Wordpress is “the” software for creating blog sites. Join expert trainer, Geoff Blake as he takes you through all the ins and outs of creating a "feature rich" Wordpress based website! ...got something to say to the world? ...looking to self publish? Blog it! In the first part of this two part series, award winning software trainer, Geoff Blake, introduces you to all the ins and outs of creating awesome blogging websites using Wordpress. In his informal yet informative approach to training, Geoff takes you through all stages of blogging site design from installation to creating and editing posts. Along the way you’ll learn all about dashboard customization and individualizing the look and feel of your blog. Next he shows you how to drop in graphics, insert and edit images and videos to make your blog rich with features that will keep your audience coming back for more! This tutorial, Wordpress Basics, is a must have for anyone interested in learning the essentials of Wordpress. You’ll be up and blogging like a pro in no time! Table of Contents: 1: Understanding What WordPress Is 2. About Blogging and WordPress 3. The Main Areas of A WordPress Blog 4. A Blog’s Front End and Back End 5. Setting Up A Free Blog On WordPress.com 6. Setting Up A Self-hosted WordPress Blog 7. Installing Locally On A Mac Part One: Installing MAM... 8. Installing Locally On A Mac Part Two: Installing Wor... 9. Installing Locally On A PC Part One: Installing XAMP... 10. Installing Locally On A PC Part Two: Installing Wor... 11. Task #1: Applications You May Use With WordPress 12. Viewing and Customizing The Dashboard 13. touring The Rest Of The Admin Interface 14. The WordPress Codex and Online Forums 15. Gettin’ to Settin’ Up Your Profile 16. Setting The Blog’s General Options 17. Now on to Themes: Changing Your Blog’s Design 18. Discovering Even More Themes 19. Viewing Your Blog’s Theme Files 20. Using The WordPress Theme Directory 21. Manually Installing Themes 22. Auto Installing Themes From The Theme Directory 23. Task #2: Ten Awesome WordPress Themes to Explore 24. Touring The Edit Post Screen and Writing Posts With... 25. A Quick Mention: Setting Your Post’s Discussion O... 26. Editing Your Posts and A Look At The Quick Edit Fea... 27. Formatting and Previewing Your Posts 28. Inserting and Editing Links to Sites and Email Addr... 29. Super-Sweet: It’s WordPress’s Kitchen Sink tool... 30. Setting Publishing Options For Your Posts 31. Understanding Excerpts, Trackbacks, and Pingbacks 32. Get Editing Your Published Posts 33. Making Your Blog Easier to Read: Adding ""More"" Li... 34. Creating and Editing Posts With The HTML Editor 35. Ready For This? Creating HTML Posts With Dreamweave... 36. Adjusting Your Blog’s Writing Settings 37. Password Protecting A Post 38. First Up, Setting Your Blog’s Media Options 39. Droppin’ Graphics Into Posts 40. Adding An Image From A URL 41. Loading Images Into The Media Library 42. Inserting Images Into Posts From The Library 43. Editing Your Inserted Images 44. Editing Images In The HTML Editor 45. Dig This: Using WordPress’s Image Editor 46. Understanding Graphics In Web Design 47. Preparing Images In Photoshop For Use On Your Blog ... 48. Preparing Images In Photoshop For Use On Your Blog ... 49. Preparing Images In Photoshop For Use On Your Blog ... 50. From Illustrator to Photoshop to Your Blog - Part 1 51. From Illustrator to Photoshop to Your Blog - Part 1 52. And Now on to Video 53. Adding In Some Video to Your A Posts 54. Using Auto-Embed to Add In Video 55. Droppin’ In Some Audio 56. Linking to PDFs and Other Types Of Media 57. Managing Your Inserted Media 58. Wrap-Up