In last week’s blog, we discussed how to add and manage media on your WordPress website. This week, we’ll explain every feature and function of the word processor for your WordPress Pages and Posts.

Above is an image of the WordPress word processing interface. This is the screen you use to add and edit pages and posts on your website. In this blog we’ll be focusing on the formatting functions available to you on WordPress.

Some of these functions may already be familiar to you (e.g. Bold, Italics, etc.), and some may be more unique to WordPress (e.g. how to turn text on your site into a live hyperlink to another web page). Each function is displayed within those two rows of buttons, and we’ll include an image of each individual button as we explain each function throughout this blog.

Bold and Italics:

The bold and italics buttons are on the upper left of the WordPress interface. Click the box with a B to make your text Bold, or click the box with the I to italicize your text.

Strikethrough:

The strikethrough feature can be used to indicate deleted writing, or it can be used to suggest a deliberate change of thought.

Unordered and ordered lists:

The ordered and unordered list buttons allow you to create a list in the content of your WordPress post or page. Your lists can either be unordered bullets, like

• This
• This
• And this

Or, your lists can be ordered by numbers, like

1. This
2. This
3. And this

Blockquotes:

The Blockquote feature creates a separate indented box of text. This box can be used to feature a quotation or other text within your posts.

Alignment buttons:

Depending on where you’d like your text or other content to display on the pages of your website, these buttons allow you to align your text to the

Left,

Center, or

Right.

Insert/edit link, and unlink:

These buttons allow you to turn text on your website into live hyperlinks. To do this, use your mouse to highlight the text you’d like to turn into a link. Once you highlight your text, the Insert/edit link box will illuminate (if you don’t have any text highlighted, the Insert/edit link box will have a faded look to it. You can’t click on this button until you have some text highlighted).

Once you have your text highlighted, click the illuminated Insert/edit link box. This will prompt the Insert/edit link screen.

You can link to another web page by copying and pasting that page’s URL in the specified URL box. The “Title” box allows you to offer a brief title or description of your link, which will display when your mouse hovers over the link in your post or page.

The “Open link in a new window/tab” option lets you choose to open the link in a new window or tab, which will keep your webpage open for visitors. If you don’t choose the option, visitors will leave your website when they click on the link.

The Insert/edit link page also provides the option of linking to another page within your own website. To do this, simply choose from the list of links to other pages of your site, which are listed on the Insert/edit link screen under “Or link to existing content.”

To unlink text that you’ve already linked, select the text and click the Unlink button once it appears illuminated.

Insert More Tag:

This feature allows you to truncate, or shorten, a blog post so that a shorter portion of the post is displayed on the home and archive pages. When you use the Insert More Tag, a “more” link will automatically be included at the bottom of a shortened post, which will link readers to the full post.

Distraction Free Writing Mode:

This feature turns WordPress’s word formatting screen into full screen mode, and also removes all but the most necessary WordPress buttons and features from the screen. In other words, this literally eliminates the distractions so you can focus on what you’re writing.

Show/Hide Kitchen Sink:

The “Kitchen Sink” is the second row of formatting options (which we’re about to get to), in addition to the first row (which we just discussed). If you click the Show/Hide Kitchen Sink button, the second row of formatting options will appear or disappear, depending on your preference.

Paragraph formatting drop-down box:

This box allows you to select from a series of predetermined font formats, such as “paragraph” formatting, “address” formatting, various “heading” formats, etc. These format options are uniform throughout your website, so that each page’s heading, paragraph text, and so own will remain consistent on each page.

Underline:

This button allows you to underline text within your pages or posts.

Align Full:

This alignment feature allows you to align the text relative to the full width of the page, so that your text will display all the way from one side of the page to the other. This is an alternative alignment option to the left, center, or right alignment options we discussed earlier.

Select Text Color:

This button allows you to select the color you’d like for the text on your page or post. Clicking the drop-down menu will prompt a list of color options to choose from.

Paste as Plain Text/Paste from Word:

These features allow you to easily paste text you’ve copied from somewhere else. (If you’re copying from Word, use Paste from Word. If you’re copying from elsewhere, use Paste as Plain Text). This function will remove any formatting that the copied text may have, so that you may now format the text to be consistent with the rest of your site.

Remove formatting:

This button allows you to remove italicizing, underlining, or any other sort of formatting on text. Just use your mouse to highlight the text you’d like to remove the formatting from, and click the “Remove formatting” button.

Insert custom character:

Clicking this button will prompt a menu of custom characters you can include – anything from an accented vowel to a Greek symbol to a mathematical Pi sign, as you can see below:

Indent/Remove Indent:

This button allows you to indent the beginning of a paragraph or other text on your page. Just make sure your cursor is blinking at the beginning of the text you’d like to indent, and click the Indent button. Once you’ve indented a particular text, the “Remove Indent” button will appear bright instead of faded. This gives you the option of removing indentations on text you would no longer like indented.

Undo/Redo:

These buttons allow you to undo whatever formatting or other work you’ve just completed. Once you Undo something, the Redo button will appear bright, which gives you the option of redoing what you’ve just undone.

Help: 

This button prompts a whole menu of help resources that can help you better understand WordPress along the way. If you’re working on the back end of WordPress and have a question, the “help” feature isn’t a bad place to start.

This is just a quick overview of all the formatting options available on the WordPress word processing interface. If you have any other questions or issues, feel free to contact us at O2!

To contact O2, give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].

Click here for our last post – managing media on WordPress.