How to install a WordPress plugin

September 23, 2009 By

This post is part of my WordPress Essentials Toolkit — a collection of the most important basic steps to maintaining a WordPress site. Get a free copy of this helpful 28-page PDF by subscribing to my Weekly Web Tips!

One of the beautiful things about WordPress is its flexibility and extendability. The basic engine does quite a lot already, and does it well. But it doesn’t do everything.

Fortunately, we have plugins for the “everything else” part.

A plugin is simply a piece of software code that adds a function to WordPress. Makes it capable of doing something it’s not built to do. Chances are, if there’s something you’d like your blog to do, someone has written a plugin that’s perfect for you.

I’ll be reviewing specific plugins, and giving configuration instructions for them, in future posts, but today I’ll cover the process of installing a new plugin. It’s a built-in feature of WordPress in versions 2.7 and above, so there’s no downloading, FTP’ing, unzipping, or any of that file-wrangling at all. You just use your WordPress dashboard to find and install plugins.

Here’s the whole process, illustrated.

Step 1. Click on “Plugins” in the left navigation

This brings up a list of plugins you already have installed.

wp_pluginnav

Figure 1: The WordPress "Manage Plugins" screen

Step 2. Click “Install New” to bring up the search screen

It’s helpful at this stage if you know the actual name of the plugin you want to install, because a quick search will bring it right to you. But you can also search for keywords you want in your plugin, or use the tag cloud to see all plugins with a given tag.

wp_pluginsearch

Figure 2: How to search for a WordPress plugin

If you do search using keywords or tags, you’ll probably want to do some research on the top search results before installing a plugin. Fortunately, the search results screen provides links to the plugin’s home page, plus (usually) a link to the plugin’s author. It also provides user ratings so you can see what’s working for other WordPress users.

Step 3: Click “Install Now” on the left for the plugin you want

Figure 3: Click "Install Now" to install, or click "Details" to bring up a pop-up window with additional info.

Once you’ve decided to install a particular plugin, just click “Install Now.”

If you’re not quite ready to actually install a particular plugin (maybe you’re still researching various plugins), click “Details.” This brings up a popup window featuring more information about the plugin so you can read about it, and in many cases see screenshots, before you install it. This popup also has a big red button labeled “Install Now,” if your reading convinces you you’re ready.

Figure 4: The plugin "Details" pop-up window, with links to more information and an "Install Now" button.

Whether you click “Install Now” in your search results or the red “Install Now” button in the popup, the rest of the steps are the same.

Step 4: Yes, you’re sure

You’ll get a default “Are you sure?” dialog box at the top of your browser. It’s helpful if you clicked the “Install Now” link by accident — but if you clicked it on purpose, you’re sure. So click OK.

Figure 5: Yes, you're sure (unless you clicked Install Now by accident).

Step 5: Wait for “Activate Plugin” to appear, then click it

Three status messages will appear (usually within seconds). Only after the final “Successfully installed the plugin” message has appeared does an “Activate Plugin” link appear.

Of course, you can install plugins without activating them. If you’re not sure you want to activate it, you can navigate elsewhere or click on “Return to Plugin installer” to search for more plugins.

wp_pluginactivate

Figure 6: The plugin activation screen

After you click the “Activate Plugin” link, you’ll see a status message at the top of your screen:

wp_pluginactivatedAt this point, some plugins will also show you messages that say things like “This plugin needs to be configured.” I’ll dive into the configuration settings for my top recommended plugins in future posts.

But for plugins that need no configuration, you’re all set. The new functions of WordPress are now active!

Filed Under: WordPress How-To's Tagged With: , , ,

How to change "posted by admin" in WordPress

September 16, 2009 By

All right, you’ve got your shiny new WordPress blog installed, and you’re ready to start writing. Congratulations!

You want to start getting your name and your Awesome Stuff out there. But you notice that when you write a post (or even when you check out the “dummy post” that WordPress gives you, called “Hello World!”), the byline says “posted by admin.”

How do you change “admin” to something more human? Like your actual name?

