In this tutorial, we’ll be discussing the WordPress Admin Bar or toolbar. The WordPress Admin Bar is a shortcut area that allows you to access the behind the scenes controls when you’re on the front-end of your WordPress blog or website.
Using the WordPress Admin Bar
The WordPress Admin Bar is the dark grey bar that goes across the very top of the screen once you’re logged in to your WordPress site.
On the far left side of the WordPress Dashboard, you’ll see the WordPress logo. If you hover over this logo, you’ll see links to WordPress-specific information. These are great quick-links if you’re ever needing to take a look at WordPress documentation, visit the support forums or leave feedback.
To the right of the WordPress logo, you’ll see the name of your site. Hover over this and you’ll see a submenu to visit the front end of your site. This is how your site looks to visitors.
The next section gives a quick reference for comments.
The last section on the left side of the Admin Bar is the + New link. If you hover over this link, you’ll see a submenu that will quickly take you to the add new screen for post, media, page and user. All of these things can also be done from the navigation on the left side of the dashboard, but this link is great for getting these tasks done quickly.
On the far right side of the screen, you’ll see “Howdy, your name.” Hover over this section to see the submenu to edit your profile or log out of the site.
The WordPress Admin Bar Front End View
By default, once you’ve logged into your WordPress site, the Admin Bar will also be visible to you from the front end of your site. If you hover over the name of our site, then click visit site, you’ll see the front end of your site. From this view, the WordPress Admin Bar changes a bit.
Now, if we hover over the title of our site section, we’ll see links for the dashboard, which will take us back to the dashboard home, and links to take us to themes, customize, widgets, menus, background and header. Again, all of these sections can also be found from the left-hand navigation menu in the WordPress dashboard, but this is a great quick reference.
This view also adds a search function. Click the magnifying glass to open the search prompt.
How to Turn Off the WordPress Admin Bar
Most people find the WordPress admin toolbar useful, but some people may want to turn the WordPress Admin Bar off from the front end of the site. Remember, the WordPress Admin Bar is only visible to you when you’re logged in to your site.
To turn off this view, click the Edit my Profile link. Now, from this screen, you’ll see a check box to Show Toolbar when viewing site. Simply uncheck this box to turn this view off, then scroll to the bottom and click Update profile.
If you return to the front end of our site, the WordPress Admin Bar will be no longer visible. If you decide later that you’d like to turn the Admin Bar back on, just return to your edit profile and check the box to show the toolbar again.
