• Login to the Maui Now Wordpress Dashboard: http://mauinow.com/wp-admin
• Login to the Big Island Now Wordpress Dashboard: http://bigislandnow.com/wp-admin

Once logged in, the first page you will see is the “Dashboard”. From here, you can manage most of the content on Maui Now.

On the Dashboard page, click “Post New Article”, OR from the left grey menu, hover over “Posts” and click “Add New”

Before you start your post, verify that the following options are checked. Click “Screen Options” in the top right corner, and compare to the screenshot below:

Below is a screenshot of the “Add New Post” form. Fill in each area labeled with a red number. Descriptions of each item are listed below the screenshot:

1) Article Title

This is the headline to your article. Headlines should be short, and relevant to the article. To ensure the article headline displays properly, keep this field shorter than 8 words.

2) Article Content

This is the main content for your article. To add pictures to your post, click the “Add Media” button directly above the textbox. ( For more about adding images, scroll to the bottom of this document )

When copying text from your word processor to the article content text box, formatting can be unpredictable. It's recommended that you copy your article text from a simple text editor such as Notepad before copying into Wordpress.

To add a video to your post, simply paste the video address into the post (example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBcGTnsSMK0 ). This will embed the video into your post. The video address must be in it's own paragraph (not embedded within a paragraph/sentence). The easiest way to do this is hit 'return', paste the video address, and hit 'return' again.

3) Social Media Message

Once you “Publish” your article, a link to the article will automatically be posted to Maui Now's Facebook and Twitter Accounts. Type a message into this box that will be associated with the Facebook/Twitter post.

If you leave this box blank, the article will NOT be posted to Facebook and Twitter.

If you schedule your post to start at a later time, the social media post will not display until the article's scheduled start time. (Assuming the Social Media Message box is not blank)

4) Excerpt

This is where you will type a short description of the article. Keep this short, and no more than 2 sentences. This is the text that will display below your article headline on the article list pages.

5) All-In-One SEO Pack

This contains all the fields that search engines look for when indexing Maui now

Title: This is normally the same as the Article Headline

Description: This is normally the same as the Excerpt.

Keywords: Type keywords relevant to the article. These keywords are what search engines like Google look for when a user searches for a topic.

Unless you are proficient in SEO techniques, ignore the rest of the “All-In-One SEO Pack” options.

6) Author Bio

This is the by-line that will display on your article's page. If you have a bio input in the system, simply select your name from the dropdown. ( Learn More About Author Bios ) You also have the option of adding your name without the bio. Simply type your name in the text box below the dropdown.

If no bio is selected, and no Author Name is entered, the system will default the byline to “By Maui Now”

7) Publish / Preview / Scheduling

This box allows you to preview your post before publishing, schedule your post for a later date, or publish it immediately.

To schedule your post for a later time, click the “Edit” link next to “Publish immediately”

8) Category

This is where you will select the category for your article. If you want your article to display in the “Featured Stories” position of the front page, click the “Featured” category. You must also select another category if using the “Featured” category.

9) Tags

These are normally the same as the keywords input in the “All-in-one SEO” box. It's important to fill in tags as they give Maui Now better positioning in search engine results.

10) Featured Image

This is the main image you want associated with the article. Make sure to select/upload a featured image for your article. If no featured image is selected, your article will receive less views, and the front-end of Maui Now will look less professional. Please Read our Image Guidelines for More Details

Once all these Fields are filled in, you're ready to click the blue “Publish” button!

When you click the “Add Media” button above the Article Content text-box, you will see the screen below. Once you click or upload an image, you will see the following text boxes on the right. A description of each field is listed below the screenshot. Please Read our Image Guidelines for Details on Selecting the "Perfect" Image

1) Title

This is where you'd put a short title for the image

2) Caption

This is the text that will display directly below the image on your article's page.

3) Alt Text

Normally the same as the “Title” field

4) Description

Normally the same as the “Caption” field

5) Alignment

This is how your image will be positioned on the page.

Left alignment will display the image on the left with text wrapped around the right.

Right alignment will display the image on the right with text wrapped around the left.

No Alignment will display the image without any text on either side.

6) Link To

Normally you will want this to link to the default “Media File” option. If you need the image to go to another website, this is where you'd make the change.

7) Size This is the size that the image will display on the article's page. Normally you want the image to display at “Medium” size.

Once all fields are complete, click “Insert into Post”

Try to keep the Slideshow under 10-15 images

Inline Slideshow: If you want images to appear as a slideshow in your article, simply add the shortcode [slideshow] to your article's content. This will take every image in the article and put it into a slideshow box. The slideshow will appear wherever you place the [slideshow] shortcode.

Large Slideshow: The large slideshow displays at the top of the article, directly below the headline/byline. To activate the large slideshow template, select “Gallery” in the “Format” box (right column below “Tags”). This will take all images in the article, and move them into the large photo viewer.

If you don't want an image to appear in the slideshow, type “no slideshow” into the image's “alt” field (number 3 in the Media Library screenshot)

Images MUST have a caption in order to be added to the slideshow