WordPress for Beginners Lesson 4 Fall2015JALC

Transcript

1. WordPress for Beginners Fall 2015 John A Logan College Lesson 4: Security, Backups and Maintenance
2. Why is security so important? Just like your house, you do not want anyone getting your important information. Security is most important before something happens.
3. What can I do to keep my site secure? 1. Never use “admin” as a username or “password” as a password 2. Use secure passwords. The easier it is for you to remember the easier it is to be hacked. 3. Update your site when you see updates needing to be made (Red circle with a number in it beside the word “Dashboard” 4. Pay attention to your site. No one knows it better than you and you know when something “isn’t right” 5. Use security plugins like iThemes Security, WordFence or BruteProtect (Jetpack) 6. Keep backups of your site
4. What is site maintenance? It is the updating, backing-up, inspection, and testing of your website. Websites are not fix it and forget it.
5. What is a backup and why do I need one? Backups are a zipped file of everything in your file manager and database. It is always a good measure to have a backup of your site that is not saved on the server for if something bad was to happen. A site could become infected with malware, code edited and the site broken, or something can go wrong with an update. With a backup, nothing is ever permanent, because you can always revert the site back to what it was before you started with the backup.
6. Popular Plugins to use for security, maintenance, and backups. 1. iThemes Security- Basic WordPress Security 2. UpDraftPlus- Makes a backup of your site (Already installed) 3. Jetpack (multi-use plugin) 4. Akismet- Comment Spam 5. Yoast SEO- SEO helper 6. WP Optimize- Easy database cleaner 7. Ninja Forms- forms
7. Installing Jetpack 1. Go to plugins-add new 2. In the search bar type in “Jetpack” 3. Click “install now” 4. Once installed click “activate” 5. You will need to connect your WordPress.com account with your Jetpack plugin. This is so the plugin can use the servers at WordPress.com to help your site work more effeciently. 6. Once connected go to Jetpack-settings
8. Configuring Jetpack We will go down the list in the Jetpack settings either turning on/off components and what they do. • Beautiful Math- You will not need this ever unless you are making an algebraic style website • Carousel- Jetpack’s Photo Gallery plugin. Great for portfolios and shopping • Comments- Jetpack’s comment structure. Please activate if you want to use comments on your site • Contact Form- If you want a simple contact us page with no other forms on your website, this is the best one to use. •
9. Configuring Jetpack continued... • Custom CSS- You will not need this unless you learn CSS • Custom Content Types- This is for if you want custom pages on your site • Enhanced Distribution- Please keep this feature on. It pushes new content to the search engines faster than if you only hit publish • Extra Sidebar Widgets- Gives you more options to use in widgets. Please leave turned on • Gravatar Hovercards- Allows the use of Gravatar Hovercards • Infinite Scroll- (Theme Specific) If your theme allows Infinate scroll then all of your blog posts can be on the same page • JSON API- you will not need to use
10. Configuring Jetpack continued... • Likes- Just like on Facebook, let readers like your pages or posts • Manage- Allows you to update your self-hosted website along with any WordPress. com accounts from one simple dashboard. Use if you have a number of websites • Markdown- Will not need unless you know how to write in Markdown • Mobile Theme- If your theme is not responsive, it helps your site look better on mobile devices • Monitor- Please turn on. It will send you an email whenever your site goes down and when it comes back up again • Notifications- be notified when someone leaves a comment
11. Configuring Jetpack continued... • Omnisearch- Searches posts, pages, comments, media, and plugins. On by default. • Photon- Caching for your pictures. On by default • Post by Email • Protect- Used to be called BruteProtect. Now Jetpack’s built in brute force protection • Publicize- Share your new posts and pages with social media (Will configure later) • Related Posts- Shows 3 other posts on a post that is related by tags or category • Sharing- Gives options for readers to share your posts • Shortcode embeds- Allows you to easily and safely embed media from other places in your site. With just one simple code, you can tell WordPress to embed YouTube, Flickr, and other media.
12. Configuring Jetpack Continued... • Single Sign On- Use your WordPress.com login to login to all of your self hosted websites • Site Icon (now in core so can be ignored) • Site Stats- See how many views you have had on your site • Site Verification- Google, Bing, and Pinterest Authorship • Spelling and Grammar • Subscriptions- Readers can sign up to have your new content be sent to them in email • Tiled Galleries- 3 different gallery styles to showcase pictures
13. Configuring Jetpack Continued... • VideoPress (Paid Feature)- Show videos on your site without using YouTube • WP.me Shortlinks- changes your URL to a shortend link for sharing • Widget Visibility- Gives you the option to have the choice of what pages widgets do or do not show on. • VaultPress (Paid Feature)- Jetpack’s backup feature
14. Setting up a Gravatar account Gravatar is a globally recognized avatar that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post a blog. Avatars help identify you and your blogs. 1. Go to en.gravatar.com 2. Click Create your own gravatar 3. You can use your WordPress.com account or make a new one 4. Add the emails you wish to connect your account to 5. Add an image (can be done later or from your phone) 6. You are all done!
15. Homework: Start collecting media for your site and writing content.