=== Plugin Name === Contributors: Binary App Dev Tags: search, news, widget, widgets, post, posts, plugin, plugins, google, wikipedia, twitter, mobile, seo, tag, tags, rss, responsive, wordpress, content, link, links, simple, sidebar, category, categories, automatic, related, random, xml, feed, feeds, social, web, Internet, fast, contextual, blog, blogs, engine, engines, optimized, optimization, all in one, all, one, all-in-one, easy, tablet, smartphone, free, unlimited, search plugin, search widget, web search, internet search, news search, shopping, deals, coupons, sports, research, technology, tech, download, downloads, search engine, search engines, all in one internet search, free plugin, free plugins, database, scalable, sidebar, page, feature, features, option, options, yahoo, bing, reddit, youtube, yandex, baidu, maps, email, social, share, music, movies, facebook, url, user, users, image, images, comment, comments, secure, notification, like, performance, picture, pictures, photo, photos, videos, snapchat, instagram, chat, messenger, social, html5, admin, shortcode, html, css, design, theme, internet search, web search Requires at least: 3.1 Tested up to: 4.1 Stable tag: 1.0 The #1 Internet Search Plugin - Download Now - Free & Unlimited - "A must have plugin for WordPress sites." https://binaryappdev.com/ == Description == = The #1 Internet Search Plugin on WordPress = Fast (Global CDN), secure (True SSL, TLS, & PFS), easy to use, and mobile optimized All-in-one Internet Search was built with YOU in mind: artists, creatives, and dreamers. Search for and pursue your passion without limits, because there are none. This intuitive plugin shows a configurable widget for each post with news and a search feature. Articles will be opened in a new tab. = If you have a support issue please contact us directly through our website. We do not monitor or reply to comments posted on the WordPress provided support forum. = [Binary App Dev](https://binaryappdev.com/ "Binary App Dev"). Want to load up on even more All-in-one Internet Search goodness? - [Download All-in-one Internet Search for Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/all-in-one-internet-searc/fcjjebgdkdidbdeifipjlabkoiolkonp "Download All-in-one Internet Search for Chrome") - [Download All-in-one Internet Search for Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/all-in-one-internet-search/ "Download All-in-one Internet Search for Firefox") = Features = Everything you need to kickstart your WordPress website. - Select news by country - Choose the amount of articles per keyword - Sharing buttons - Search feature - Surf with a friend - Responsive / mobile optimized = Surf With a Friend (HTML5) = This feature is automatically activated. Select the "Surf This Website With Friends" button. - Audio chat - Text chat - Co-browsing - User focus - User presence - Real time content sync (If you are a fan of Snapchat you will like this feature.) = Clean Uninstall = Try the plugin with complete confidence - when uninstalled, it removes all traces of itself (options, site options, user and post meta, transients, etc.). The integrity of your database will remain. Scalable, the plugin works with websites with thousands of posts. = SEO Benefits = This plugin will keep your visitors on your site longer, reducing bounce rates. It will provide relevant content on your website. = Intuitive, Automatic, Contextual = The plugin automatically takes terms from your post title and presents several related articles from Google News, Twitter, and Wikipedia. This allows your visitors to search these websites based on the topics mentioned in your title. = Fast = Coded for performance = Secure and Ad-free = The plugin does not contain advertisements, paid upgrades, or tracking code of any kind. It is completely free and unlimited. All-in-one Internet Search utilizes state of the art End-to-End Encryption (True SSL) for unprecedented privacy and security. :-) All-in-one Internet Search is verified as having a perfect "A" rating through Qualys SSL Labs. = Fast and Open Search = The plugin automatically activates our mobile optimized search appliance (Global CDN) so that you can search many sites securely. These websites include: All-in-one Internet Search Google Bing Yahoo! WolframAlpha DuckDuckGo Startpage AccuWeather (by zip) Amazon Facebook Google Movies Google Play IMDB Reddit The Free Dictionary The Free Library Twitter WikiHow Wikipedia YouTube All-in-one Deals All-in-one Images All-in-one Jobs All-in-one Knowledge All-in-one Movies All-in-one News All-in-one Shopping All-in-one Sports All-in-one UK Shopping -Google Apps -Google Blogs -Google Books -Google Calendar -Google Chrome Web Store -Google Dictionary -Google Discussions -Google Drive -Google Excel Files -Google Finance -Google Flights -Google Groups -Google Images -Google Mail -Google Maps -Google Movies -Google News -Google Patents -Google PDF Files -Google Play -Google Plus -Google PowerPoint -Google Recipes -Google Scholar -Google Shopping -Google Trends -Google Videos -Google Weather -Google Word Docs Bing -Bing Events -Bing Finance -Bing Images -Bing Local -Bing News -Bing Videos Yahoo! -Yahoo! Answers -Yahoo! Autos -Yahoo! Downloads -Yahoo! Finance -Yahoo! Images -Yahoo! Local -Yahoo! Maps -Yahoo! Movies -Yahoo! Music -Yahoo! News -Yahoo! News Photos -Yahoo! News Videos -Yahoo! Recipes -Yahoo! Shopping -Yahoo! Sports -Yahoo! Travel -Yahoo! TV -Yahoo! Video -Yahoo! Weather ABC News Airbnb Alibris All Recipes Amazon Android Central Apple Insider Arxiv Auto Blog Auto Week AutoZone Baidu Barnes & Noble BBC News Beatport Bed Bath & Beyond Best Buy Billboard BizRate Bloomberg Bloomingdales Burberry Business Insider Buy.com BuzzFeed CareerBliss CBS News CC Mixter CDW Cinema Blend CNBC CNN Money CNN News Costco Coursera Crate and Barrel C-SPAN CVS DC Comics Dictionary Domain WhoIs Download.com Ebay Eccellio Encyclopedia Engadget Epicurious ESPN Everyday Health ExtremeTech Fandango FileHippo FindLaw Firefox Add-ons Flickr Flixster Fodor's Travel Food Network Freeware Files Frys FunnyorDie GameStop GitHub Gizmodo Glassdoor GNC GrooveShark The Guardian The Hacker News H&M Harvard Business Healthline Home Depot Hot Scripts HowStuffWorks Hulu IGN IKEA Instagram Investopedia iTunes JCPenney Joystiq Kayak Deals Khan Academy Kmart Kotaku Law Dictionary LinkedIn Lonely Planet Louis Vuitton Lowes Lush Mac Rumors Macy's MarketWatch Marvel Comics Mashable Mayo Clinic Medicine Net Mendeley Metacritic MIT Tech Motor Trend Movie Database Movie Times (by zip) Movie Yahoo! Nasty Gal Nature NBC News Neiman Marcus Netflix NetworkWorld Newegg NHK World Nordstrom NPR Office Depot Office Max PCWorld Pep Boys Petco Petsmart Phys Pinterest Prada PriceGrabber Quora Radio Shack Recode Reddit Reuters News Rite Aid Rolling Stone Saks Fifth Ave Sam's Club Science Daily Screen Rant Sephora Serious Eats Shoutcast Similar Sites (Enter URL) Slickdeals SnapFiles Softonic SoundCloud SourceForge Space News Sports Authority Sports Illustrated StackExchange Stack Overflow Staples Starbucks Stock Quote StubHub Target TechCrunch Thesaurus The Verge Tiffany & Co. Timeanddate.com Time Magazine Top Speed Tumblr TuneIn Radio TutsPlus TwitchTV Urban Outfitters U.S. News Victoria's Secret Vitamin World Walgreens Walmart Weather.com (by zip) WebMD Whole Foods WhoSampled WikiHow Wikipedia -Wikiquote -Wiktionary Windows Phone Windows Store Wire Image WordPress Yandex YouTube Zara Zillow = If you have a support issue please contact us directly through our website. We do not monitor or reply to comments posted on the WordPress provided support forum. = [Binary App Dev](https://binaryappdev.com/ "Binary App Dev"). == Installation == = Installation = 1. Use the automatic installation button or upload the 'plugin-name' folder to the '/wp-content/plugins/' directory. 2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress. 3. On the "Appearance | Widgets" page, select and move the All-in-one Internet Search widget to your active widgets menu. - Select the country you would like news from. - Enter your preferred title for the widget. - Enter the number of articles you want to appear. - Select save. = If you have a support issue please contact us directly through our website. We do not monitor or reply to comments posted on the WordPress provided support forum. = [Binary App Dev](https://binaryappdev.com/ "Binary App Dev"). == Frequently Asked Questions == = If you have a support issue please contact us directly through our website. We do not monitor or reply to comments posted on the WordPress provided support forum. = [Binary App Dev](https://binaryappdev.com/ "Binary App Dev"). == Screenshots == = Screenshots = [Screenshot 1](https://binaryappdev.com/wpscreenshot1.png "Screenshot 1") [Screenshot 2](https://binaryappdev.com/wpscreenshot2.png "Screenshot 2") = If you have a support issue please contact us directly through our website. We do not monitor or reply to comments posted on the WordPress provided support forum. = [Binary App Dev](https://binaryappdev.com/ "Binary App Dev"). == Changelog == = Changelog = Version 1.1.1.1-12-01-14 - Initial release = If you have a support issue please contact us directly through our website. We do not monitor or reply to comments posted on the WordPress provided support forum. = [Binary App Dev](https://binaryappdev.com/ "Binary App Dev"). == Other Notes == = If you have a support issue please contact us directly through our website. We do not monitor or reply to comments posted on the WordPress provided support forum. = [Binary App Dev](https://binaryappdev.com/ "Binary App Dev"). = First Steps With WordPress = 1 Now What? 1.1 Log In 1.2 Start at the Top 2 Test Drive Your WordPress Site 2.1 It's All in the Details 2.2 Take a Quick Trip Around 3 Test Drive the WordPress Administration Screens 3.1 Quick Changing the Look 3.2 Writing and Managing Posts 4 Planning Session 4.1 Using the Information 4.2 What Information Do You Want to Share 4.3 Comments 5 Setting Up Your Site 5.1 Create Categories 5.2 Put Posts in Categories 5.3 Preventing Spam 5.4 What Is Next 6 Customizing Your WordPress Site 6.1 