Coming from Atavist: A Guide
For incoming Atavist users, welcome to WordPress.com! This support document is to get you acquainted with all the new features available to you. The Atavist block editor is quite similar to the WordPress editor, but in this guide, we will detail some differences and give you a tour of the platform.
From Projects to Posts
In Atavist, you made projects. In WordPress.com, you will notice you now have the option to make Pages or Posts:
- Posts are entries listed in reverse chronological order on your site. Think of them as articles or updates that you share to offer up new content to your readers.
- Pages are static and are not affected by date. Think of them as more permanent fixtures of your site — an About page, a Contact page, and a Home page are great examples of this.
Next, with Atavist, you worked from a main dashboard page where all your projects were listed. You’ll find that there are two parts to every WordPress.com site where you can find and edit your work:
- Content – the content on your site is made up of pages, posts, and media. You can add or edit pages and posts by going to My Sites → Site → Posts/Pages. Changes are made using our Block editor.
- Customization – Site wide changes, such as editing menus, adjusting colors, adding widgets, additional CSS code, and more, are done from our Customizer. You can get to the Customizer by going to My Sites → Design → Customize.
Themes
You set the theme within a project in Atavist, but with WordPress, you will need to set the theme for the whole site. In WordPress, your theme is the overall look and feel of your site. Themes define where menus and widgets appear on your website. Your site’s theme sets default color schemes, fonts, and other design features.
Resources:
Navigation
Unlike in Atavist, you cannot set unique navigation types for posts or pages in WordPress.com. You can set a site-wide menu, and you can add the navigation block to the body of the post or page.
Title Designs
To recreate Atavist’s Title Design option, you can use the Cover block.
Blocks
You can use the WordPress editor to create media-rich pages and posts and to control the layout with ease. Blocks were a cornerstone of the Atavist editor, and here you will find many corresponding blocks (from images and videos to image compare and buttons) in addition to exciting layout options we were unable to offer, such as columns and a grid.
Adding Blocks
There are many block types for you to choose from, which you’ll see organized by category and by most recent use. You can edit or move each block independently of other blocks, and individual blocks sometimes come with their own formatting settings for even greater control over layout and function.
There are multiple ways to add a block and choose the block type you need:
- Click black + icon at the side of any empty block.
- Click blue + icon at the top left of the editor.
- Hit the Enter/Return key from a selected block to create a new block below it.
- Click black + icon at the top center of an existing block to add a block above it.
- Click on the three dots just above a selected block and choose to add a block above or below the current block.
Learn more about adding blocks to your pages and posts.
Paragraph Block
The Paragraph block is the default block type for text added to the editor. It is probably the block you will use most. You can write your content like a regular document and each paragraph will automatically be turned into a block behind the scenes.
It is important to note that this is different from Atavist, where the text flowed around blocks instead of acting as a block. However, we think you’ll like how you now have the option to not only style the text but also apply settings to the whole block, such as background color and a drop cap.
Blog Posts and Post Carousel Block
In Atavist, you built out the homepage using our Stories and Website blocks. Now, to show off your posts, you can use the Blog Posts block and the Post Carousel block, which have options to dynamically display your content.
Monetize
Explore WordPress.com’s options for monetizing your site. At Atavist, we put an emphasis on selling your content, either by single stories or by subscription. In WordPress.com, you can use the Premium Content block to accept monthly or annual payments on your website for access to exclusive content that you define – video, images, text, anything!
Promote
To connect your site to your social networks, go to My Site → Tools → Marketing in your dashboard. You’ll see various services in the Connections section: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Tumblr. To connect to a service, click the Connect button and follow the prompts.
Once you’ve approved a connection to any of these services, the next time you publish a post, you’ll see the Publicize options on the confirmation screen under Share this post:
Learn more about Publicize.
Manage
Set information for your site in My Sites → Manage → Settings. Beyond that, you can explore the following areas:
Domains
You will find your domain information at My Sites → Manage → Domains. With a paid plan, you can use a custom domain on the site, either registering a new domain or mapping a domain you already own. Learn more about Domains.
People
Manage and update your team at My Sites → Manage → People. You can invite users to your site and grant them roles that allow different levels of access to the settings and content of the site. Learn about Inviting Users.
Billing
View your plans and billing information at My Profile → Manage Purchases.
