Accessing the Dashboard
After logging in at https://streamvault.local/wp-admin, you land on the WordPress Dashboard. This is your control center for everything.
The Dashboard Layout
+------------------+----------------------------------------+
| | Top Admin Bar |
| Left Sidebar +----------------------------------------+
| (Navigation) | |
| | Main Content Area |
| | |
| | |
+------------------+----------------------------------------+
There are 3 main UI areas:
- Top Admin Bar — quick access links, site name, user account
- Left Sidebar — main navigation menu
- Main Content Area — changes based on which page you are on
Top Admin Bar
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| W streamvault +New | Comments | Howdy, admin [avatar] |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+|
Element |
Purpose |
|
W (WordPress
logo) |
Links to
WordPress.org documentation |
|
streamvault |
Hover to see
— Visit Site, Dashboard links |
|
+ New |
Quick create
— Post, Page, User, Media |
|
Comments |
Comment
moderation count & link |
|
Howdy,
admin |
Your profile,
edit profile, log out |
The admin bar also appears on the frontend of your site when you are logged in as admin. This lets you quickly jump to edit any page you are viewing.
Left Sidebar — Complete Navigation
Let us go through every item in the sidebar one by one.
Dashboard
Dashboard
├── Home ← The main dashboard with widgets
└── Updates ← WordPress core, theme, plugin updates
Home shows you a quick overview — recent posts, draft posts, quick draft box, WordPress news, and site health status.
Updates is where you update WordPress core, all plugins, and all themes. Always check this regularly.
Posts
Posts
├── All Posts ← List of all blog posts
├── Add New ← Create a new post
├── Categories ← Manage post categories
└── Tags ← Manage post tags
Posts are time-based content — blog articles, news, announcements. They have:
- A publish date
- Categories and tags
- An author
- They appear in your blog feed in reverse chronological order
Media
Media
├── Library ← All uploaded files (images, videos, PDFs)
└── Add New ← Upload new files
The Media Library stores every file you upload. When you upload an image, WordPress automatically generates multiple sizes:
Original → full size as uploaded
Large → 1024px wide (default)
Medium Large → 768px wide (default)
Medium → 300px wide (default)
Thumbnail → 150x150px cropped (default)
You can change these default sizes under Settings → Media.
Pages
Pages
├── All Pages ← List of all pages
└── Add New ← Create a new page
Pages are static content — About Us, Contact, Privacy Policy, Terms of Service. They:
- Have no publish date shown publicly
- Do not appear in the blog feed
- Can be hierarchical (parent/child pages)
- Are typically linked in the navigation menu
Comments
Comments ← All comments, pending moderation
This screen shows all comments across all posts. You can:
- Approve or reject comments
- Mark as spam
- Reply directly from here
- Bulk delete
Appearance
Appearance
├── Themes ← Install, activate, preview themes
├── Customize ← Live preview theme settings (Customizer)
├── Widgets ← Add widgets to sidebar/footer areas
├── Menus ← Create and manage navigation menus
├── Theme Editor ← (Dangerous) Direct file editing in browser
└── Background ← Set site background (theme dependent)
This is one of your most used sections. Let us go through each:
Themes — Shows all installed themes. The active theme has a blue border. Click "Add New" to install from WordPress.org or upload a ZIP file.
Customize — Opens the live Customizer where you can change site identity (logo, name, tagline), colors, menus, widgets, and homepage settings — all with a live preview.
Widgets — Drag and drop widgets (recent posts, categories, search box, custom HTML) into registered widget areas (sidebars, footers).
Menus — Create navigation menus and assign them to menu locations registered by your theme.
Theme Editor — A browser-based code editor for theme files. Dangerous because a syntax error crashes your site. Always disable this on production using DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT.
Plugins
Plugins
├── Installed Plugins ← All installed plugins, activate/deactivate
├── Add New ← Search & install from WordPress.org
└── Plugin Editor ← (Dangerous) Direct plugin file editing
Installed Plugins — Shows all plugins with their status (active = blue, inactive = grey). You can activate, deactivate, or delete from here.
Add New — Search the WordPress plugin repository (59,000+ free plugins). You can also upload a plugin ZIP file.
Users
Users
├── All Users ← List of all registered users
├── Add New ← Create a new user manually
└── Profile ← Edit your own profile
WordPress has 5 built-in user roles:
|
Role |
What they
can do |
|
Administrator |
Full access
to everything |
|
Editor |
Manage all
posts and pages, moderate comments |
|
Author |
Write and
publish their own posts only |
|
Contributor |
Write posts
but cannot publish (needs editor approval) |
|
Subscriber |
Can only read
content and manage their own profile |
We will create custom roles for StreamVault later — for example a "Subscriber" who can add movies to their watchlist.
