Login
Before you can make any changes to your site, you will need to log in. The login for your site is typically found at the following URL – http://your-wordpress-site.com/wp-admin. Obviously, replace your-wordpress-site.com with your actual domain name.
Dashboard Overview
Once you’ve logged in, the WordPress Dashboard appears. This is your main administration homepage. At the very top of your Dashboard (and across every page) you will see the name of your site in the header area. In the example screenshot below (and throughout this documentation) the site name is Your WordPress Site. This is also hyperlinked to your site’s homepage. You will also see the name of the person who is currently logged in (e.g. Joe Blogg). Move your cursor over your name to reveal the Log Out link as well as a link to edit your Profile.
When new or updated features are introduced into WordPress, you’ll be shown a New Feature Pointer. This is simply to bring to your attention some feature within the Dashboard that’s been added or updated. In the following Dashboard image, the New Feature Pointer is highlighting the updated Toolbar. Click Dismiss to hide the pointer.
On most pages, just below your Username there are a couple of small inverted tabs. One called Screen Options and another called Help. Clicking either of these links will cause a panel to slide down from the top of the page. The Help link obviously displays some help information. The Screen Options link will display various options that allow you to configure what is displayed on the current page. The details in this panel change depending on what page you’re currently viewing. As an example, on your main Dashboard page the Screen Options allow you to set which panels you’d like displayed on the page and also how many columns you’d like the panels to appear across.