WordPress in an Hour or Less: The Get It Done Guide to Installing and Using WordPress (12 page)

5.  Choose a desired size, then right-click the entire highlighted code block, and choose Copy from the shortcut menu that appears.

6.  Go back to WordPress, and at the dashboard, use the Posts or Pages menu options to get to the post or page where you want to embed the YouTube video.

7.  Open the desired post or page in the WordPress Editor, and click the HTML tab (you do
NOT
want the Visual tab displayed).

8.  Place the cursor inside the tab (and on a blank line if there is any existing code), and press CTRL+V.  You'll see the code for the YouTube video appear inside the page.

9.  Click Update, and then view your page.  You'll see the YouTube video, completely embedded within your WordPress page, as shown in the example here.

A Note
about Hosting Your Own Multimedia Files

If your web hosting account is of the variety that allows for unlimited use of space, you can choose to place large video files directly on your own site. However, you should be aware that doing so involves some technical challenges and the use of some topics that are beyond the scope of this book. In particular, you'll need to be familiar with the use of FTP (File Transfer Protocol), and you will need to set up an FTP client that will allow for uploads directly to your web hosting account.
Knowledge of HTML will also help, particularly as it relates to referencing file locations, and pointing to absolute versus relative file paths. Finally, you will need to decide whether your site allows for simply downloading, or for full video streaming, as the implications behind the coding designs for the first option are different than those used for the second. If you don't currently possess this level of knowledge but wish to pursue it, you'll find resources listed in Appendix A (such as the book shown below) that will help.

             
In this appendix, you’ll find additional resources that you can refer to in order to continue your growth regarding your own knowledge of WordPress. It is simply one phenomenal publishing platform, and I encourage you to learn more as you further develop your WordPress site. (Of course, if you’re using WordPress to support the site for “the next big thing” and your business becomes so wildly successful that you would just as soon turn the entire task over to an experienced web developer, you know where to reach me!) –Edward Jones,
[email protected]

The first resource I’d like to recommend (admittedly being biased here) is my own in-depth text on WordPress, calle
d
WordPress from Start to Finis
h
and also available through Amazon. This book will cost you a bit more than ninety-nine cents (I've priced it at a reasonable $2.99 at the time of this writing). For the added investment (still less than a typical adult meal at a fast-food joint), you'll get a book that's roughly twicethe length of this one. I
n
WordPress from Start to Finis
h
, you'll find all of the following:


        
More extensive coverage of WordPress themes


        
Instructions on planning a website aimed at the needs of your site's visitors.


        
An entire chapter on how you can choose themes and add plug-ins that make your site adapt to mobile devices, like iPads, iPhones, and Android-based smartphones.


        
Detailed coverage of the installation and use of the popular NextGEN Gallery plug-in that performs phenomenally at displaying complex photo galleries complete with slideshows and custom effects.


        
“Tech expert” topics that include how to perform a manual installation of WordPress (just the thing for those who are taking advantage of free web hosting through their college campus accounts)


        
How to manually install commercially-purchased WordPress themes

Finally, you will find
a complete chapter on the topic of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, and how you can optimize your WordPress site to attract more visitors who find your site through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft's Bing.
You can click this link, or the image below, for more details about
WordPress from Start to Finish.

The
next resource I recommend for all things WordPress is that of the WordPress foundation itself, at www.wordpress.org. Here you can find outstanding examples of site designs (the Showcase tab), themes and plug-ins galore (the Themes and Plugins tabs, respectively), advice on optimizing WordPress for mobile platforms (the Mobile tab), and a general wealth of documentation if you want to delve more deeply into WordPress (the Docs tab). And you can learn a great deal simply by reading the thousands of posts that have been entered into the forum by the WordPress community.

Also, consider these specific areas of the WordPress.org site:

To take a look at the most frequently-asked questions, broken down by category, head over to
http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ

Having problems in a specific area? For troubleshooting, head to
http://codex.wordpress.org/Troubleshooting

If you want to learn more about site design and layout, head to this link:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Blog_Design_and_Layout

An independent web design outfit, 1WebDesigner, has a great site titled "23 Extremely Helpful WordPress Help Sheets And Resources." You can find it at this link:

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/css/23-extremely-helpful-wordpress-help-sheets-and-resources/

The other site that I love is WebDesignerDepot, with their page of "300+ resources to help you become a WordPress expert." You can find the page at this address:

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/09/300-resources-to-help-you-become-a-wordpress-expert/

Finally, I will be
compiling a list of WordPress resources on the web, starting with this list and expanding it as time goes on, under the WordPress section of my own site at www.getitdonebooks.com. You can go directly to the WordPress page of my site by entering
www.getitdonebooks.com/wordpress
in your browser.

WordPress for Churches: How to Create Faith-Based Websites Using WordPress

If your church or house of faith is in desperate need of a website but you've felt it was beyond your capabilities... if you've placed yourself into the 'beginner', 'neophyte', 'amateur', or even 'dummies' category... if you've thought "I can't do this..." -think again!
WordPress for Churches will give you 100% of what you need to know to get your faith-based website up and running quickly with WordPress, on your own privately-hosted domain, and at a cost of just a few dollars a month. Follow the steps in this first chapter, and you’ll be up and running with your own WordPress-powered web site at a cost that won't put the trustee board into shock! And additional chapters of this book provide details that are of specific interest to houses of worship, such as how to add sermon libraries, church calendars, and ways to process online donations.
Click here for additional details about WordPress for Churches.