Note: If you opened sandboxOO  you were just  redirected here. I moved everything over to the myclass2go.org root directory.

You received a User ID and a PASSWORD that lets you use WordPress in an assigned SANDBOX.  This is where you work until you are ready to use a self hosted web site.

To log-in and work on your web site use the same address you use to view it but add  /wp-admin

Here’s what it would look like if you were logging in to sandbox50:

myclass2go.org/sandbox50/wp-admin 

To view any student web site you can use the Quick Sandbox Links at the right  ⇒  ⇒  ⇒  ⇒

The first window that opens when you login is called the Dashboard. This is the main control point for everything you do. If you ever get lost, simply return to the Dashboard and you should be OK.

Before you start playing in your sandbox, please take a minute and watch these videos.

   
Your site (sandbox) already has a template ready for you to use – take a look at it by clicking on Appearance and then Themes in the left panel. It’s called “Twenty Ten” and is provided by WordPress so you can get started.

The Home page on this template is actually a Posts type page and you can edit it by clicking on Posts in the left panel.  All the posts and web pages make up what we call a web site. As new pages are added, they automatically appear across the navigation menu, arranged alphabetically. The names on the navigation menu can be re-arranged in any order by numbering them (by Page Order) as each page is edited or after you have them made.

The Header image can be changed and instructions will be found on the Graphics page later in our class. Different images can also be assigned for each page using Set Featured Image in each page edit window. By default the same image will appear in the header for all your pages unless Set Featured Image for each page is selected and saved.

Your sandox has WordPress installed on the internet server side and everything you add or change to the pages is Updated as you work – as long as you remember to click Update. There is no need to use a FTP program because everything you need already exists on the server.  You Upload new images using built in commands made for that task. This method allows you to edit the web site using any computer, anywhere – as long as you know the admin site and password. Each sandbox is unique with it’s own password and admin log-in. 

I edited the  page that you are reading now. It uses the template “Twenty-Ten”,  and I changed the original BLOG type page to a standard page.  Please try editing your page using your site Sandbox.

§  Click on Posts on the left and then choose Edit

§  Replace all the text with your own words

§  When you are through click Update

§  Preview your result by clicking on View post

§  Click Posts again and select Quick Edit.

§  In the Quick Edit window turn-off (unchecked) Allow Comments and Update again

§  Preview your result by clicking on View post, or

§  You can continue by either using you browsers BACK button or the extra menu created at the top of you browser window.

It’s important to look around and become familiar with what’s available in the editing panel on the left, called the Dashboard.  It’s pretty straight forward  but you have to get use to finding what area effects the changes you want to make.

You can turn off the Comment-Post boxes so they don’t show at the bottom of each page by using  Quick Edit - either in the Pages or Posts edit windows. That’s what I did as I worked on the site.

Enjoy your sandbox and discover some new “toys” provided in WordPress.