Lorelle

You can also try the helpful information at Using Images.

But to add a shadow to an image is a CSS trick and different from these tricks.

There are many ways of doing this, using CSS filters (don’t always work across all browsers), through the use of borders, or by using a second image put behind the first. It can get complicated.

Since the information you need is widely available on the Internet, and not directly related to WordPress, I recommend you search for “CSS, shadow, image” to find tons of tips that will help you put shadows behind your images.

And for those worried about “size issues” 😉 with their backups, with the latest version I was able to gzip over 30 megabytes of WordPress database stuff.

Worked like a charm!

Thanks ringmaster and skippy for this brilliant plugin. Backing up WordPress Database is so darn easy now.

Well, let’s see if we can help. It sounds like you jumped into the fray instead of beginning as a “beginner” and then moving through the process. That’s okay. But there are documents to help you through the process, and others who are listening.

For REALLY beginners to this process, start with First Steps With WordPress to get going.

For those in a hurry and eager to get on with it, and a little more familiar with some of the thinking and process behind WordPress, begin with New to WordPress – Where to Start to get a list of the articles and information you need to go through the process step by step.

For a good introduction and overview to the concept of Templates and Template Tags, the powerhouse behind WordPress, see Stepping Into Templates and Stepping Into Template Tags. For a really good overview of the CSS/XHTML structure of typical WordPress Themes and Site, see Site Architecture 1.5.

To help you understand how the Loop works, the engine that runs the process of generating your pages, see The Loop in Action.

And for tutorials on creating various template files, customizing the sidebar, header, and other parts and pieces, and getting your site set up from the ground up, see the tutorial section called WordPress Lessons.

The WordPress Codex welcomes new articles and information and resources, and we have guidelines and policies on how to add that information, help and contribute to the Codex. Please let us know your idea about improving the process of helping users. We’ve recently restructured things to provide an entire section for those who are WordPress for Beginners in the Getting Started with WordPress section. We are always looking for volunteers, so please come join us.

I’m trying to understand. You want a link to a Page on your WordPress site that takes the user to an external page off your site?

I’m confused, but here is a ton of information on how to put links to Pages, posts, and categories on your WordPress site:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Linking_Posts_Pages_and_Categories

For external sites, just use the old fashioned link HTML.

Yes, this is normal. At 151.6 KB, the size of 2-5 decent images, you got nothing to worry about. My database, in total, adds up to a whole LOT more.

The information you are talking about is normal and does no harm. It is merely “cached” there for faster loading and viewing. The thing you need to “worry” about if size is an issue is the number of comment spam that can accumulate. There is information in this thread http://wordpress.org/support/topic/40263 as well as information on the Backup article on the Codex at http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Backups that will help.

The key is NOT to backup the stuff you don’t really need like statistics and tables created by plugins unless that information is critical to your blog. Statistics aren’t.