Performing Setup Tasks in the WordPress Admin Panel

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The reader can benefit from the previous article on Getting Started with WordPress 3.

After you've successfully installed WordPress, it's time for our first look at the WP Admin. There are some immediate basic changes that I recommend doing right away to make sure your installation is set up properly.

You can always get to the WP Admin by going to this URL: http://yoursite.com/wp-admin/. Your first time here, you'll be re-directed to the login page. In the future, WordPress will check to see if you're already logged in and, if so, you'll skip the login page. Following is the login page:

To log in, just enter the username and password you chose during the installation. Then click on Log In. Note for the future that on this page there is a link you can use to retrieve your lost password.

Whenever you log in, you'll be taken directly to the Dashboard of the WP Admin. Following is a screenshot of the WP Admin that you will see immediately after you log into the blog you just installed:

You'll see a lot of information and options here. We will focus on the items that we need to touch upon right after a successful installation. First, let's take a brief look at the top of the WP Admin and the Dashboard.

The very top bar, which I'll refer to as the top bar, is mostly a medium grey and contains:

• A link to the front page of your WordPress website
• A rollover drop-down menu with handy links to New Post, Drafts, New Page, Upload, and Comments
• Your username linked to your profile
• A link to log out

You'll also notice the Screen Options tab, which appears on many screens within the WP Admin. If you click on it, it will slide down a checklist of items on the page to show or hide. It will be different on each page. I encourage you to play around with that by checking and unchecking items, as you find you need them or don't need them.

On the left, of course, is the main menu:

You can click on any word in the main menu to be taken to the main page for that section, or you can click on the rollover arrow to slide down the subpages for that section. For example, if you click on the arrow next to Settings, you'll see the subpages for the Settings section:

The top menu and the main menu exist on every page within the WP Admin. The main section on the right contains information for the current page you're on. In this case, we're on the Dashboard. It contains boxes that have a variety of information about your blog, and about WordPress in general.

Before WordPress 3, the first thing you'd have to do would be to change the password to something easier to remember. However, now that you can choose your password during installation, this is no longer necessary. Let's jump right to general site settings.