Instructions for Working with Pages on WordPress

The .php pages can be viewed and edited at two locations from the dashboard.

Appearance → Theme File Editor

This lists the theme’s .php files and allows editing of the code.
I used ChatGPT for nearly all code edits and creation.
You cannot add or duplicate pages from this location.

WP File Manager

Allows viewing and editing of .php code, but there is no syntax highlighting (can be a pain).
You can duplicate files here by right-clicking — very handy for creating new pages.

Local .php Editing (VS Code)

You can also edit code locally with VS Code; I didn’t find it necessary. With ChatGPT, I could edit code directly in the dashboard without worrying about breaking the page.

If you want to edit locally, we’ll need to connect WordPress files via FileZilla:

Open FileZilla → File → Site Manager.
Set Login Type: Key File.
Key user name: maizecoopsc
Key file location: Found in email 8/15/2025
Password: Found in email 8/15/2025

This should connect you to the website file list. From there you can configure VS Code to work with the files (e.g., via SFTP extension).

Linking the .php File to a New Page

Go to Pages → Add New.
Add a page name (e.g., Jeff Gustin).
On the right panel, you can either:
- Choose your template from the Template dropdown (easiest), or
- Set the slug to match your naming convention if your theme auto-loads templates by slug (theme-specific).
Example: If your template file is pages-jeff.gustin.php, set the page slug to jeff.gustin (if your theme supports slug-based loading) or choose that template from the dropdown.
Click Publish, then View to see the page.

Note: WordPress doesn’t natively map slugs to filenames; that behavior depends on your theme/template loader. Selecting the template from the dropdown is the most reliable method.

Posting a New Page to the Website

I don’t know how to do this. The most I have done is create a page that is hyperlinked to an already existing website page.