WordPress

Lee Munroe is a freelance web designer from Belfast (Pro Blog Design) who put together a very helpful list for a new WordPress user.

Make sure to visit the detailed posting at problogdesign.com for his helpful advice on each of the items.

The 10 things on his list are:

1. Change the Admin Password and Manage Your Authors

2. Edit Permalinks

3. Upload Your Theme and Activate It

4. Add Your Categories and Change the Default

5. Activate Akismet (a plugin that blocks comment spam)

6. Install Google XML Sitemaps

7. Install Wordpress Database Backup

8. Test Your Blog With Dummy Content (most of my postings will fall under this category, so I skipped it)

9. Add your RSS feed to Feedburner (at first I thought this was some kind of dirty or suggestive item, but now I see it’s legitimate)

10. Activate your Analytics

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This blog is constructed using the Thesis theme for WordPress.

I wish I could take credit for it, but I can’t

What’s Thesis? Here’s the answer from their website:

Thesis is literally anything you want it to be. Want a 3-column layout with your content in the middle? Done. How about a 2-column layout with content on the right? You get the idea.

No matter which layout you select for your site, the core Thesis framework will remain the same, and that means you still get all the ultimate site-building and SEO benefits that Thesis offers. Best of all, you now have a true foundation for your Website—a core code framework that can accommodate any design or layout customization you might wish to make in the future.

When you think about it, it simply doesn’t make sense to change your core code every time you change your design, yet this is how most of the Web still operates (by getting a new theme, paying for a custom design, etc.). Thesis solves this problem in an efficient, intelligent, forward-thinking way. You want real change for the future? Get Thesis, my friend.

I’m new at using Thesis and still have plenty to learn, but so far, so good. Look for more detailed postings in the future.

Links in this post are sponsored and support our free website.

UPDATE: While overall, Thesis is GREAT, it is NOT a plug-and-play solution that’s a breeze to customize right out of the box. This was my expectation, but there is definitely some work involved in getting going.

Consider how profoundly Apple changed the digital music world with iTunes and iPods. They took a market that was nonexistent (people were stealing, not buying) and created a solution based upon an incredibly simple, elegant and intuitive approach.

I sincerely believe Thesis is on this path, but not all the way down it.

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