WordPress Themes 6.2 Customizing The Look 6.3 WordPress Plugins 6.4 Customizing How It Works 7 Above and Beyond the Basics 7.1 Getting More Help Now What? You've just completed the 5 Minute Installation of WordPress or one-click install from your web host. Now what? Let's take a step-by-step tour through your WordPress site and see how the different functions work and how to make your new site your own. During the first part of this tutorial, please don't change anything within the program unless it is part of the tutorial. After following these steps, you'll soon be changing everything. Log In View Log In Form Begin by logging into the “administration area” or the back end of your website. Visit your site's login page by placing "wp-admin" after your domain name (e.g. http://example.com/wp-admin). You can also place "login" after your domain as of WordPress 3.4. Some themes provide a "log in" link or form on the front end as well. Now log into WordPress using your username and password. Start at the Top View Site Link After logging in you are on the main Administration Screen called the Dashboard. This is the brain behind your website, the place where you can let your creativity explode, writing brilliant prose and designing the best and most lovely website possible. This is where the organization of your site begins - and this is just the start. At the top of the screen is the area called the "toolbar." Click on the link that is your site name. This will take you to a view of your new WordPress site. Like it? Don't like it? Doesn't matter, just look at it. This is where you are going to be spending a lot of time over the next few minutes, hours, weeks, months.... Test Drive Your WordPress Site twentytwelvedefault1.png Take time to look at the site before you get into the changing of things and figuring out how all of this works; it's important to see how the WordPress Twenty Fourteen theme is laid out and works. Consider this the test drive before you start adding on all the special features. The layout you are looking at is called a WordPress Theme. It is the appearance of your website, styling the look of the site and the framing of the content. The WordPress Twenty Fourteen theme features a "header" at the top with the title and tagline for your site. Below this is your Menu. Along the side you will see some titles and links. This comprises Widgets. Within the main middle section of the page is the content area. At the bottom of the page is the footer. Let's look at the post for a moment. There is a "title," and below the title is date the post was written, then the body of the post, and finally some information about the post. This is called the post meta data and contains information about the post such as the category assigned to that post. Scroll down the page and notice the bar at the end of the page. This is called the "footer." It says "Proudly powered by WordPress." Back to the sidebar, you will see different sections with information. Among these you may find a list of Recent Posts, Recent Comments, Archives, Categories, and links to the Administration Screens, Log Out, and RSS feeds. This is part of the menu or navigation Screen that people will use to move around your site, visiting posts from different categories or time periods. It's All in the Details Take time to notice the smaller details of this web page layout and design. Move your mouse over the title of the article post. Notice how it changes color. This is called a hover. Most Themes feature a distinctive color or underline when you move your mouse over a link. Move your mouse over any of the links in the sidebar. Do they change? Is the change the same? You can change your link hovers to look different in different sections of your page. Also look at the color of the links. How are they colored or underlined to stand out from the rest of the text? Observe the small design details and where they are placed within the page. In the near future, you may want to change some of these details, such as the color of the title in the white box at the top of the page. If you remember that is called the header then you will know to look within the header section of your style sheet, the file that controls the look of your web page, when you want to make changes to it. Take a Quick Trip Around For now you only have one post. It is residing within a page that is laid out as your home page or the front page. If you click on the title of the post, it will take you to the specific page for that post. The first page or home page of your site features the most recent posts on your site. Each post title will link to the actual page of the post. Some Theme designers design their single post pages to look different from the home page. By clicking on the title, you are taken to another web page that looks different from the home page. Again, in the single post, pay attention to the layout and notice what is now different about the design elements. Is the header different? Smaller, larger, or a different color? Is there a sidebar? Posts are