roles in WordPress

WordPress uses a concept of Roles, designed to give the site owner the ability to control what users can and cannot do within the site. A site owner can manage the user access to such tasks as writing and editing posts, creating Pages, creating categories, moderating comments, managing plugins, managing themes, and managing other users, by assigning a specific role to each of the users.

• Super Admin – somebody with access to the site network administration features and all other features. See the Create a Network article.
• Administrator (slug: ‘administrator’) – somebody who has access to all the administration features within a single site.
• Editor (slug: ‘editor’) – somebody who can publish and manage posts including the posts of other users.
• Author  (slug: ‘author’)  – somebody who can publish and manage their own posts.
• Contributor (slug: ‘contributor’) – somebody who can write and manage their own posts but cannot publish them.
• Subscriber (slug: ‘subscriber’) – somebody who can only manage their profile.