The WordPress Admin Panel is the control center of your website, allowing you to create content, customize the design, and manage settings. When you log in to WordPress for the first time, you'll be greeted by the Dashboard, which provides an overview of your site's activity and key shortcuts.

Understanding how to navigate the Admin Panel is essential for managing your website efficiently. In this lesson, you'll take a guided tour of the most important areas and how they function. While we'll introduce several sections, we'll cover some of them—like creating posts, adding themes, and installing plugins—in more detail in later lessons.

Understanding the WordPress Dashboard

The Dashboard provides an overview of your website’s key information, such as recent activity, quick actions, and system notifications. You can also customize what appears on the dashboard by clicking Screen Options in the top right corner.

On the left side, you’ll find the Admin Menu, which contains all the major sections of WordPress. These include:

• Posts: where you create and manage blog posts;

• Pages: used for static content like About Us or Contact pages;

• Appearance: customizes your site’s theme, menus, and widgets;

• Plugins: add extra functionality to your website;

• Settings: controls key site configurations, such as permalinks and reading options.