Discovering new features on a familiar toy is an experience we’ve all had. It’s an exciting moment when that new thing clicks: “Oh, I can do that!? Sweet!” There never seems to be an expiration date on that type of discovery, either. I’ve been using Windows, for example, since 3.1. I remember discovering just a few years ago that I can open the task manager directly via Ctrl+Shift+Esc rather than having to go through the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen. Yes, that flew under my radar for that long. I don’t know how, but it happens!
So that’s the point of this week’s post: finding some of the WordPress features that you’ll be excited to learn are there but may have been hiding from you until now! Let’s take a look!
Sneaky WordPress Features!
1) Log Out Everywhere Else
You’re working at the library computer, internet cafe, friend’s house, wherever. You finish up and hop on the bus home. Halfway there that nagging suspicion that you didn’t log out of the admin creeps in. You tell yourself no way, I totally logged out. But did you? You can either A) go back and check (ugh), B) go on home and be paranoid, or C) log out of the admin you left open on the library computer from your cell phone.
Wait, seriously? Yes. Log in to the admin, click your picture in the top right and select “Edit My Profile”. Now scroll to the bottom of the profile page and the last entry is Account Management. You can logout of all active WordPress sessions right there. You’re welcome!
2) Make Sticky Posts!
Have a post so important you want it to always appear at the top of your blog roll? Make it a sticky post and it will… stick… to the front page of your blog posts. In the post editor, just go to the Publish box and find the line “Visibility: Public”. Click edit, and from the expanded options click the “Stick this post to the front page” checkbox. That’s all there is to it!
3) Easy Favicon Editing
A favicon is the little picture that appears on the tab of your browser window the webpage is open on, like reddit’s little alien fellow Snoo in this example:
You can change that image for your site very easily by going to your WordPress dashboard, navigating to Appearance>Customize>Site Identity, and setting the site icon.
4) Auto-Embed Content
WordPress 4.4 introduced this one, so don’t feel too bad if you haven’t discovered it yet. We now have the really cool ability to just paste a link into the post editor and watch WordPress generate a Post Embed. For a blog post, that’s a clickable box in the body of your content that includes the site name, featured image (if set) and an excerpt of the page’s content. Videos, images, and other content will embed in a similar fashion.
This feature only triggers if the site you’re linking to is a supported site, but the list of supporting sites is pretty generous. You can find that list over at the WordPress Codex.
5) Hyperlinking Shortcut
This is my personal favorite among sneaky WordPress features. You’ve probably already discovered Ctr/Cmd+K if you post a lot of links. For those that haven’t heard of that shortcut before, it opens the hyperlink box in the post editor without you having to physically click the button. But, did you know you don’t even have to open that box if you don’t want to? Just highlight the text you want to become the link and paste the link itself. It only saves a few seconds, but man can those seconds add up when you’re blogging regularly!
6) Reset a draft post’s URL
Once you enter a post’s title, WordPress generates the post’s URL based on your title. That’s not set in stone of course, as the permalink appears immediately below the title and can be changed manually- or automatically!.
If you change your title before publication, you’ll have to edit the permalink to reflect those changes. Doing that manually can be a pain, but you can tell WordPress to reset it automatically. Just click edit, clear the text in the box, then close it. Voila, your permalink URL changes to match the new title.
7) Text Patterns for Automatic Text Formatting
If you’re the type that wants to minimize revision after you finish your post, taking advantage of this WordPress feature will come in real handy. There are certain text patterns recognized by WordPress that, when present, will prompt WordPress to auto format the text in corresponding HTML.
* or – will give you an unordered list while 1. or 1) will give you an ordered list. # signs will make the text that follows them a heading, with the number of # signs corresponding to the list level; i.e. ### gives you an h3 heading. > will make the text that follows it a blockquote. This list is short for now, but there are more text pattern shortcuts in the works for future versions of WordPress.
8) Screen Options and the Toolbar Toggle
Want more options for your post editor? You don’t need a plugin to open up a whole host of editor layout and toolbar options. If you haven’t found these already, you’ll understand why I facepalmed the first time I found the toolbar toggle here shortly. Also, keep in mind these are all user account specific, so if you set your post editor up to suit you, it doesn’t affect others that may be using your site unless they log in as you!
First, for more options for the post editor, click Screen Options in the upper right hand corner. This will open a sliding menu that brings you options for trackbacks, excerpts, comments, slugs, author settings, and more.
Second, on the toolbar for the rich text editor, find the toolbar toggle button on the far right side. Click it and another row of options open underneath! Fun!
9) Post Formatting by Theme
One of the biggest (space-wise) parts of the post editor is often the most overlooked. On the right hand side of your post editor you’ll find the Format box. Within that box is a whole bunch of formatting and style options. But what do they do?
It might not be readily apparent, but you can assign a specific format from the Format list and the visuals of your published post will reflect that choice… IF!…. If your theme supports post formatting.
Using a theme that supports this WordPress feature, if you have a post in which a video or set of images is the main point of the post, you can select video or image in the Format box to have WordPress structure the post around those central items. The same concept applies to the rest of the list. It’s a pretty neat feature! This list includes most supported themes, and if you have a question about a specific theme that’s not on the list, check out their product page for more info.
10) Post Scheduling and Privacy
The Publish box catches your attention at least once a post, but often times its features, aside from the big blue Publish button, are overlooked. You can also use the features found here to, among other things, set privacy controls on your posts and schedule them for automatic publication at a later date.
To set privacy controls, click Edit on the Visibility line. You can toggle here between Public, Password Protected, and Private. Public can be viewed by anyone, Password Protected is just that, and Private is viewable only by you. Note that any post can still be viewed freely by anyone with Editor or Admin roles.
As to scheduling automatic publication for future times or dates, just click Edit next to Publish Immediately. This opens fields for scheduling options, and once set your familiar blue Publish box will change to Schedule.
This article has only brushed the surface of WordPress features that you’ve potentially missed if you’re a newcomer to the WordPress world. Even old timers are bound to find more hidden features as time goes by. While we’ve focused here on features that don’t require any more effort than your attention, keep an eye out down the road for more fun things to do with WordPress with some minor file editing. I hope you’ve found something useful here today, and don’t hesitate to share your own discoveries in the comments below. Happy blogging!
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