Simple. Here are three screenshots showing just how easy it is to make this tweak:

1. Go to your user profile

To do this, log into your WordPress dashboard, select “Users” from the left-hand navigation, then select “Your Profile” from the drop-down menu. You’ll see a screen labeled “Profile,” and a short way down the screen (you shouldn’t have to scroll) you’ll see a section called “Name.”

Oh no, you can't change your username! Fortunately, you don't need to.

Oh no, you can't change your username! Fortunately, you don't need to.

You’ll probably notice that you can’t change your username. But don’t panic! You don’t need to change your username to change that “posted by admin” text. Read on to see why.

2. Fill in your name and nickname

wp-userfill

Just fill in your name, and a nickname if you'd like your posts to have a signature that's different from your name.

You probably want to stick with your regular first and last name in the first two fields. You can get creative in the nickname field, though. You can identify yourself by job title, initials, super-short description, or pretty much anything else.

Although this field is required, you can change it yourself, as many times as you like (unlike the username field).

3. Choose a Display Name from the drop-down list

wp-userdisplay

Now you can choose a display name so your posts will be "posted by" YOU!

Now, after you’ve filled in the First Name, Last Name and Nickname fields, click next to “admin” to open a list of available display names (yes, I know, in this screenshot it’s actually a “pop-up” list rather than a “drop-down,” but the function is the same).

This display name list is automatically generated by WordPress based on what you put in the First Name, Last Name and Nickname fields (which is why if you click it first, before you fill in those fields, you only see one choice: the dreaded “admin”).

Notice that the auto-generated list includes these choices:

  • whatever you put in the Nickname field
  • admin
  • just the contents of the First Name field
  • just the contents of the Last Name field
  • First Name followed by Last Name
  • Last Name followed by First Name

Whatever you pick in this list is what your site visitors will see in that “posted by…” bit of text.

(There are other functions of these three fields, having to do with post titles, search engine optimization, and other internal code-y stuff, which we won’t get into today. For now, we’ll stick to what “Display Name” means to you and your readers.)

Now, “admin” is still your username (which means you’ll use it to login to your WordPress dashboard), but no one who visits your site will see you identified as “admin.” Instead, they’ll see a Display Name of your choosing.

Now you’re ready to post… and have your readers know it’s you!

Got a question? Leave a comment here and join the discussion!

Happy WordPressing,

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Filed Under: General How-To's Tagged With: ,

How to forward one domain to another using GoDaddy

September 9, 2009 By

I recently received this question via email:

“I bought two domain names, and I want both of them to point to the same place (I want to use one of them, and have anyone who visits the second one automatically go to the first one). How do I do this?”

Turns out, I needed to do this anyway for a handful of domain names I bought for the new WordPress class I’m teaching with my friend, energy healer and Project Nanny extraordinaire Meredith Curtin. So while I was busy forwarding domains, I snapped a couple of screenshots to illustrate how easy it is to change this setting from inside your GoDaddy account.

This trick is also useful if you’ve bought both the .com and .net versions of your domain name, or if your nonprofit uses a .org address but you also want people who type the .com address to end up at the right place. I always recommend buying more than one domain.

Forwarding a domain with GoDaddy is a simple 3-step process. Ready? Here we go:

1. Log into your GoDaddy account.

You’ll see a screen that includes a list of your domain names (or the first five, if you own more than five).

"My Account" screen, shown when you first log into GoDaddy.com

"My Account" screen, shown when you first log into GoDaddy.com

 

2. Click on “Advanced Details” for the domain you want to forward.

You’ll see a screen that’s chock-full of settings to change. Don’t be intimidated by this. All you need to do is make one small change!

Look for the arrow-shaped icon that’s labeled “Forward.” Give it a click.

Look for the "forwarding" icon on the Domain Manager screen

Look for the "forwarding" icon on the Domain Manager screen

 

3. In the popup window, fill in the web address of the site where you want your visitors to end up.

In the example shown here, I’m making sure that anyone who types www.thegentleartofmakingmoney.com gets automatically sent to the real class address, which is www.gentleartofmakingmoney.com.

