Guide to WordPress – part 5 – Media/Comments/Plugins

If you’ve been following along with this guide so far then you’ll know all about WordPress and its dashboard, adding a new post page, and the difference between posts and pages. Now let’s take a look at media, comments & plugins. These are all going to be pretty short guides so I’ve bundled them together into a single article.

Quick Navigation

• Media
• Comments
• Plugins

Media

If you’re adding a post then you’ve probably seen the add media button above the editor and the media button on the main menu . No matter how you get to the media library you’ll add edit and upload in the same way.

Drag and drop your file to the window and your image will be uploaded to WordPress. Once you’ve dragged an image to this window, WordPress will start to upload the image, once it’s uploaded you’ll notice on the right side your new image and some details have been added. Let’s take a look at the attachment details section now.

1. This is the image you uploaded with the original image size and the date it was added.
   Advanced Edit – Click this link to edit your image.
2. Title and description of your image should be added here.
   1. Title – is the title, this is shows when you hover the image with the mouse.
   2. Caption – caption for the image
   3. Alt Text – Used for the browser to identify the image in question (a ‘caption’ for Google, etc. to use to identify the file).
   4. Description – Image description.
3. Attachment Display Settings – Allows you to edit quickly how your image is viewed from the front end.
   1. Alignment – Align the file to the Left, Center or Right.
   2. Link-to – Allows you to alter or remove the link attached to the image.
   3. Size * – Will show you three sizes, depending on how large the original image is to begin with. You should get a thumbnail, medium and a large image size to choose from.

* Media sizes can be adjusted in the settings page, under media.

Comments

WordPress Says:

Comments allow your website’s visitors to have a discussion with you and each other. When you activate comments on a page or post, WordPress inserts several text boxes after your content where users can submit their comments. Once you approve a comment, it appears underneath your content. Whether you want to customize how your receive comments or tweak how your site displays comments, WordPress provides a thorough set of options to build a community from the visitors to your site.

Comment Spam

Spam is a growing problem on the web today, but thankfully WordPress developers have already developed a number of great plugins to help keep them under wraps. I have a post here on plugins for spam prevention.

Moderating Comments with the Comment Screen

All comments can be edited and deleted. Whatever you want to do with them you can do from the comment moderation screen. Click on the Comments button on the left main-menu. You’ll be shown, if you have any, a list of all your comments.

By hovering your mouse over each comment you’ll be presented with the following actions below each comment.

• Approve/Unapprove – Does what it says on the tin.
• Reply – Replies to the selected comment
• Quick edit – Allows you to edit the comment inline.
• Edit – Causes the comment edit screen to display
• Spam – Marks the comment as spam
• Trash – Sends the comment to the trash where it can be deleted or restored permanently.

Plugins

Plugins can extend WordPress to do almost anything you can imagine. In the directory you can find, download, rate, and comment on all the best plugins the WordPress community has to offer.

Click on the Plugins tab on the left main-menu.

Featured in this series:

1. Guide to WordPress – part 1.  What is WordPress
2. Guide to WordPress – part 2. Introducing the Dashboard
3. Guide to WordPress – part 3. Pages or Posts
4. Guide to WordPress – part 4. Adding your First Post
5. Guide to WordPress – part 5. Media/Comments/Plugins
6. Guide to WordPress – part 6. Adding your First Page