More WordPress Help
Royal Roads University Resources
Tutorials developed specifically for WebSpaces powered by WordPress at Royal Roads.
- Computer Services. WebSpaces Tutorials.
External Resources
The resources below provide a wide range of accessible tutorials and information for new and experienced users of WordPress blog sites. When using these resources you may see references to adding a new plugin or theme to solve a problem, add a new function, or change the look and feel of your site. You should remember that, while you are the administrator for your WordPress site, you don’t have the ability install new plugins or themes.
Some resources will be written for a specific version of WordPress. Most features and processes in WordPress will change little across versions but you will have better results using newer resources created for your version of WordPress. You can find the version currently used in WebSpaces powered by WordPress by going to your dashboard, clicking on the WordPress icon in the upper-left corner, and selecting ‘About WordPress’.
- WebTegrity YouTube Channel.
- WebTegrity. Beginner Level WordPress Playlist.
- Firstsiteguide.com. Learn How to Use WordPress.
- Easy WP Guide. Online or PDF.
Using Google
Over 75 million websites use WordPress so the odds are good that your question has been asked of Google already. Remember that the same considerations about plugins, themes and WordPress versions as described above will apply to Google searches. Here are some strategies for finding your answer.
Phrase a question or imagine the page heading.
Google has become much more responsive to searches posed as a question. Often you will be shown popular searches in the past and Google will tune the results you get by considering which result from prior searches was the last selected (the last one was the one that worked). Another strategy is to imagine that someone has developed a great WordPress support website. What might the page or section heading for your problem be? Use that as your search term.
Use quotes and other boolean and advanced search tools.
To get an exact phrase and avoid other combinations of the same words, put your search phrase in quotation marks. You can also use boolean operators like ‘OR’, ‘AND’ or ‘NOT’, along with many other advanced strategies to refine your Google search.
Source? Date?
Tutorials from individuals and organizations with extensive WordPress experience, and with a role or interest in educating others are going to be more effective. If you find a tutorial on a WordPress topic that works for you, others from the same source are likely to also match your needs. WebSpaces for WordPress is kept at or close to the most recent WordPress version. Therefore newer tutorials are more likely to match your WordPress version. That said, many functions in WordPress don’t change over several versions, so well-designed older tutorial can still be useful.
Video/YouTube.
Google searches include tabs across the top where you can select ‘Video’ to view just videos that are responsive to your search terms. If you find a good tutorial on YouTube you can also look for more useful videos by looking at others within a ‘Channel‘ – a collection of videos by one user, or a ‘Playlist‘ – videos from various users curated into one collection.