usually stored in Categories and/or Tags so you can keep related topics together. Right now you only have one category, but will soon want more. Click on the single category that appears in the sidebar of the home page. You are now in a page that has been generated to display only the posts within that category. Again, take a look at the layout and see how it may be different from the home page and the single post. Do the same with the Archives. You may only have one post, but look at how the pages are laid out. They may or may not change, but look at all of it to see how it all works. All of these changes are created from only a few files called template files and you can learn more about how they work in Stepping Into Templates. For now, however, let's get on with how the rest of WordPress works. Test Drive the WordPress Administration Screens WordPress Admin Dashboard Now that you have an idea of how your site looks and what the different layout sections are called, it's time to test drive the WordPress Administration. This is like familiarizing yourself with the backend of your new website. In fact, the first page you see after logging in is called the Dashboard, a collection of information and data about the activities and actions on your WordPress site. The Dashboard helps to keep you up to date on new and interesting bits of information from the many WordPress resources. In the corner it also features a list of the most recent activity you've accomplished on your site. On the left side of the screen is the main navigation menu detailing each of the administrative functions you can perform. Move your mouse down the list and the sub-menus will "fly out" for you to move your mouse to and click. Once you choose a "parent" navigation section, it will open up to reveal the options within that section. The various menu items are as follows: Dashboard Posts Media Links Pages Comments Appearance Plugins Users Tools Settings The links in the above list will take you to a series of articles that will guide you step-by-step through every aspect of the Admin Screens. You are anxious to get started, so for now, let's start with the Users Screen. User Profile Screen Click on the Users tab. The screen will change and you will see the Screen called All Users that shows a list of all your users; from here you can add or change existing users and authors accounts. In the navigation menu, click on the Your Profile menu choice. This is where you will enter information about you, the author and administrator of the site. Fill in the information and click Update Profile when done. Now, let's look at some other powerful features of the WordPress Admin. Quick Changing the Look The Appearance Screen The Appearance, Themes Screen allows you to change the look of your site using different Themes. Themes are presentation styles that completely change the look of your site. Designed by WordPress developers and users, there are hundreds of themes available for you to choose from. In your Appearance Screen, you will see a list of currently installed themes, including the WordPress Twenty Fourteen theme. To quickly change the theme, simply click on the Activate button under one of the themes listed, then click on your site name in the top toolbar to see how it looks. Wow, you have another look and nothing else on the site has changed. It's that easy. Go back to the Appearance > Theme Screen and click the Activate button under the WordPress Twenty Fourteen theme to bring the design back to what you had. To see it again, click your site name in the toolbar, and there it is. Writing and Managing Posts Add New Post Screen Back in the Administration Screen, take a look at the Posts Screen. You can use the tabs under the Posts Menu to write and manage your posts. Let's start by making your first test post in the Add New tab. If the screen looks a little intimidating, the Codex article on Writing a Post will take you step-by-step through the process of writing a post. Take a moment to read through the article and post your first entry and then return to this article and we'll take you onto the next step. If you are in a hurry, then simply fill in the blanks, one by one, in the post beginning with the title and then write a little test message in the post window. This is just for a test, so you can write anything you want. When you are done, click the Publish button that is to the right of the post entry window and it is done. You will then see a blank Write a Post screen and you're ready to write another post. Go ahead. But do only three to four entries. There's more exciting work ahead! Now that you've gotten a feel for writing posts, you can view your posts by clicking your site name in the toolbar at top of the screen. Now it's time to get down to the real work. Planning Session All good websites come from a good plan. Sounds redundant, but it's true. If you want to create a good and solid website, you need a good and solid plan. I know it's hard to do, and I know you want to keep poking and playing with this exciting