WordPress How-To's

Set Up Your ePortfolio Set Up Using the Illustratr Theme!

1. Register Your Name and Contact Information

We need to know who is involved in the SOU pilot, so we can give you help and support. Please fill out the ePortfolio Project Pilot Signup.

2. Set Up Your WordPress Account

Enter http://wordpress.com into your browser, and go through this 5-step process to set up your account.

Step 1 of 5 to set up your WordPress account:

For your website address use your last name and the word "portfolio" — for example, smithportfolio. Note that your website address is what you will be giving out to people — in this case, the website would be http://smithportfolio.wordpress.com

Step 2 of 5:

• Use your sou.edu email account for your email address.
• For your account user name, to keep things simple, if possible use the same name as your website address: lastnameportfolio. Note that no one will see your account name.
• Create a password (for now, this will be different from your sou.edu password).

Step 3 of 5:

Go for everything Basic/FREE! (Click on "No Thanks.")

Step 4 of 5:

Choose any theme — it doesn't matter which theme you choose because you are going to change your theme as soon as your website is set up.

Step 5 of 5:

Choose the plan, "Free for Life."

3. Activate Your WordPress Account

Your account and website should be set up! Now you have to activate your account:

Go to your email and look for the activation email from WordPress: http://YOURACCOUNTNAME.wordpress.com/wp-admin

Note: You need to replace "YOURACCOUNTNAME" in the URL with your actual account name, for example: http://smithportfolio.wordpress.com/wp-admin

4. Set Up the Illustratr Theme (yes, it is misspelled) and Change Your Site Name

The theme determines the organization and look and feel of your ePortfolio. Everyone will start out using theIllustratr theme. [You will have the option of selecting a different theme later (see Switch Your Theme). If you choose one that supports portfolios, your content will be reformatted without a lot of work on your part.]

1. Look along the left side of your dashboard (in the long gray column) until you see Appearance.
2. Click on Appearance, and choose Themes.
3. Gaah — so many to choose from. Restrain yourself.
4. Find the Illustratr theme by clicking on Free (on the row that starts out Trending), and then in the search box, enter Ilustratr - just as it is [mis-]spelled.
5. A thumbnail will show up labelled Illustratr. When you hover over the thumbnail, you will see a button labeled Activate. Click on the button.
6. On the next screen, click on Customize Your Site.
7. Of course, you don't want your site to be named lastnameportfolio. Change it by choosing Site Name, Tagline and Logo from the column on the left, and type the title you want to appear at the top of your ePortfolio.
8. Don't worry — you can change these at any time — see Configure Settings.
9. Click on Save and Publish.