WordPress 101 Saturday Session

Welcome to WordPress

Course Outline

● Session 1: ○ Understanding WordPress○ Setting up your site○ Administration & management

● Session 2:○ Plugins○ Widgets○ Themes○ Customizing themes○ Review 

Team Rules

You are already winning by being here.

Everyone finishes.

Advanced exercises will be offered.

If you don't do the advanced exercises, that's fine.

Introductions!

This class:● 8 of you said you have never used WordPress● Many of you said you have a site or an idea, and want to

do more with it● 4 of you are very interested mastering site management● 6 of you said you are particularly interested in setup, or

how we start from scratch in WP● One of you is interested in building a site for your family

pictures, which is adorable!

Introductions!

Tell us about yourself

● Name● What you hope to get out of class● Random fact (or, the name of your yacht)

What is WordPress?

● Open Source● Often used as a Content Management System

(CMS)○ Organize data in a database rather than

updating individual files○ Allows many users○ Allows users to communicate with one

another (ex. have different roles in the project)

What is WordPress?

Translation:

Wordpress is free, open source, community-developed platform that helps people make websites quickly and cheaply, and manage them easily: even without knowing how to code.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

Your host

Hosting Customization

Domains Branding

Working 'Locally' -- huh?

Working 'locally' means working on your own machine rather than anywhere else - namely not on a remote server.

What you need:● XAMPP - a way to run a free web server on your machine -

and include Apache and MySQL, both of which we need for WordPress

● The latest release of WordPress (probably a .zip folder)● A Text Editor

○ I recommend Komodo Edit for Mac/Windows/Linux

Open XAMPP and start your services

find where your files need to go

Setup your database

From XAMPP home, find phpMyAdmin

Create Your Database

SUCCESS!!!!!!

Setup your database

Create a user with all privileges on that databaseWrite down that info!

SUCCESS!!!!!!

Installing WordPress

If you haven't yet, un-zip your WordPress download (the .zip).

Copy files from the WordPress folder        the documents folder(note, the documents folder as defined by XAMPP)

Installing WordPress

Installing WordPress

Visit BASEURL/wp-admin/install.php in your browserlikely localhost/wp-admin/install.php

If you got this error ... it's okay! We just copy the text

and make the file ourselves.

Installing WordPress

Copy that file into your XAMPP documents folder

... then go back to your browser and click Run the Install

SUCCESS!!!!!! (fill in your information)

MORE SUCCESS!!!!!!

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH SUCCESS!!!!!!

Lessons Learned

Do you ...● Understand what WordPress is?

Are you ...● Able to articulate the differences between .com and .org?

Do you ...● Have a local WordPress install?

Administration and Management

Administration & Management Plan● Resources for WordPress online ... and in Philly● The WordPress "Backend"

○ Changing your site's settings○ Content types in WordPress○ Writing in WordPress○ Changing the theme

Goals● You will have added some resources to your toolbelt (or

bookmarks bar)● You can update your site's settings● You can update your site's content and themes in the

backend

Resources Online ... and in Philly

● WordPress Codex: http://codex.wordpress.org

● GDI Philly's WordPress Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/gdiphillywordpress/

● Philly WordPress Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-WordPress-Meetup-Group/ 

● Philadelphia WordPress website: http://phillywp.org/ 

● WordCamp Philly: http://2012.philly.wordcamp.org/

More resources ...

● PANMA list: http://www.panma.org/community/listserv

● Girl Geek Dinners (social): http://www.ggdphl.com

● WordPress mailing lists: http://codex.wordpress.org/Mailing_Lists

● WordPress Development Updates: http://wpdevel.wordpress.com/

● wptavern.com● wpcandy.com

We have a website - now what?

What's your site's story?

Hooray.com is a site that posts awesome things. They also consult on being awesome.

Now let's walk through setting up Hooray.com on the admin side.

Exercise: Changing your site's settingsComplete/Answer the following:

● Change your site's "tagline"● Update your permalink structure● What tab would you go to to change the default image

sizes?● What version of WordPress are you using? Where did

you find out?

Gold Star! [Extra Credit]● Disable comments by default● Turn off pingbacks from your site● Change your RSS feed to show 20 items.

What was the default number? 

Activity: Content TypesHere are some examples of content that could appear on your site. Should they be Posts or Pages?

● Contact us● 10 reasons you should get a kitten● An item for sale on an e-commerce site● Privacy policy● A job listing● Meet my cat Luna● Bio of an artist for a gallery with many artists

Exercise: Writing and UpdatingComplete/Answer the following:

● Write a Post and a Page on edit screens in two different windows. Note the differences.

● Make a category and add your post to it. Can you add pages to categories?

● Add tags to your post. What are the benefits of tags?

Gold Star! [Extra Credit]● Go to your Post edit screen and choose

"Screen Options." Add/remove areas and drag and drop for your preferred layout

● Trash a post and restore it● Schedule a post for 2 minutes in the future● Add a "Featured Image" to a post. What

happens?

Media, Links, Comments

● Links can help you organize links outside your menu

● Approve and manage comments in the Comments area

Exercises: Media, Links, CommentsComplete/Answer the following:

● Upload a picture to the Media area (from your computer or the Web)

● Unapprove the default comment added by WordPress● Add a link to the Links area

Gold Star! [Extra Credit]● Crop the image you uploaded to a new size

and save it● Write a comment on a post on your site and

see what happens● Make a new link category and organize the

links in a new way

Lessons Learned

Do you ...● Remember what our main resources are?

Are you ...● Able to update the name of your site and other settings?

Can you ...● Write and update content on your site?

Are you ...● Able to change your theme?

Homework!

● Join the Facebook group!● Work on your site - updating the

settings, writing sample content ...● Research themes and find one that relatively fits

your site's goals

Tomorrow: Plugins, Widgets, Themes, Customization, and Publishing!