program, but it is time to take a break away from your computer and turn to the old paper and pen. That's right, we're going back in time to when people actually wrote things down. On a piece of notebook paper, or whatever is lying around, describe your site. Take five to twenty minutes to come up with a purpose for your site, or better yet, call it your Mission Statement. Answer the following questions: What am I going to do with this? Who is going to read this? What kinds of information will I be posting? Why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for? How often am I going to be posting and adding information? Now, compile this information into a paragraph so it looks like this: This website will be dedicated to X, Y, and Z, and cover the topics of A, B, and C. The audience will be __________ ________________ _______. I will be adding posts every _____________ about ________ _______ ______________. I am doing this because _____________ ________. Using the Information From this exercise, we've gathered a lot of information. We've uncovered information on how you might layout and design your site. If you know your audience is mostly made up of young people under the age of 25, you will probably want a fashionable look ranging from wild colors and crazy graphics to dark foreboding tones. Something appropriate for that generation. If you are providing factual information about a serious subject, then you will probably want a more conservative look where the information is more important than a lot of pop and flash. You may already have a design idea in mind, or perhaps you will be copying over from your previous site, but take a moment to use this information to reconsider your design, and to see how what you want will work with the WordPress options. You have also uncovered the possible categories for your site. The topics and subjects you will be covering are listed in your purpose statement. Let's say your purpose statement said, "The website will be dedicated to providing news and information on computers, web pages, and the internet and cover the topics of computer tips, web page design, and internet news." Your topics are your categories. Write your categories down below your purpose paragraph and notes about your web page design. Now, what subcategories might be under these topics? Under Computer Tips, you might want to segregate them by Windows, Linux, and Mac. Or maybe Software and Hardware. You can have sub-sub-categories, but let's stop with subcategories for right now. Write these down. Remember the question about why you are doing this? Is it because you have valuable and timely information or knowledge to share, because you want to talk about a subject that interests you, or maybe because you just think it will be fun to do. Why not? Everyone's doing it! Understanding the timeliness of the information you want to present on your site helps you organize the information on your website. Your website is organized by several different methods. If the date of when you posted the information is critical to the success of the page, then having links to your posts referenced by date is important. If the information itself is more important and timeless, then having your posts referenced by category is the best choice. Have you noticed that you are starting to lay out your website? If you remember our earlier test drive of your new WordPress website, we examined the sidebar menu. This is the area where your past posts are organized. If you take another look (yes, you can go back to your computer for a moment), you will see the sidebar is laid out in a list, including Archives by date and Categories by category. It may even feature a calendar. As you lay out your website on paper, consider whether you want both categories and dates, or just one of them in your sidebar. What information you have and how you want to help the user find the information is critical to your website design. What Information Do You Want to Share As you think about what information the user will need to know, you have to consider what information you are willing to share with them. That information may include how to contact you, what the purpose of the site is, who you are, and what your expertise is. A WordPress feature called Pages makes the process of presenting this information easier. Pages, similar to posts, are most commonly used to present unchanging information such as About Us, Contact Us, Sign Up for Our Mailing List, and other static information. Before creating your individual Pages, you need to think about what information you would like the Page to hold. Write down the possible Page titles and describe the information you are willing to share online on each Page. Comments Part of the fun of WordPress is the ability to have viewers leave comments on your site. It creates a dynamic interchange between you and the viewer. Do you want comments on your posts? Comments on posts come in a variety of forms, from pats on the back (Good job! Like the post!) to extensive conversations and commentary about