How to Edit Your WordPress Website HTML
To many, a website is simply a web page with some text, but that’s not all there is to them. If you take the time to learn how to properly edit your WordPress website’s HTML, you can make massive improvements to the overall user experience. Whether you’re a seasoned web designer or a complete beginner, you’ll find that learning how to properly edit the HTML of your WordPress website is both an enjoyable and beneficial experience. In this article, we’ll discuss the steps involved in properly editing your WordPress website’s HTML.
Step One: Take Your Time
Just because you’re a professional web designer doesn’t mean that you have to rush into fixing up some badly designed WordPress website. Instead, take the time to do it right the first time. That way, there won’t be any need to go back and edit the code again. When you take the time to learn how to properly edit HTML code, you’ll see that there’s actually a lot more involved than you might think. To give you the best possible experience on your WordPress website, it’s important to learn and then use proper HTML editing techniques. That means re-checking all of your code for errors, fixing any bad or inconsistent HTML, and implementing the required HTML code for the correct functionality of your site. It can be a lot of work, but it’ll all be worth it in the end.
Step Two: Use A Text Editor
When we talk about properly editing HTML, we’re usually referring to the use of a text editor (such as notepad, Sublime Text, or Atom). A text editor allows you to edit the code of your WordPress website directly in a browser window, which means that you can make the necessary changes to the HTML without having to leave the page. This is often times a lot easier and more convenient than using an HTML validator, which requires you to leave your page and come back later once the changes have been saved. Sometimes, you have to close down your browser completely and then open it up again, which can be quite the hassle.
Step Three: Use An HTML Validator
Once you’ve made the necessary changes to your WordPress website’s HTML in a text editor, it’s time to check it for errors through the use of an HTML validator. There are a variety of validators available online, all with different features and functionality, which means you can find the one that’ll be the best suited for your needs. One of the most popular HTML validators is the W3C Markup Validator, which is free and easy to use. When you first visit the W3C website, you’ll see a link that’ll take you to the validator itself. Simply click on this link and then enter the URL of your WordPress website in the relevant box.
The validator will then start examining the HTML code of your website and tell you either how well it complies with the W3C guidelines or give you the opportunity to correct any errors. If you want to do some basic SEO for your WordPress website, you’ll have to make sure that all of the HTML on your page contains the necessary tags. If you’re using a WordPress customizer, you’ll have to make sure that all of the HTML inside of it complies with the proper naming conventions. The Markup Validator is a great place to start when it comes to checking the HTML code of your website for consistency and then making necessary changes if needed.
Step Four: Re-Check Everything
Once your HTML code is error-free and follows all of the proper conventions, you can feel confident that all of the web pages on your site will render correctly. To give you the best possible experience on your website, you should always re-check everything once you’ve made changes. This means going back through the steps listed above and making sure that all of the HTML code is consistent and error-free. If you made any changes to the code and then went back and checked it, you’d see an error-notice because the code isn’t what you expected it to be. It’s always a good idea to back up your site before making changes so that you can easily re-create the original condition if needed. Just remember, it’s still a work in progress and there’s plenty more to learn.
Step Five: Test The Changes
Finally, once you’ve made all of the necessary changes and are sure that the HTML code is error-free, it’s time to test the site to see how it functions. When testing, it’s a good idea to create a backup of your site first in case something goes wrong. To do this, you’ll have to go back to Step One and enter the URL of your site again. This time, instead of going to the W3C website, you’ll be taken directly to your WordPress dashboard.
From your WordPress dashboard, click on the Gear icon () in the toolbar above the editing area and then select Settings from the drop-down menu.
On the Settings page, you’ll see a number of options some of which are related to SEO and website analytics while others are related to security. To test the impact of your changes, try each combination and choose the best setting for your needs. When you’re comfortable that everything is functioning as it should, save the settings and then come back and read the article you were just reading before completing this process. Hopefully, you learned something new and can use it to make your WordPress website more enjoyable for yourself and your guests.