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As you can see, Wordpress fills in some dummy content for you right away so you can get a feel for what your site will look like when you replace it with your own!

Customize your theme

  • Click "CUSTOMIZE" in the bottom right corner of your screen. Wordpress will bring you to another screen with a toolbar on the left. When you start filling in the forms under the various headings with your information and it will be placed on the site (which will be updated in real time on the right side of the screen).

Customization options

  • SITE IDENTITY - change the title/subtitle/logo/icon/footer info of your site. These elements are unique to you!

  • COLORS & BACKGROUNDS - change the background and theme colors of your portfolio.

  • FONTS - change the main fonts on your site. These will be changed universally!

  • HEADER IMAGE - this is where you change the main header image on your site (not to be confused with a header image, which goes with a specific post or page.

  • MENUS - decide which pages are a part of which menu on your site...the primary menu is usually the one at the top of your site and the secondary can usually be found in a sidebar or footer. With Wordpress, you build your menu and then decide where to put it.

  • CONTENT OPTIONS - choose which information you want to be displayed on your posts and pages.

  • WIDGETS (a small space on your site that is used for a specific function such as a calendar, a subscribe link, a navigation, a search box, etc) - Wordpress has widget areas built into its themes that can usually be found in the footer or sidebar of your site. This customization option allows you to decide which widgets you want to display in those areas.

  • STATIC FRONT PAGE - you have the option to have either a page or a list of blog posts be the first thing a viewer sees when they visit your site. If you are using it as a portfolio, you probably want to have a front page instead of a posts page so that you can give yourself/your work an introduction (use the dropdown to choose which page is your front page and which page your blog posts appear on - they should not be the same page).

  • THEME OPTIONS - some themes have customization options that are specific to the layout of the theme. Look at the demo version of that theme to get a feel for how the theme should look and work and look for any specific customizations in this menu.

This screenshot is inside of the "Site Identity" menu item.

Customize Wordpress.com

Using themes to customize your site 

View the site

ShoutOut! JMU already hosts an array of posts and information, this semester you have the opportunity to add more to the site and customize it to fit the class's perception of the blog. As such, this page explains how you can customize the theme of a wordpress.com site.

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