the posts. Or maybe you are seeking comments that add to the information you've posted. Responding to comments and moderating them can also take up a lot of time. If they are critical to your site, then include them and consider how you want them presented. Go back to your test site; the first post created at the time of installation includes a sample comment. You can even make a few comments yourself on the posts you created. Take a look at how they are laid out and consider how you might want them to look to fit into the design and layout of your site. When you have reached your decision about how you want to handle comments, take time to read through the article on comments and WordPress discussion options to help you set those features. With this basic information, you are ready to return to your computer and start laying out your site and setting it up. Setting Up Your Site Before you get to the graphic look of your site, let's do a little more administration to your site to set it up. Consider making your first plugin installation the Enhanced Admin Bar with Codex Search. It allows you to search both the WordPress Codex and WordPress Support Forum from your WordPress Administration Screens. Click on one of the search results and the page will open in a new window or tab so you can have the article or discussion open while working on WordPress. This will make your transition to WordPress a much gentler one with information right at your fingertips. You can also work from this page by clicking on a link with a Right Click and opening the documents in a new window or tab, so you can read along as you work on your site. You may also want to install plugins such as Jetpack by WordPress.com to supercharge your website, and don't forget to activate the Akismet WordPress Plugin that is available with all WordPress sites to help protect it from comment spam. But now, let's start with making those categories you wrote down before. Create Categories In the Posts > Categories tab, in the Add New Category area, fill in the information about your category. Continue to add your parent categories, going down the list. Hold off on entering subcategories until all the main categories are entered. NOTE: You can add any new categories at any time, but make a note of the fact that categories can be sorted in WordPress in two ways: by name (alphabetically) or by ID number. As you enter the categories, they are assigned an ID number. It is difficult to change this, so if you don't want your categories sorted alphabetically, enter them in the order you want to see them presented on the screen. WordPress Admin Categories When you have the parent categories entered, enter your subcategories. In the pull down menu for Parent Category, you can select the parent to the subcategory you are adding. When you view your categories in the Manage > Categories Screen, you will see the categories listed like this: Computer Tips - Windows - Linux - Mac Internet News Web Page Design - Web Standards - WordPress - - Plugins - - Themes Put Posts in Categories Let's put some of your test posts into categories so you can see how this works. WordPress Admin Posts From the Posts > Category Screen, click on the tab for All Posts. You should see the test posts you entered here. When you hover your mouse over each post title, under the title, you should see the Edit | Quick Edit | Trash | View links. Click on Edit to edit one of the posts. On the right side of the Edit Post screen you will now see your Categories. Choose one of them by clicking in the box next to it. Then in the Publish module above, click the Update button. Repeat this for your other test posts, putting each one in a different category. Now view your page by clicking on your site name in the toolbar at the top of your Administration Screen. Do you see the categories listed in the sidebar now? Great. If you are missing a category, that usually means that there are no posts in it. This is the default function of WordPress, so not to worry. When you add a post to the "missing" category, it will appear on your web pages. Click on one of the categories and you will be taken to a page for just that category. You should see the posts that went into that category. This is a generated Category page. Now, click on the Archives for the month showing. Now you are visiting a generated page of your posts listed in chronological order for this month - well, specifically for today only. Two methods of finding the same information. Preventing Spam There is more to think about when it comes to having comments on your site. Unfortunately we live in a world where spam is a fact of life. It is recommended that you begin battling the comment spammers with the helpful article, Introduction to Dealing with Comment Spam. What Is Next You've now done all the basics for your new WordPress website. You know how to write a post, create a category, and how to view your site's information by category and archive. You can start the customization process, and when you are done, don't forget to delete