Overview
You can create news articles or blog entries for your Dornsife department website. These items, also known as posts, are a great format for department announcements and news, and they can be added to different pages of your website:
- Automatically compiled and added to the news page
- Manually added using components on non-news pages
This guide explains how to create and format a post, and how to display posts on web pages.
Adding and editing post content
Creating a new post
Quick guide
- In the left menu, click Posts and select Add New Post.
- In the "Add title" field, type a title for the post.
- WordPress automatically uses the title to generate the post URL. To optionally edit this URL, select the Link field in the Settings sidebar.
- Click the + button and select Article Hero. This must be the first component.
- If you don't see this option, type Article Hero into the search, or click Browse all.
- You can now add any other components and begin writing content.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- In the left menu, click Posts and select Add New Post.
- In the "Add title" field, type a title for the post.
- WordPress automatically uses the title to generate the post URL. To optionally edit this URL, select the Link field in the Settings sidebar.
- Click the + button and select Article Hero. This must be the first component.
- If you don't see this option, type Article Hero into the search, or click Browse all.
- You can now add any other components and begin writing content.
Adding more components
Once you've added the Article Hero component, you can proceed to add more components:
How to add a component
Open the block inserter by clicking the + icon in the top toolbar:
The block inserter appears on the left side of the editor and shows all of the available components.
- If you click a component, it will automatically be added to the end of the page.
- If you click and drag a component, you can drop and release it to a different location on the page.
Available components for posts
Rich Text is a great all-purpose component that lets you add text, images, and even videos to the post. There are basic text formatting options such as headings, links, bulleted lists, ordered lists, and simple buttons.
Other optional components you can use to add content, which you might recognize from working with pages, are:
The following optional components are unique to posts:
- Article Intro and Article Highlights: You can add these components at the beginning of the post (after the Article Hero) to help orient readers.
- Article Related Stories: You can add this to the end of the post to suggest additional posts for reading. You can manually specify which posts to display, or let WordPress auto-select three posts.
Adding a featured image
By default, posts receive a generic thumbnail image, which is the USC shield icon in gold (shown below in the center thumbnail). This thumbnail image appears on the news page and any non-news pages where you have added the post. To replace this generic image with one more fitting for your post, you can set a featured image.
Set a featured image for a post
The recommended size for the featured image is:
- Recommended upload size: 2000 x 1150px
- Final display size: 900 x 506 px
In the Settings sidebar, click Set featured image. You can upload a new image or select an existing image from the Media Library.
Don't see the Settings sidebar? Click the Settings 
icon in the top toolbar:
Hide the featured image on the post itself
Featured images appear at the top of a post by default. If the image you select is smaller than the recommended size, it is enlarged to fill the space. You can optionally hide this image on the post itself. The image will still appear as the thumbnail (instead of the generic image, the USC shield icon in gold) on other pages of your website.
To hide the featured image from appearing on the post:
- In the Settings sidebar, scroll down to Post Options.
- In the Hide Featured Image field, click Yes.
Adding an excerpt
You can optionally create a summary or excerpt of the post. The excerpt does not appear on the post page itself, but on the news page and any non-news pages where you have added the post.
How to add an excerpt
In the Settings sidebar, click Add an excerpt (under the featured image):
Post appearance with and without an excerpt
If you do not add an excerpt for a post, the excerpt area will simply remain blank on pages where you've added the post. The image below is of a news page, and shows posts with and without excerpts for comparison:
Adding categories and tags (aka topics)
You can organize posts by labeling them with categories and tags. On the news page, this is especially useful because readers can select a category or tag (also known as a topic) and then view specific content related to that category or tag.
Categories versus tags
WordPress provides the following explanation to help you understand the difference between categories (general groupings) and tags (specific keywords):
Categories are best used for broad groupings of topics. For example, if you’re creating a site that reviews pop culture, you might use categories such as Books, Film, and TV.
Tags are more specific keywords that you want to use to associate related content. For example, if you were creating a site that reviews pop culture, you might want to use tags such as science fiction, horror, and action adventure.
You can combine the two! For our review site example, you might be reviewing a romantic comedy. You can assign the broader category Film to the post, then give it some more specific tags such as romantic comedy, or even use the name of the actors and director as tags. People who view that post could use the tags to find related posts around that topic.
—https://wordpress.com/support/posts/categories-vs-tags/
Categories
Every post must be assigned at least one category. If you do not select a category, the post will automatically be assigned the default category, Uncategorized. You can pick an existing category or create a new category. When creating a new category, try to choose general subjects or groupings that you will be able to use for more posts in the future.
Assign a category for the post
In the Settings sidebar, scroll down to the Categories section.
- To select an existing category, select the checkbox beside the category.
- To create a new category, click Add New Category.
Edit existing categories
- In the left menu, click Posts and select Categories.
- The Categories screen appears:
- To add a new category, use the left column.
- To edit an existing category, use the right column. Hover over a category name to see options to edit, rename, or delete the category. Note that you cannot delete the default Uncategorized category, but you can rename it.
Tags (aka topics)
Tags are optional but helpful for readers trying to filter for related posts that may live in different categories. Each post can be assigned zero, one, or many tags. Note that on the news page, tags are labeled as topics for website visitors.
Assign a tag for the post
In the Settings sidebar, scroll down to the Categories section.
- To select an existing tag, click the tag underneath Most Used.
- To create a new tag, type in the Add New Tag field. Use the comma or Enter/Return key to create multiple tags.
Edit existing tags
- In the left menu, click Posts and select Tags.
- The Tags screen appears:
- To add a new tag, use the left column.
- To edit an existing tag, use the right column. Hover over a tag name to see options to edit, rename, or delete the tag.
Saving, previewing, and publishing a post
Save draft
Unpublished or draft posts are autosaved every 15 seconds. To manually save your progress, click Save draft in the top toolbar.
Preview draft
To preview, click the View 
icon in the top toolbar and select Preview in new tab 
.
We recommend avoiding the Desktop, Tablet, or Mobile options: the preview for these options is inaccurate and will also make it difficult to switch back into editing mode.
Instead, to preview how the draft displays for visitors on tablets or mobile devices, manually resize your browser window.
Publish or schedule draft
To publish a draft, click Publish in the top toolbar:
- To publish immediately, click Publish again.
- To publish at a later date, click the field "Publish: Immediately," and select a future date and time. The Publish button will then change to a Schedule button.
Displaying posts on different web pages
Display posts on the news page of a website
The News Listing template automatically compiles all of the department website's posts in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears at the top of the page):
Displaying posts on non-news pages
You can display posts on non-news pages using one of the following components:
As long as the page uses the Default or Content Detail template, these components will be available for selection.
Additional information about posts
Sharing links
Social media and sharing links are automatically added to individual posts and cannot be edited. They appear in the upper right side when posts are viewed on desktop browsers. These links do not appear on smaller screens or mobile devices and tablets.
