After you write the post, you can choose a few extra options before you publish it for the entire world to see. These settings apply to the post you're currently working on — not to any future or past posts. You can find these options below and to the right of the Post text box (see Figure 1-4). Click the title of each option — the settings for that specific option expand.
You can reposition the different post option modules on the Add New Post page to fit the way you use this page.
Here are the options that appear below the Post text box:
Here are the options that appear to the right of the Post text box:
Don't see the category you need? Click Add New Category, and you can add a category right there on the Add New Post page that appears.
When you finish setting the options for your post, don't navigate away from this page; you haven't yet fully saved your options. The following section on publishing your post covers all the options you need for saving your post settings!
After you give your new post a title; write the content of your new blog post; maybe add an image or other type of media file to your blog post (see Book IV, Chapter 4); and configure the tags, categories, and other options, now the question is: Publish? Or not to publish (yet)?
WordPress gives you three options for saving or publishing your post when you're done writing it. The Publish module is located on the right side of the Add New (or Edit) Post page. Just click the title of the Publish module to expand the settings you need. Figure 1-6 shows the available options in the Publish module.
The Publish module has several options:
Click the OK button to save your Status setting.
This option is otherwise known as a sticky post. Typically, posts are displayed in chronological order on your blog, displaying the most recent post on top. If you make a post sticky, it remains at the very top, no matter how many other posts you make after it. When you want to unstick the post, deselect the Stick This Post to the Front Page check box.
If you want to future-publish this post, you can set the time and date for anytime in the future. This feature has come in handy for Lisa many times. For example, when you have a vacation planned and you don't want your blog to go without updates while you're gone, you can write a few posts and set the date for a time in the future. Those posts are published to her blog while you're somewhere tropical, diving with the fishes.
After you select an option from the Publish drop-down list, click the Update button. The Write Post page saves your publishing-status option.
If you click Publish and for some reason don't see the post appear on the front page of your blog, you probably left the Status drop-down list set to Unpublished. Your new post appears in the draft posts, which you can find by clicking Edit in the Posts drop-down list.
While we write this book, we have editors looking over our shoulders, making recommendations, correcting typos and grammatical errors, and helping us by telling us when we get too long winded. You, on the other hand, are not so lucky! You're your own editor and have full control of what you write, when you write it, and how you write it. You can always go back and edit previous posts to correct typos, grammatical errors, and other mistakes by following these steps:
The Posts page opens and lists the 20 most recent posts you've made to your blog.
To filter that listing of posts by date, select a date from the Show All Dates drop-down list at the top of the Posts page. For example, if you select February 2011, the Posts page reloads, displaying only those posts that were published in the month of February in 2011.
You can also filter the post listing by category. Select your desired category from the View All Categories drop-down list.
Alternatively, you can click the Edit link that appears below the post title.
The Edit Post window opens. In this window, you can edit the post and/or any of its options.
If you need to edit only the post options, click the Quick Edit link. A drop-down Quick Edit menu appears, displaying the post options that you can configure, such as the title, status, password, categories, tags, comments, and timestamp. Click the Save button to save your changes.
The Edit Post window refreshes with all your changes saved.