WordPress Administration Panels the Dashboard

WordPress Administration Panels & the Dashboard

You administer your WordPress blog using its administration panels, each of which includes buttons and links for performing tasks.

The Dashboard (Figures 26 and 27) is the main administration panelthe one that appears when you log in to your WordPress blog. It offers buttons and links for performing a wide variety of tasks and for learning more about how to use WordPress.

To view the Dashboard

There are several ways to view the Dashboard for your blog:

• Follow the instructions on the previous pages to log in to your blog. The Dashboard appears automatically.

• Click the Admin link in a WordPress blog window. If you are not already logged in, this link will appear as a Login link.

• Click the Dashboard button at the top of a WordPress.com blog. This button only appears if you are already logged in.

• Enter the URL for the blog's home page followed by /wp-admin/. So, in our example, we could go to our server-hosted WordPress VQS demo blog's Dashboard by entering www.wpvqs.com/wp-admin/ in a Web browser. If you're not already logged in, the log in screen (Figure 25) will appear first.

Tip

• You might want to bookmark the Dashboard administration panel for your blog. This will make it quick and easy to access in the future.