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Creating page templates for WordPress

Ok, now this only applies to people who know how to use FTP to access the files on their site.  If you don’t know about FTP I suggest playing with a development site first as data loss can happen!

Let’s say we want to make 2 kinds of templates for pages.  Perhaps one page has the page heading and one does not (however you can change pretty much anything you want as long you keep the header, sidebar and footer references).

First of all, make a duplicate of the index.php or page.php file and rename it to something like page2.php (can be anything really).

Now this is the important bit to let WordPress know the template exists.  You will need to add the following code to the very top of the file:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Page 2
*/
?>

Now make the changes to the template and save it in your template directory.  You can do things like remove sidebars, change content sizing, etc…

Login to WordPress (any current version) and select the page you wish to use the template for.  You will now notice a template section in your edit page (or quick edit) where you can select from available templates for that page.  Select the template and save your page.

Easy as that!

How to install a WordPress plugin

This guide will explain how to install a WordPress plugin.  Don’t worry it’s simple, all you need is an FTP client like Filezilla.  This guide assumes you are using WordPress version 2.6 or above and you know how to use FTP software.

Download your plugin from somewhere like WordPress.

Fire up your FTP software and navigate to the folder wp-content/plugins.

Unzip your plugin and drag it to the wp-content/plugins folder in your FTP program.

Once uploaded, login to your admin section of worpress by going to http://yourdomain.com.au/wp-admin.

Once logged in click on plugins in the top right hand side of your browser window.

Now select your plugin and click activate.

Now your plugin will be in the active section.  You will be able to change the settings of most plugins by going to the menu section set out in the plugin instructions.

Happy Blogging!