An Immersion into WordPress
Class Five

By
CathyAnne Murtha

www.blind.training
cathy@blindtraining.com

© Copyright 2025 CathyAnne Murtha. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

Access Technology Institute, LLC
PO Box 90812
Tucson, AZ 85752

cathy@blind.training
www.blind.training

# Introduction

Categories and tags organize posts and help visitors find the exact content they want to access.

Categories and tags are usually confined to posts, but some themes do include them on pages.

If a theme has page Categories and Tags, they are managed the same.

Manage and create Categories and Tags in backstage.

Apply Categories and tags in Quick Edit or post properties.

Contents

Introduction. 1

Categories. 3

Tags. 3

Slugs. 3

Category Management 4

Add a Category. 4

Search Categories. 4

Categories Bulk Action. 5

Categories Table. 5

Category Management Links. 5

Edit a Category. 6

Add Categories to Posts. 6

Quick Edit 7

Post Settings Side Bar 7

Tags. 8

Add a Tag. 8

Search Tags. 9

Bulk Actions. 9

Tags Table. 10

Edit a Tag. 10

Manage Post Tags. 11

Quick Edit 11

Post Settings Side Bar 11

Conclusion. 12

# Categories

Categories and Tags are taxonomies. They organize posts and give visitors ready access to website content. Visitors can view content by tag or category rather than chronologically.

Categories provide broad post grouping management. They are hierarchical and can be organized into subcategories.

Categories are broad topics such as

Travel, Food, Music, or Pets

The default Post Category is “Uncategorized.”

You can rename “Uncategorized” to something more suited to your website content.

# Tags

Tags describe specific post details. They serve as index terms and organize site content with precision.

Tags are micro-data that group related content across categories. They are not hierarchical. Tags are more specific than categories.

Pizza, My cat Sparkles, A specific song name.

Mexico, Greece, or France.

Tags are optional. You can publish posts without adding tags.

## Slugs

Slugs are user-friendly URLs you can use to share website content. Slugs allow users to directly access your site’s categories and tags.

Category URLs follow this format:

Https://yoursite.com/category/slug

Tag URLs follow this format:

Http://yoursite.com/tag/slug

## Category Management

Categories organize posts. Visitors can search for specific categories and view posts associated with categories.

Manage Categories in the WordPress Dashboard:

- Open the WordPress Dashboard.
- Open the JAWS Links List.
- Activate “Categories.”

The Categories page opens in the content area. Focus is on an edit box.

The first controls add a new Category.

## Add a Category

Add a Category on the Dashboard Categories page.

Configure the following:

- Name: Type a name for the new Category
- Slug: Type a user-friendly URL for the Category

- Use only lowercase letters and hyphens

- Parent Category: Select a parent Category if applicable
- Description: Type a description for the Category if needed

Activate “Add Category” to add the new Category.

## Search Categories

Search for Categories in the top right corner of the Categories page. Navigate to the Search edit box using JAWS Navigation.

Use the following to search the Categories table:

- Search Edit box: Type a search string
- Search Categories: Activate this button to run the search

Search results display in the Categories table beneath the Search edit box.

## Categories Bulk Action

Controls beneath the Search edit box manage existing categories.

- Bulk Actions: Categories are listed in a table below this combo box

- Each category has a checkbox
- Check a category checkbox to select a single category
- Check the “Name” header checkbox to select all categories
- This combo box includes one option: Delete

- WordPress plugins can add additional options
- Select “Delete” to mark selected categories for removal

Activate “Apply” to delete selected categories. The action is immediate..

## Categories Table

Use table navigation or JAWS layered table navigation to access the Categories table.

The table includes sortable columns. Each column has a header. Activate a column header link to sort the table by that header.

The table columns are

- Name
- Description
- Slug
- Count: The number of posts assigned to the category

## Category Management Links

Use table commands to focus on a category name. Four links are beneath each category name.

The links are

- Edit: This opens the Category properties page

- You can also open this page by activating the category name
- More on this shortly

- Quick Edit: This opens controls through which a category is edited

- Name: Edit the category name
- Slug: Edit the category slug
- Cancel: Cancel category editing
- Update Category: Update the category with the new information

- Delete: Delete the category. The action is immediate
- View: Posts associated with the category are shown in a full-screen view

## Edit a Category

Activate a category in the Category table or activate “Edit” to edit a category.

The Dashboard Category properties page opens in the Content Area..

Configure the following:

- Name: Edit the Category name
- Slug: Edit the Category slug
- Parent Category: Select a parent category if applicable
- Description: Type a Category description if needed
- Update: Update the Category with the new information
- Delete: Delete the category. An alert opens to confirm category deletion

Use Category page controls to customize and manage categories.

## Add Categories to Posts

Activate a category in the Category table or activate “Edit” to edit a category.

The Dashboard Category properties page opens in the Content Area.

Configure the following

- Name: Edit the Category name
- Slug: Edit the Category slug
- Parent Category: Select a parent category if applicable
- Description: Type a Category description if needed
- Update: Update the Category with the new information
- Delete: Delete the category. An alert opens to confirm category deletion

Use Category page controls to customize and manage categories.

### Quick Edit

To add Categories in the All Posts page “Quick Edit” controls:

- Open the “All Posts” page
- Select a post
- Activate “Quick Edit”

The Quick Edit panel opens.

