When I first started writing tutorials I tried to make images for each, and every, click.
It.
Was.
Extremely.
Slow.
I could make videos. But I prefer using written tutorials myself and I refer back to my own tutorials. Also, webpages and user interfaces often change over time, even though the commands and command sequences you use might stay the same.
So that the writing the tutorials will only take hours – instead of hours and hours – I came up with a shorthand to record my directions; it’s the same shorthand I use for myself in my own notes. Since you don’t live inside my head, I decided I better explain myself.
How to read my WordPress tutorials
> Action, means click on “Action,” or find the “action” button or menu item somewhere on the page and then click on it.
> Action > Second Action, means “hover over Action, submenu will pop up, click on Second Action”
For example, most instructions for my WordPress tutorials will start out on the WordPress dashboard, which is the page WordPress brings up when you login as administrator. The URL for your WordPress dashboard will be something like www.yourwordpresswebsite.com/admin.
So, if you are viewing your WordPress Dashboard:
> Users, means to click on “Users” in the left hand menu
> Users > Your Profile, means that you also have the option to hover over “Users” and get a drop down menu to get more options, where you click on “Your Profile”.
In WordPress, clicking on > Users will also cause the menu on the left to expand. So I could write the directions like this:
> Users
> Your Profile
The second shorthand notation I use is that every time clicking on an action brings up a new page, I’ll start another line. But I try to keep everything on one line when I can.
For example:
> Users > Your Profile
Admin Color Scheme: Choose Blue, > Update Profile
Means:
Hover over Users, click on Your Profile
Which will bring up a new page, so I start a new line
Admin Color Scheme: Choose Blue, > Update Profile
which means
Find the Admin Color Scheme and click in the circle to choose the Blue option, then scroll down to the bottom of the page to find and click on the button Update Profile.
Got that? Let’s try it. Try it out on simple WordPress tutorial, how to change the your WordPress dashboard color scheme.
Or, return to the WordPress tutorial that led you to this explanation. Or look through all my other WordPress tutorials.
I hope these directions work for you! Please leave a comment (if the comments on this post are closed, comment on my latest post) or contact me and let me know if you run into a difficulty. I’ll do my best to make sure my directions are clear and still up to date. However, I am not a WordPress developer and unfortunately I can not provide technical support. If you need more help, a place to start is the WordPress support forums. And check out all my WordPress tutorials.