Tools
Tools
├── Available Tools ← Press This bookmarklet
├── Import ← Import content from other platforms
├── Export ← Export content as XML
├── Site Health ← Diagnose problems with your installation
└── Export Personal Data / Erase Personal Data ← GDPR tools
Site Health is genuinely useful — it checks your PHP version, database version, HTTPS status, file permissions, and gives you actionable recommendations.
Import/Export is useful when migrating content between WordPress sites.
Settings
Settings
├── General ← Site title, tagline, URL, timezone, language
├── Writing ← Default post category, post format
├── Reading ← Homepage display, blog posts count, RSS settings
├── Discussion ← Comment settings, moderation, avatars
├── Media ← Image size defaults
├── Permalinks ← URL structure
└── Privacy ← Privacy policy page
This is the most important section to configure right after installation. Let us go through each:
Settings → General
Site Title: StreamVault
Tagline: Watch Movies & Series Online
WordPress Address: https://streamvault.local
Site Address: https://streamvault.local
Admin Email: admin@test.com
Membership: [ ] Anyone can register
New User Role: Subscriber
Timezone: Asia/Kolkata
Date Format: F j, Y
Time Format: g:i a
Language: English (United States)
Site Title appears in the browser tab and is used by SEO plugins. Tagline appears under the logo in many themes.
Settings → Reading
Your homepage displays:
○ Your latest posts
● A static page
Homepage: [ Select -- ]
Posts page: [ Select -- ]
Blog pages show at most: [ 10 ] posts
By default WordPress shows your latest posts on the homepage. For StreamVault, we will set a static homepage. First create two pages — "Home" and "Blog" — then come back here and assign them.
Settings → Permalinks
○ Plain → https://streamvault.local/?p=123
○ Day and name → https://streamvault.local/2024/01/01/sample-post/
○ Month and name → https://streamvault.local/2024/01/sample-post/
○ Numeric → https://streamvault.local/archives/123
● Post name → https://streamvault.local/sample-post/
○ Custom → [ /%postname%/ ]
Always select "Post name" — it gives you clean, SEO-friendly URLs like /movies/inception/ instead of /?p=123.
This is the first setting you change after every fresh WordPress installation.
After saving, WordPress updates your .htaccess file automatically to handle these clean URLs.
Settings → Discussion
Key settings to configure:
[ ✓ ] Allow people to submit comments on new posts
[ ✓ ] Comment author must fill out name and email
[ ✓ ] Users must be registered and logged in to comment
[ ] Automatically close comments after 14 days
Before a comment appears:
[ ✓ ] Comment must be manually approved
[ ✓ ] Comment author must have a previously approved comment
Email me whenever:
[ ✓ ] Anyone posts a comment
[ ✓ ] A comment is held for moderation
For StreamVault, we will likely disable comments entirely on movie posts since it is a streaming platform, not a blog.
The Post Editor — Block Editor (Gutenberg)
When you click Posts → Add New, you enter the Block Editor (also called Gutenberg). This replaced the old Classic Editor in WordPress 5.0.
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| ← streamvault [Preview] [Publish] |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Add title |
| |
| Type / to choose a block |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Post | Block |
|--------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Status & visibility |
| Permalink |
| Categories |
| Tags |
| Featured image |
| Excerpt |
| Discussion |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Content is built using blocks — paragraph, heading, image, video, list, quote, columns, buttons, etc. You click the + button or type / to insert a block.
The right sidebar has two tabs:
- Post — post-level settings (status, permalink, categories, tags, featured image)
- Block — settings for the currently selected block (alignment, color, typography)
Quick Draft
On the Dashboard home, there is a "Quick Draft" widget:
+---------------------------+
| Quick Draft |
|---------------------------|
| Title |
| [ What's on your mind? ] |
| [ Save Draft ] |
+---------------------------+
You can quickly create a draft post without going through the full editor. Useful for capturing ideas quickly.
Screen Options
At the top right of almost every admin screen, there is a "Screen Options" tab. Clicking it reveals a dropdown where you can show/hide columns and sections on that screen.
For example on the Posts list screen, you can show/hide Author, Categories, Tags, Date columns.
Summary
- The Dashboard has 3 areas — Top Admin Bar, Left Sidebar, Main Content Area.
- Posts = time-based content with categories & tags.
- Pages = static content, hierarchical, no date shown.
- Appearance = themes, menus, widgets, customizer.
- Settings → Permalinks → Post name — always set this first on every new installation.
- Settings → Reading — set a static homepage for StreamVault.
- The Block Editor (Gutenberg) is the default post editor since WordPress 5.0.
- User roles — Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber.
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