Give your site a name

Lesson 2 of 24

Save the name, short description and clock setting for the same practice site.

Before you start

Open the safe WordPress practice site from wp-01 and sign in to its Dashboard. Use the same copy throughout this lesson. Cedar Lane Garden Care is a made-up business for the course.

1. Start with the menu on the left

This is the Dashboard: the place where you manage your site. The menu on the left stays with you as you move around. Posts is for advice and updates. Pages is for information such as an About page. Media holds pictures. Today, we will use Settings.

Dashboard menu with Posts, Pages, Media and Settings visible. — These are the four areas we use first.

2. Open the name settings

Choose Settings in the left menu, then General underneath it. On the General Settings screen, find Site Title and Tagline. Leave the site addresses, email and membership settings unchanged.

Full General Settings screen. Settings and General are highlighted on the left. Site Title and Tagline are marked for editing; the site addresses, email and membership are grouped as leave unchanged. — Change Site Title and Tagline. Leave the site addresses, email and membership settings unchanged.

3. Enter the name and short description

In Site Title, enter Cedar Lane Garden Care. In Tagline, enter Practical help for your garden. These are the words for our fictional course website. You will save them in a moment.

Site title Cedar Lane Garden Care and tagline Practical help for your garden. — The name and short description are ready to save.

4. Choose the site timezone

Scroll down to Timezone. Choose Melbourne under Australia for this practice site. Choose the named city, rather than a fixed UTC number, so WordPress can follow daylight-saving changes. The saved timezone is Australia/Melbourne.

Timezone set to Melbourne in General settings. — Use a named place for the site clock.

5. Save, reload and check

Scroll to the bottom and choose Save Changes. Wait for the Settings saved message. Reload General Settings. Check that Site Title still says Cedar Lane Garden Care and Tagline still says Practical help for your garden. Scroll down and check that Timezone still says Melbourne. If any value changed back, enter it again and save before moving on.

General Settings with the Settings saved confirmation and saved fields. — Save Changes reports Settings saved; reload to confirm the values remain.

6. Check the front of the site

Open the site-name menu in the top bar and choose Visit Site. You should see Cedar Lane Garden Care on the page. Your theme may put the name somewhere else, and it may not display the tagline. The saved fields are the reliable check. Return to Dashboard when you finish.

Front of the practice website using the Cedar Lane Garden Care name. — The front and Dashboard belong to the same site.

Practise

Without changing anything, open General Settings again and check the saved name, tagline and timezone. Visit the front of the site, then return to Dashboard.

Check your result

After a reload, check these saved values: Site Title — Cedar Lane Garden Care; Tagline — Practical help for your garden.; Timezone — Melbourne. You can move between Dashboard and the front of the site.

If something goes wrong

No Settings menu? Check that you are using the practice administrator account. Name not visible in the header? Check the saved field and browser title; themes differ. A changed address made the copy unreachable? Stop and restore the disposable practice copy rather than guessing new addresses.

Optional notes

Words used in this lesson

Dashboard: The place where you manage the site.
Tagline: A short line that says what the site is for.
Timezone: The place whose clock the site will use.

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