your test posts! Then start writing some wonderful information to share with your new-found public! Customizing Your WordPress Site Once you are familiar with how WordPress works, it's time to get creative and start customizing. The tutorial now splits into different subjects that require no order. From here on you can do whatever you want, adding and subtracting, perfecting and scrambling your site at will. The amount of effort you put into the site is now up to you. You can work with the two WordPress Themes that came with the installation, or seek out another Theme that better meets your needs. Or you can create your own Child Theme. You can totally customize all the links and information, or get serious and completely re-design the entire site to do whatever you want. You have the basics, the rest is up to your imagination. Finding a WordPress Theme Look for one that better suits the look you desire on your site. Customizing the Look When you are ready to plunge into the code, you can customize the look and layout of your site through CSS and modifying the Themes (or create your own). If your customizing goals are not seriously extensive, a good bet would be to develop your own Child Theme. A minimal Child Theme is a fairly simple project if you have a little coding experience. Enhance Your Site with Plugins Plugins add function and sometimes fun to your site. There are hundreds of different plugins from adding custom links like related articles to your sidebar to adding weather reports. Just like Child Themes are an easy way to customize the look of your site, with a bit of coding experience, your own minimal Plugin is an easy way to change how your site works. WordPress Themes There are hundreds of WordPress Themes to choose from. All do basically the same thing but graphically present the information in a myriad of ways. Choose a few that look interesting to you, and meet your audience's needs and your desires, and then test drive them following the test drive instructions above. Click through the whole site, the categories and archives as well as the individual posts to see how the Theme handles each one. The look may be nice on the front page, but if it handles things in a way you don't like on the single post, then you will have to dig into the code and make changes. Not ready for that, try another theme. If you run into problems, check out the Codex's Troubleshooting Themes article. Customizing The Look If you are familiar with CSS, HTML, and even PHP and MySQL, consider either customizing the Theme to your own needs, or creating your own Child Theme. This is not for the timid, this is for the informed and experienced. That said, a Child Theme is an easy, safe way to tinker under the hood/bonnet of WordPress. If things go badly with your customizations, simply activate an approved, unmodified theme and your site is up and running and looking perfectly again. If you want to expand your website design and development skills, the Codex can help: WordPress Theme Directory Using Themes Theme Development Child Themes Stepping Into Templates Templates Files Blog Design and Layout CSS Overview, Tips, Techniques, and Resources FAQ - WordPress Layout Stepping Into Template Tags Template Tags CSS Troubleshooting CSS Fixing Browser Bugs WordPress Plugins Plugin Screen WordPress Plugins are also known as add-ons or extensions. They are software scripts that add functions and events to your website. They cover the gamut from up-to-date weather reports to simple organization of your posts and categories. Plugins are designed by volunteer contributors and enthusiasts who like challenges and problem solving. They are usually fairly simple to install through the WordPress Admin Plugin Screen, just follow the instructions provided by the plugin author. Remember, these are free and non-essential. If you have any problems with plugins, contact the plugin author's website or plugin source first, then search the Internet for help with that specific plugin, and if you haven't found a solution, then visit the WordPress forums for more help. WordPress Plugin Directory Managing Plugins Plugins Customizing How It Works If you are familiar with PHP, HTML, and maybe even MySQL, you may be able to customize WordPress to work the way you want. Again this is not for the timid, this is for the informed and experienced. And again, a simple basic Plugin is an easy, safe way to tinker under the hood/bonnet of WordPress. If things go badly with your customizations, simply deactivate your balky Plugin and your site is up and running perfectly again. If you want to expand your website development skills, the Codex can help: Writing a Plugin Plugin API Plugin Resources Above and Beyond the Basics The exciting thing about WordPress is that there are few limits. Thousands of people are using WordPress for blogging and for running their websites. For example, look at some of the entries under the WordPress.org Theme Showcase. All have a different look and different functions on their sites. What you do from here is up to you.