Getting Started with Reclaim

Reclaim Hosting provides a website that allows us to create websites with a large variety of software. This class will focus on creating websites in WordPress and adding maps in HTML files. Reclaim's website contains a large number of options and we'll all be using the same login so you'll need to:

• Only change content in your folder!
• Stick with WordPress and the HTML editor for now. If you want to try other tools, you can create your own personal Reclaim account (as I did).

Getting into Reclaim (HSU Organizational account)

These steps are for an organizational account at Reclaim that we'll use for class.

1. Go to: https://cpanel.fugazi.reclaimhosting.com 
2. Enter "humbold1" for the Username
3. Enter the password provided by your instructor
4. If this is the first time you've used Reclaim, your instructor will now setup a folder for you

Getting into Reclaim (personal account)

Once you log into Reclaim, you should be at the "Client Area" web page. This page just shows you your current client state (i.e. what you have purchased from Reclaim).

1. Click on "cPanel". In the options that appear, select "humboldt.reclaimhosting". This will take you to the web page that is for installing software and accessing WordPress and files.

Working with WordPress

1. From the "cPanel", click on "WordPress"
2. Click on "My Applications"
3. Scroll down to the installation of WordPress that includes your login and ends in "wp-admin". Click on this link
4. You should see the standard WordPress website appear with a big "W" in the upper left.' This is the main page, or Dashboard, for managing and editing your WordPress-based websites.
5. Click on "My Blog" in the upper left and you'll see that WordPress has already created a website for you.
6. In the "My Blog" menu, select "Dashboard" to get back.

Changing the Theme

Themes in WordPress setup the title, menu bar, footer, and the structure of content for your web pages. You can also customize the theme.

1. The first step is to select a Theme for your website. Click on "Appearance" and select "Theme".
2. Click "Add New" to see all the themes that are avaiable.
3. Take some time and examine the themes that are avialble. Look at the structure of the web page more than the images as you can replace all the images and change the colors in a theme. Also, themes with a big image at the top look great but are hard to navigate so I recommend one with a title image that is less than 1/2 the window in height.
4. When you find a theme you like, click on it and then click on "Install". This will make the theme available in your instance of WordPress.
5. Click on "Activate" to make the theme the one for your website.
6. Click on "My Blog" to see that the theme has changed.

Adding Webpages:

1. Click on "Pages". WordPress automatically creates a "Title" page. This page is a bit harder to edit than most pages so let's replace it with our own page.
2. Click on "Add New"
3. Enter "Home" for the page name.
4. In the HTML editor, type in some text that you can use to recognize your home page.
5. Click "Publish" on the right and then "View page". You have now created a web page but we need to add it to your website.

Linking Webpages to Menu Items:

1. Select "Appearance -> Menus". This takes you to the menu editor for WordPress.
2. Enter "Main Menu" for the menu name and select "Create Menu".
3. Check the boxes next to your "Home" and "About" pages on the left and click "Add to Menu".
4. Click on "Manage Locations" and select "Main Menu" for the "Main Menu" and click "Save Changes".
5. Now when you view your website, you should see "Home" and "About" in the menu bar.
6. You can add additional pages to your website and then return to the menu editor to change the menu.
7. Note that this menu editor is related to your theme and different themes may change the menu editor a bit.

Customizing Webpages:

You may have noticed that your "About" page allows the use to add comments. WordPress was originally used to create websites for blogs so these show up by default. We rarely use these so we'll turn them off.

1. Select "Pages".
2. Roll your mouse over the "About" page and then select "Quick Edit".
3. Uncheck "Allow Comments". This will remove the blog content from the About page.

Customizing the Theme:

The themes are setup to be changed which includes the images, font's, footers, menus and more.

1. Click on "Appearance -> Customize".
2. Click on "General". There are a lot of options here you can play with in the future, for now, we're going to simplify your theme a bit because we just want a simple geospatial website.
3. Click on "Sidebar".
4. For the "Sidebar Position" select "No Sidebar".
5. Click the back button ("<").
6. Click "Homepage Settings".
7. Select "A static page" and then select our new "Home" page as the "Homepage".
8. Click "Publish" to preview the changes.
9. Click the back button ("<").
10. Select "Header".
11. Select "Logo". This page allows you to change the image at the top of the web pages and the title of your website.
12. Change the title now.
13. Click the back button ("<").