This guide introduces you to your Blog, and explains how to customise its appearance and start to use it. There is a PDF version of the Guide here. It may be more convenient to work from a downloaded or printed version of the PDF.
Your Blog has been established with a default setup which is designed for a straightforward, single user Blog, that allows subscribers to to subscribe to notifications of new Posts. Most of the default setup can be accepted as it is, though some additional personalisation will be necessary, and it will be helpful to understand some of the options available.

Some Blog owners may want to introduce multiple users and collaborators which may influence some settings choices.

Introduction to Your Blog

You can use your Blog to generate, share and preserve information you collect from your family history research or as part of your role with the Guild. You do this by creating Blog Posts, which you can think of as articles in a newspaper, newer articles are added on top of older ones. In addition, you can create static pages with information that you want to be easily found. An example might be an About page telling people more about you and the background to your research.

Logging In & Accessing the Dashboard and Customisation Panel

Before you can customise your blog, you will need to log in. In the address bar of your browser, type https://XXXXXXX.one-name.blog/wp/wp-admin (where XXXXXXX is the name of your blog. Enter the username and password you have been given. This will take you to the Administrators Dashboard.
Your Blog is controlled from this Dashboard. It includes a panel, in black, down the left hand side of the screen, which contains a menu of various functions. Selecting functions may lead to sub menus. Navigation to particular Dashboard functions will be described as ‘Dashboard menu item – submenu item’.

There is also a menu at the top of the screen with includes the name of your Blog. This has a submenu item which allows you to visit the Blog, and then return, either to the Dashboard, or to a couple of other Dashboard menu items.

Posts
Your Blog has been set up so Posts appear on your Home page with the most recent first and older Posts below it. As you add a new Post, the others will move down the page, although you can select to stick a particular Post to the top of the page.

A sample Welcome Post has been added to your Blog, and made ‘sticky’ so it always remains in view as the first Post. It is also expanded so the whole post is shown, rather than the first few lines, which is the default. See Posts under Examples of Use, and the section on Excerpt, for more on how to control how your Post appears.

It is up to you whether you keep the Welcome Post sticky, but it is important to remember this is the first thing a visitor to your site will see.

During customisation you will have the option to use a different Page for your Posts and make the Home Page as a Static Page, which could include the text of your Welcome.
You can use your Posts to share stories and photographs, ask questions, make announcements, or simply record useful information. They can contain images and links to files and other web pages. Subscribers to your blog will be notified when you produce a new Post. You can also link to the Posts from an email list or Facebook group.

Pages
Pages are used to present more static information, such as your biography, a summary of your study, or details of how to contact you. They are not replaced or moved when you add a new Post. Normally, there will be a link to any static Pages in your Menu.

The creation of Posts and Pages are very similar processes. The difference is in how they are accessed. When you create and publish a Post, it will appear automatically on your Home page, whereas any Pages you create are accessed from the Menu Bar and you will need to set this up.
Your Blog has been set up with some sample Pages to demonstrate their use. Some of these are templates for Pages you may need, but others, including the text of this Configuration Guide, can be discarded when you have finished with them.

The Examples of Use section has more details on creating Posts and Pages.
Comments and Share Buttons: Visitors can Comment on your Posts and Pages and use the social media buttons to share them. You can disable or time limit this facility down to the individual Post or Page, if you wish, using functions available when creating the Post or Page.
Media Library

Your blog has a Media Library, which is a repository for images and files that you can include or link to in your Posts and Pages. It has simple facilities for uploading new files and carrying out basic editing of images. Some images have been provided to support the initial customisation, and to demonstrate how they can be used in Posts and Pages.
You access the Media Library from the Dashboard Media – Library. It currently contains several images and a PDF file containing a copy of this guide. Two of the images are the Guild banner and button, used to advertise the site as hosted by the Guild. These must be retained.

You will also see images that can be used for your Header Image which appears in the site banner. You can delete this image when you have provided your own header Image.

New images can be uploaded from your computer by selecting Add New. This will allow you to identify images in your computer files for uploading.

Customising Your Blog

This section covers the basic customisation and personalisation of your Blog. There are some steps you will be expected to carry out, but most will be optional, with viable choices already made. For example you will need to change the header image, text and colours, unless you have a Guild Postholder’s blog, where some settings must be preserved so your blog retains a standard look.

The following five sections describe how your blog is set up, and the more advanced customisation options that you may wish to consider. These sections are:

• Theme and WordPress
• Widgets and Sidebar
• Plugins
• Subscriber Management
• Examples of Use