How to customize the default WordPress header in 4 easy steps

WordPress is probably the most popular blogging platform on the web. It is easy to install and customize.

Today we will see how to change easily in four easy steps the default header, the big image in our home page provided with the default theme, the Twenty Eleven theme.

You have just installed the first blog. Now what? One of the first things to do is customize the home page to feel the blog as your blog. The default header image does not belong to you. The choice of an header image is one of the first decisions you make as a blogger. Is important. It's your business card.

Now, we begin to customize your WordPress blog.

If you have a blog at WordPress.com or a self-hosted installation the procedure is the same.

I assume you have just installed the latest version of WordPress, now is the 3.2.1, and your actual theme is default Twenty Eleven theme.

1. Please go to the dashboard through Meta >> Login.
2. Now you're in the dashboard of administration, the main administration tool. Click the "Appearance" tab in the left sidebar. Clicking on this item you can access the administration section of the current theme.
3. On the working area, the large area at the center of the screen, click on "Header." Clicking on this item you can access the header section of the current theme.
4. Now you can load your image header. On the working area we now see the current image and a button underneath the image. Just choose a file using the Browse button and upload it. Remember that the images should be of a size of exactly 1000 x 288 pixels.

That's it, your first WordPress customization is complete. Easy, is not it?

Last but not least, check out your blog from the point of view of safety. Install as soon as possible a backup plugin and perform regular backups.

The complete guide to customize the header of WordPress is here: http://en.support.WordPress.com/themes/custom-header-image/

If you have not installed your WordPress blog:

You can choose the quickest solution, creating a blog directly at WordPress.com or by downloading it from WordPress.org and installing it by your-self on a free or paid hosting.

If you adopted a hosting solution, take a look if your provider has Fantastico scripts: just a few clicks and you're done. If not, Google for "five minutes WordPress install".

Source by Al Borg