Where the dashboard is
The dashboard (also called the admin area or back end) is where you manage the site. It lives at /wp-admin/, and you need to be logged in. A visitor who is not logged in is sent to the login page instead, as you saw in the previous lesson.
After logging in, you land on Dashboard → Home: a set of boxes ("widgets") with an overview of the site, recent activity, quick drafts, news and a Site Health status. You can drag the boxes around or hide them.
The admin menu
The menu down the left side is the map of the whole site. On a fresh WordPress 7.1 site, an administrator sees:
| Menu | What it manages |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | the overview, and Updates for WordPress, plugins, themes and translations |
| Posts | blog posts, plus Categories and Tags |
| Media | the media library: images, documents, audio and video |
| Pages | static pages such as About and Contact |
| Comments | moderating comments |
| Appearance | Themes, and for block themes the Editor (Site Editor) for templates, styles, navigation and patterns |
| Plugins | installing, activating and updating plugins |
| Users | accounts, roles and Profile |
| Tools | import and export, Site Health, personal data tools |
| Settings | General, Writing, Reading, Discussion, Media, Permalinks and Privacy |
Plugins often add their own menus or submenus. A shop plugin, for example, adds a whole new section.
The menu depends on who you are. WordPress has roles such as Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor and Subscriber, each with different capabilities. An Author, for example, sees Posts, Media, Comments and Profile, but no Plugins, Users or Settings. A later lesson covers roles in detail.
The toolbar
The dark bar across the top of the screen is the toolbar (sometimes called the admin bar). It appears in the dashboard and, by default, on the front end of the site when you are logged in. It gives you:
- the WordPress logo menu, with links to documentation and support;
- the site name, linking between the dashboard and the front end;
- comment and update counters;
- + New, for creating a post, page, media item or user quickly;
- Edit Post or Edit Page when you are viewing one on the front end;
- your account menu on the right, with Edit Profile and Log Out.
You can hide the toolbar on the front end in your profile, which some people prefer when previewing designs.
Screen Options and Help
At the top right of many admin screens are two tabs:
- Screen Options shows or hides boxes and columns on that screen, and sets how many items lists show per page. If a column or box you expected is missing, look here first.
- Help explains the current screen.
Your profile
Users → Profile holds your personal settings: name and display name, email, website, biography, password, application passwords (used by apps and scripts that talk to the REST API), the admin colour scheme and whether to show the toolbar on the site.
A good habit on any live site: set a nickname or display name that is not your login name, so the username you sign in with is not shown publicly on your posts.
What the dashboard changes
Almost everything in the dashboard ends up as data in the database. For example, the Settings → General screen edits options you can also read with WP-CLI:
wp option get blogname --format=json
wp option get blogdescription --format=json
wp option get admin_email --format=json
wp option get timezone_string --format=json"My WordPress Site"
""
"admin@example.com"
""--format=json shows empty values as "" instead of blank lines. The tagline is empty on a new site, and the time zone setting is empty too, which means WordPress uses a plain offset from UTC (zero by default). Setting your real time zone, for example "Asia/Kolkata", is one of the first things to do on a new site, so that scheduled posts publish when you expect. The next section of the course goes through the settings one by one.
The Site Health screen
Tools → Site Health checks the server and site configuration: PHP version, HTTPS, scheduled tasks, inactive plugins and themes, and more. It shows critical issues and recommended improvements, with explanations. Check it after setting up a new site or moving to new hosting.
Common mistakes
- Looking for a missing column or box without checking Screen Options.
- Assuming every user sees the same menus. Test with an account of the role you are setting up.
- Ignoring the Updates screen for months.
- Leaving the time zone unset, so scheduled posts go out at the wrong time.
Exercise
Log in to your local site and do three things: change the admin colour scheme in your profile, hide the "WordPress Events and News" box on the dashboard home, and use + New → Post in the toolbar to start a draft titled "My first draft".
Show one possible answer
Users → Profile → Admin Color Scheme: pick one and click Update Profile. On Dashboard → Home, open Screen Options and untick WordPress Events and News. In the toolbar, hover over + New, choose Post, type the title "My first draft" and click Save draft. You can confirm it with wp post list --post_status=draft.
Key points
- The dashboard lives at /wp-admin/ and is only available to logged-in users; what you see depends on your role.
- The left admin menu groups content (Posts, Media, Pages, Comments), design (Appearance), features (Plugins), people (Users) and configuration (Tools, Settings).
- The toolbar at the top links between the site and the dashboard and shows quick actions.
- Screen Options and Help, at the top right of many screens, let you show or hide columns and boxes.