Whether you author a freebie WordPress-hosted blog at WordPress.com or self-host it on your own site via a downloaded version from WordPress.org, both operate the same way. Here are 5 tips and tricks when using WP that make it more fun (and productive) to use.

1. Use IE when authoring

WHAT?! Yes, the animations on the menus in WP 2.7 are smoother in IE than Firefox. Sad but true.

Example: Login to your WP admin and expand any one of the menus from the left, such as Tools. Watch how smooth the animation is compared to Firefox where menus and other functions are “jerky”.

This is not to say Firefox can’t author with WordPress. Far from it. But the animations with the admin panel are smoother on IE.

If you use IE for just WP authoring and nothing else, your neighbors will not storm your house with torches and pitchforks, not to worry.

2. Use full-screen mode when editing

When using full-screen mode you can put your browser in windowed mode (meaning not maximized) and your browser truly looks like a word processing app when editing a blog post.

Full screen mode can be activated by a keyboard shortcut (Alt+SHIFT+G) or by the small “screen” icon directly next to the spell-check “ABC” icon.

Example of the difference:

Above: Standard interface. This can get cluttered quickly.

Above: What happens when I press Alt+SHIFT+G. I am still in WordPress but in full-screen edit mode looks and feels a whole lot better when authoring.

To get out of full-screen mode, click the full-screen icon again or press Alt+SHIFT+G again.

Note: This is not the same as using full-screen mode in your browser (which is F11).

3. Know your keyboard shortcuts

You know Alt+SHIFT+G is full-screen mode from the previous tip. Here are the rest:

• Bold: Highlight text, then Ctrl+B or Alt+SHIFT+B
• Italic: Highlight text, then Ctrl+I or Alt+SHIFT+I
• Strikethrough/Strikeout: Highlight text, then Alt+SHIFT+D
• Unordered (i.e. bulleted) list: Alt+SHIFT+U
• Ordered (ex: 1, 2, 3) list: Alt+SHIFT+O (as in letter O, not zero)
• Blockquote: Alt+SHIFT+Q
• Align text to the left: Alt+SHIFT+L
• Align text to the center: Alt+SHIFT+C
• Align text to the right: Alt+SHIFT+R
• Align text “full”: Alt+SHIFT+J
• Hyperlink text: Highlight text, then Alt+SHIFT+A
• Remove hyperlink: Highlight text, then Alt+SHIFT+S
• Insert a “more” tag: Alt+SHIFT+T
• Toggle a spellcheck: Alt+SHIFT+N
• Show or hide “Kitchen Sink” (extra functions): Alt+SHIFT+Z
• Undo: Ctrl+Z
• Redo: Ctrl+Y
• Help: Alt+SHIFT+H

4. Use the draft feature, use it often.

When writing anything the draft feature will save anything you were working on directly to the web server.

While it’s true that WP will auto-save drafts while editing in the interface, it’s suggested that you get in the habit of physically click that “Save Draft” button, because there many be times when what was auto-saved as a revision doesn’t include the new stuff you wrote.

5. Speed up the admin interface by using screen options

When you login to WP admin, a feature that is really easy to miss is “Screen Options” at top right. It’s a gray button directly next to “Help”.

When clicked a bunch of checkboxes appear. If you uncheck them all you can “blank out” your admin panel for greater speed, like this:

There is nothing broken with the above screen shot. This is what happens when you uncheck everything.

My suggestion for those that use WP is to have “Right Now” and “Recent Drafts” checked and nothing else, mainly because you don’t need anything else. But of course that’s up to you.

Also bear in mind you can drag and drop these items and sort them however you like.

Do you use WordPress?

What tips would you recommend?

If there is any be-all/end-all blog writing utility out there that classifies as the best, it’s Windows Live Writer. For all the bungling that Microsoft does with its other products, WLW is one that actually shines and does so very well.

Why is this? Because it does what any good blog authoring tool should do – author to just about anywhere. WordPress, Live Spaces, LiveJournal, MovableType and several others. It is not Microsoft proprietary to just its Live services alone (if it were it would never be used).

In addition it the the absolute easiest image placement. You can literally copy/paste any image into WLW and it will understand it, format it, create thumbnails, allow for drop shadows, “photopaper” effects plus actual image editing like black/white filter, tones and so on. This is what we call powerful.

The best part about using WLW is that it’s a true WYSIWYG. What you type and the images you place is what ends up when you post. It’s like having a “lite” version of Word that’s really, really quick. Want to insert a YouTube video, hit SHIFT+F11, paste the code, then CTRL+F11 to go back. Want to bring up a panel to select/create a category, add keywords and so on? Press F2. Press it again to hide the panel.

It is rare that I can compliment an app made by Microsoft this much.

I’ll put it to you this way: Even Mac people really dig this product. It’s that good. And yeah it’s a shame WLW doesn’t have a Mac version (and don’t say “Ecto” – it’s not as good and you have to pay for it).

In this video, I will show you how to install Wordpress to your web server. It is a very simple script to install, however people new to these things could get a little confused with the database setup. So, watch this video and we’ll walk you through it.

Video Length: 15:48

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