Introduction to WordPress Custom Fields and Meta Data

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Introduction to WordPress Custom Fields and Meta Data

Custom fields enable you to create meta data — additional bits of information that can be used within your posts, pages, or custom post types.

Meta Valuables, by Clark WimberlyIf you found this video helpful, you’ll want to check out the excellent e-book, Meta Valuables, by Clark Wimberly. This 45-page handbook is loaded with real-world examples, code samples, and quick tips that will have you developing more dynamic templates in no time!

WordPress includes many different ways to store and access data. One of those is meta data, which can unlock a whole new world of functionality in your WordPress site. In just a few steps, you can do some pretty amazing things with meta data and custom fields.

Covered in this video:

  • What is meta data?
  • Using custom fields to create new meta data.
  • Displaying meta data within your theme file.

“The truth is that you can do pretty much anything you want with meta data. Your imagination is your limit.”—Justin Tadlock

What’s New in WordPress 3.4?

WordPress 3.4 is currently at the Release Candidate phase has just been released! This brief video provides a quick tour of the new features included in WordPress 3.4, including Live Preview, the new Theme Customizer, auto-embeds for Tweets, and more.

Which new feature are you the most excited about? Tell us in the comments below…

For a more in-depth look at all the new “under the hood” features, check out “10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 3.4,” by Aaron Brazell.
Our Series Has Been Updated for WordPress 3.4!WordPress version 3.4 only required us to re-record one video this go-around. The “Appearance” menu options were the only area that received significant updates this time, and those new features are covered in this new video.

I’m certain we’ll be completely re-recording the entire video series again with the release of 3.5, as we have with every other release of WordPress since this site launched 3 ½ years ago. Hope you enjoy the new video!

What is WordPress?

This 5-minute video provides a brief introduction to the WordPress content management system and demonstrates why it is the most popular web publishing platform today.

Covered in this video:

  • Brief history of WordPress.
  • Why it’s much more than a blogging tool.
  • The power of “Open Source.”
  • How WordPress works.
  • Six reasons to choose WordPress.

WordPress.com or WordPress.org?

If you’re relatively new to WordPress, you may have been confused by the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. If so, you’re not alone!

In this video, we’ll take a quick look at the differences between these two related — but distinctively different — versions of the popular WordPress blogging software.

How to Install WordPress

This video will guide you through the steps needed to install the WordPress content management system on your own domain or web server.

The five steps to install WordPress…

  1. First, we’ll download the latest version of WordPress from WordPress.org.
  2. Then, we’ll upload those files to our web server, using FTP.
  3. Third, we’ll create a MySQL database and user for WordPress.
  4. Then, we’ll need to configure WordPress to connect to our newly-created database,
  5. And lastly, complete the installation and setup our new website.

Need more detailed instructions? Check out the WordPress Codex.

Over your head? Don’t sweat it.

If you find that the instructions in this video are still over your head, don’t worry about it! Simply head over to our good friends at WP Engine and let them handle it for you. They’ll install WordPress, take care of updates for you, backup your site nightly, monitor your site 24/7 for malware, and provide answers along the way. It doesn’t get any easier than this!

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The Dashboard

The first video in this series provides an overview of the WordPress Administration Panel, which provides access to the functions and features of your WordPress-powered website.

Covered in this video:

  • Familiarizing yourself with the WordPress Dashboard.
  • How to customize the WordPress interface just for you.
  • Hide Dashboard modules you rarely use.
  • The collapsible navigation menu and functions.
  • The default modules that are available to users.
  • How to use the QuickPress module to quickly create a new Post.

What is RSS?

What is RSS, and why is it important?

As you’ve explored your own WordPress-powered site, you may have come across a link to your site’s Entries RSS or Comments RSS feed. Or, while browsing other sites on the Web, you may have seen an orange RSS icon or button. But you may be wondering, what exactly is RSS? And what do those orange icons do, anyway?

This video will help you understand what RSS is, how it works, and why it’s so incredibly useful. Best of all, if you’re using WordPress, you don’t have to do a thing to enable this functionality. Every time you publish a new blog post, WordPress will automatically update your site’s RSS feed, sharing your content with everyone who subscribes to your site using their RSS reader.

Covered in this video:

  • What does RSS stand for?
  • How does RSS work?
  • What is an RSS Feed?
  • How do folks subscribe to my RSS Feed?
  • Why is RSS useful?
  • How to modify RSS settings in WordPress.

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