Navigate to “Categories” and toggle one or more Category checkboxes.

Activate “Update.” The selected Categories are applied to the post.

### Post Settings Side Bar

To access Categories on an open post:

- Open a post in edit mode
- Open the Post sidebar: ctrl-shift-comma
- Page and post settings are preceded by heading level 2 text
- Navigate heading level 2 text
- Locate “Categories”
- If it’s closed, activate the Categories button to open the panel

Post Settings include the following controls:

- If Categories are added, a search edit box is available

- Each Category is listed beneath the search edit box
- Type text and navigate into the Categories list to review matching Categories

- Each Category is preceded by a checkbox

- Check a checkbox to add a Category to the post

- To add a new Category

- Activate the “Add New Category” link
- New controls are enabled

- New Category Name: Type a new Category name
- Parent Category: Select a parent Category

To add an existing Category to a post:

- Open a post in edit mode
- Enable the Virtual Cursor
- Navigate heading level 2 text to “Categories”
- Activate the Categories button

- Categories are listed beneath the Categories button
- Each Category has a checkbox

- Check the Categories to apply to the focused post

Categories are saved when the post is updated or saved.

# Tags

Tags organize posts. Visitors can search for and view posts with specific tags.

Manage Tags in the WordPress Dashboard

- Open the WordPress Dashboard
- Open the JAWS Links List
- Activate “Tags”

The Tags page opens in the Content Area.

By default, focus is on an edit box used to name a new tag.

## Add a Tag

The first controls on the Tags page add a new tag.

Configure the following:

- Name: Input a new tag name
- Slug: Input a user-friendly tag URL

- Slugs contain only lowercase letters and hyphens
- This is optional

- Description: Add a tag description

- This is optional

- Add New Tag: Add the new tag

The tag is added to the Tags table.

## Search Tags

Search tags on the top right of the Tags page.

Two controls search the Tags table. Navigate to the Search edit box with JAWS Navigation Quick Keys.

Use the Search box to search tags:

- Search Edit box: Search the Tags table for a specific tag. Input a search string into this box
- Search Tags: activate this button to execute the search

The Tags table at the bottom of the window refreshes to show matching tags.

## Bulk Actions

Bulk action controls are located above the Tags table on the right side of the Tags window.

Use the following controls:

- Bulk Actions: Select a bulk action for selected tags

- Tags are listed in a table beneath this combo box

- Each tag has a checkbox
- Check a checkbox to select the associated tag
- Check the “Name” column header checkbox to select all tags
- Select “Delete” to mark selected tags for deletion

Activate “Apply” to execute the selected bulk action.

The action is immediate.

## Tags Table

Use table navigation or JAWS layered table commands to access the Tags table.

Each table column has a header. Activate a column header link to sort the table by that column.

The column headers are:

- Name
- Description
- Slug
- Count: The number of posts assigned to the tag

Tag Management Links

Use table commands to focus on a tag name. Four links are located beneath each tag name.

The links are:

- Edit: Opens the tag properties page

- You can also open this page by activating the tag name

- Quick Edit: Opens tag edit controls
- Name: Edit the tag name
- Slug: Edit the tag slug
- Cancel: Cancel tag editing
- Update Tag: Update the tag with the new information
- Delete: Activate this link to delete the tag. The action is immediate
- View: Activate this link to display the tag search results page

- Tagged posts are shown in a full-screen view

### Edit a Tag

Activate a tag name or the “Edit” link to edit a tag.

The tag properties page opens in the Content Area.

Configure the following:

- Name: Edit the tag name
- Slug: Edit the tag slug
- Description: Input a tag description. This is optional
- Update: Update the tag with the new information
- Delete: Delete the tag

- A confirmation dialog opens

- Activate “OK” to delete the tag

Use these controls to customize and manage tags.

## Manage Post Tags

Add tags in the post property sheet or in the “Quick Edit” controls on the All Posts page.

We’ll review both methods in detail.

### Quick Edit

To manage tags in the All Posts “Quick Edit” controls:

- Open the “All Posts” page.
- Navigate the posts table.
- Select a post.
- Activate the “Quick Edit” link.

Navigate the tags and edit as needed

To add tags:

- Move to the end of the tags list, add a comma, and type the new tag.
- Separate each tag with a comma.
- Tags may be words or phrases.
- Activate “Update” to update the post.

Tags are updated.

### Post Settings Side Bar

Each primary post setting is marked by heading level 2 text.

To add an existing tag to a post

- Open a post in edit mode
- Enable the Virtual Cursor
- Navigate to heading level 2 text
- Open “Tags”
- Each tag is listed with a checkbox
- Check the checkboxes for the tags to apply to the focused post

Tags are saved when the post is updated or saved.

To add a new tag

- Open a post in edit mode
- Make sure all blocks are closed
- Navigate to heading level 2 text
- Open “Tags”
- Focus on “Add New Tag”
- Type one or more tag names
- Separate each tag with a comma or press ENTER

Tags are added to the Tags edit box.

Each tag is followed by a “Remove Tag” button.

Activate a “Remove Tag” button to remove the associated tag.

Activate “Update” to save the post and apply tag changes

# Conclusion

Categories and tags make posts easier to manage and help visitors quickly access related content.

Categories and tags are fundamental to building an engaging and navigable blog.

Create, categorize, and tag several posts on your site. Review the results and explore your site from a visitor’s perspective.

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