Now, if I refer to the class verbally as “The Gentle Art of Making Money” and someone types the whole name, including the “the,” they’ll get to our main class page, because both addresses now point to the same place (try clicking the links in the above paragraph; they really do end up at the same place, with a barely noticeable time lag for the first one).

Click OK to save the changes (you can always edit or remove your forwarding later).

There you go! You have successfully forwarded your domain name to a different address.

Semi-Interesting Note: You can type any web address here. It can be a domain name that you also own (as shown in this example), but you don’t have to own it. The address you type can be someone else’s website, or even a page at Amazon.com. GoDaddy really doesn’t care where you’re sending people.

Just type the name of the domain where you want your site visitors to end up, and click "OK."

Just type the name of the domain where you want your site visitors to end up, and click "OK."

 

4. Bonus Tip: How to forward multiple domain names at once

If you have bought several domain names that you want to forward, you can also batch-forward them to avoid repeating these steps individually for each domain name. To do this, you want to go to your Domain Manager where you can see a list of all your domains:

Batch-forward multiple domains by checking multiple boxes before clicking the green "Forward" arrow.

Batch-forward multiple domains by clicking multiple checkboxes before clicking the green "Forward" arrow.

 

You’ll want to click the checkboxes next to all the domains you want to forward (you must be forwarding them all to the same destination address).

Then, and only then, click the familiar green “Forward” arrow at the top of the screen. You’ll see a popup window similar to the one shown in Step 3, except that it will indicate that you’re forwarding more than one domain. There’s still only one place to fill the destination, however.

Got any domain-forwarding questions? Leave me a comment and let’s talk!

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Filed Under: General How-To's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

How to point your GoDaddy-registered domain to your DreamHost account

September 2, 2009 By

So you’ve got a shiny new domain name registered at GoDaddy (or maybe you’ve had it languishing there for awhile… I won’t tell, I promise!).

Now you want me to install WordPress at your shiny new DreamHost account.

How do you get GoDaddy to play nice with DreamHost?

There’s just one little-bitty change you need to make inside your GoDaddy account. Ready? Here are the steps:

1. Login to GoDaddy.

You’ll see a screen that resembles this one:

"My Account" screen, shown when you first log into GoDaddy.com

 

 

2. Click “Advanced Details” for the domain you want to use for your WordPress blog.

Now, you’ll see the “Domain Manager” screen with all kinds of details and links.

The only thing you want to pay attention to right now is the link called “Nameservers.”

There’s a link, with an icon that resembles a shiny oil drum, near the top of the page. There’s (probably) another link at the bottom of the page called “manage.” Either of these will take you to the same place.

Domain Details screen, shown when you click on "manage details" for an individual domain in your GoDaddy account

3. In the popup window, fill in the DreamHost nameservers.

(Of course, these instructions will work equally well for a non-DreamHost hosting account, but we’re going to stick with the simple here.)

You must click the button that says “I host my domains with another provider.”

Then you must fill in the following blanks (and yes, it is perfectly OK to leave Nameserver 4 blank):

Nameserver 1: NS1.DREAMHOST.COM
Nameserver 2: NS2.DREAMHOST.COM
Nameserver 3: NS3.DREAMHOST.COM

These nameservers are not case-sensitive. I’m using all-caps just for clarity.

Finally, click OK.

Pop-up window where you fill in the DreamHost nameservers

 

At this point, the popup window will disappear.

You’ll probably see a status message from GoDaddy that says you need to wait a few minutes while the changes are implemented. This is totally normal.

You can feel free to log out of GoDaddy at this point, because technically, you’re done. Or, you can stick around and refresh the page after 10 minutes or so to make sure the Nameservers section of the Domain Details screen (figure 2) updates and correctly shows the DreamHost nameserver information.

You did it! Go you!

And now, when I install WordPress for you, it will show up correctly (instead of the page that says “this domain is parked at GoDaddy” which is not exactly the perfect advertisement for your business, is it?).

Any questions? Leave a comment here, or contact me.

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Filed Under: General How-To's Tagged With: , , , , ,
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