{"id":61641,"date":"2021-05-25T07:58:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T13:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/?p=61641"},"modified":"2025-12-08T05:44:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T11:44:00","slug":"navigating-your-wordpress-dashboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/navigating-your-wordpress-dashboard\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Your WordPress Dashboard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Encountering your WordPress dashboard for the first time can be slightly overwhelming. Over time, it has bulked up a little, but don\u2019t worry – you\u2019ll quickly get the hang of things.<\/em> While the list of options may seem long, everything is neatly categorized<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>

Today we\u2019re going to take a tour around some of the highlights that will help you get your WP website up and running. Once you get used to the system, getting things done through the WordPress dashboard will only take seconds.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Content Management System?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A Content Management System, or CMS, is a web application<\/strong> meant to help create and manage website content<\/strong>. These applications simplify complex tasks so even users without coding skills or technical knowledge can handle them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While that alone is a significant advantage, CMS-driven websites are also<\/strong> dynamic<\/strong>. They can create content on the fly, allowing you to create all kinds of unique web pages. This makes CMS solutions highly suitable for creating a personalized web experience<\/strong> for all online visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why WordPress?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today, WordPress has emerged as the dominant name in the CMS industry, powering just over 40% of all websites<\/strong><\/a> in operation. With the Internet currently playing host to over 1.8 billion websites<\/strong>, that\u2019s a mind-boggling market share for a single web application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the tons of different CMS offerings, you may wonder why WordPress has been so successful. The answer is simple – it is extremely easy to use, powerful, <\/strong>and very flexible<\/strong>. Practically anyone can use WordPress to build practically any website imaginable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other notable CMS solutions<\/strong><\/a> in the market – Joomla, Magento<\/strong>, and Drupal, <\/strong>to name a few. Still, not many of these have seen the tremendous development and support that WordPress enjoys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s examine some major WordPress benefits to better understand why so many love this website builder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress is Free<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Being an open-source product, WordPress is completely<\/strong> free to use<\/strong>. Anyone can head to the official WP website, download the files, and deploy it on a web hosting platform of their choice. Making things even easier, many hosting providers include one-click software installers<\/strong> that help you set up the application with just a few clicks.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re using it to run a<\/strong> personal blog <\/strong>or build a commercial site <\/strong>for a Fortune 500 company – you don\u2019t have to pay a cent to use WP.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Source License Boosts Creativity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While many people equate \u201cfree<\/em>\u201d with \u201copen-source<\/em>,\u201d there is a more significant implication of the latter. WordPress is published under the GNU Public License<\/strong>, meaning you can run it for free. More importantly – you are also allowed to study and modify it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has led to a thriving ecosystem of WP fans that today make up a substantial part of the WordPress power. There are thousands of developers building plugins and themes <\/strong>for the CMS, constantly improving and evolving the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modular Design Offers Limitless Potential<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While WordPress remains at heart a CMS, its modular design means you can expand functionality quickly and easily<\/strong>. From handling content to turning your WordPress site into an ecommerce store (and anything in between) – it just takes a plugin or two and some fine-tuning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Help is Readily Available<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Given the number of WordPress-driven websites<\/strong>, there is a massive community where you can get help if needed. Even if used commercially – there are entire development companies <\/strong>that specialize in WordPress support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are running a small personal WP project, you can just hop onto one of the many WordPress forums and community boards <\/strong>for more assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Adaptive and Progressive<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

WordPress has moved with the times and quickly adapted to new and emerging technologies. F\u043er instance, despite being in the market for nearly two decades, it was one of the first CMS solutions to adopt a mobile-friendly stance. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This plays a big role in what has given WordPress users the confidence that this platform is the right one to use even if you’re planning future expansions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Install WordPress?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are several ways you can get WordPress installed on your web hosting. Still, we can narrow these down into two main methods – manual <\/strong>or automated<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automated WordPress Installation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Navigating<\/a>
Softaculous lets you deploy WordPress quickly and easily.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The most popular one-click autoinstaller solution you’ll find with most hosts is Softaculous<\/strong>. You can launch the app installer from your web hosting control panel<\/strong><\/a> and see a list of the available applications for deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To install WordPress<\/strong>, simply click the \u201cInstall<\/em>\u201d button. You will need to provide the installer with some basic information for the site you wish to create – installation URL, account names and passwords, language, <\/em>and such.<\/p>\n

The entire operation rarely takes more than a couple of minutes and WordPress even lets you choose from one of few preselected themes<\/strong> to start with.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manual WordPress Installation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Navigating<\/a>
Database creation is part of the manual WordPress installation process.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t have access to an application installer, you can use a manual method. While it may involve a few extra steps, a manual WordPress installation isn\u2019t complicated at all.<\/p>\n

The first thing you need to do is download the WordPress installation package<\/strong><\/a> from the official source.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, you will need to upload the package<\/strong> to a chosen directory on your web hosting account and unzip the files <\/strong>inside. You can do this via File Transfer Protocol<\/strong> or by using the File Manager <\/strong>your host provides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, log in to your web hosting control panel<\/strong> and launch MySQL Databases <\/strong>(sometimes available as MySQL Wizard<\/em>). Using this, create a blank database. You also need to create a user account<\/strong> and associate it with the database created. Note the information you\u2019re providing as you will need it later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the File Manager, navigate to the directory <\/strong>where you unzipped the WordPress package. Locate a file called \u201cwp-config.php<\/em>\u201d and open it for editing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to find and replace the following fields with information on the database you just created:<\/p>\n\n\n\n