WordPress: More Than Just Blogs

Paul Mueller (UserAid)www.useraid.com@Paul_UserAid

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Why WordPress?

Free content management system Many free sources of plugins (added features) Easy to customize and maintain Good SEO support Automated content listing, sorting, categorizing Allow users to comment/augment content

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What Will We Talk About?

Sample WordPress Sites

Setting up WordPress

Understanding user access

Common elements: themes, plugins, widgets

Adding features (custom code)

Resources to see and use

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WordPress Samples - Blog

Part of Epiphany (www.epiphanyinc.net/newsandnotes)

Main site uses custom php

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WordPress Samples - Blog

Part of Epiphany (www.epiphanyinc.net/newsandnotes)

Blog is in WordPress and matches the design of the main site

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WordPress Samples – Whole Site

STC Houston (www.stc-houston.org)

Whole site is in WordPress and can use blog elements throughout the design

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WordPress Samples – Whole Site

Data Dynamics (www.datadynamicsinc.com)

Whole site can use purchased themes to implement design

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WordPress Samples – Whole Site

Cutting Room Salon (www.cuttingroomsalon.com)

Whole site can have custom design to match your brand

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Paul for STC Vice President (www.stc-paulmueller.com)

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WordPress Samples – Whole Site

You can quickly create personal web sites

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WordPress Samples – Support & More

SmartVault Support (smartvault.com/support)

Integrated main site, support center, learning center, knowledge base, help, & more

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WordPress Samples – Social Network

metroPUP (www.metropup.us)

Facebook for dogs & owners

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WordPress Is Flexible

You can do anything you want…

once you know the basics

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Setting Up WordPress

Use WP provider, such as wpengine.com

--- OR ---

Use your ISP automated install

--- OR ---

Create database (MySQL)

Copy WordPress files into place

Edit wp-config.php file for database connection info

Open /wp-admin (displays login page)

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Working with WordPress

Open /wp-admin (log in)

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Understanding User Access

Administrator

Editor

Author

Contributor

Subscriber

Can customize the permissions model

Common Elements

“But I don’t see <?php ?> in the periodic table.”

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Common Elements

Pages – Fixed (fairly static) content

Posts – Fluid, periodic content

Other types of content? (can create custom types)

Pages & Posts

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Common Elements

Define the overall appearance (look & feel)

Get a free theme

Buy a theme you like

Use a framework theme, such as Thesis or Genesys

Use child themes (some call them skins)

Themes

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Common Elements

Many Sites− Akismet (spam comment protection)− Google XML Sitemaps (SEO support)− WP-DB-Backup (database backup)− Simple Mail Address Encoder (protect email addr from spiders)− Easy Fancybox (DIV for links - images/iframes/swf)− AddThis Social Bookmarking (help people share your content)

Extras− Gravity Forms (manage forms and related response data)− Blog in Blog (custom pages listing some posts per categories)− Mingle (social networking)− oQey Gallery OR PhotoSmash (photos & slideshows)− PHP Execution (custom content on pages – be careful!)− WP125 (advertising management)− …the list is endless…

Plugins

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Common Elements

Modules in sidebars are called widgets

Plug-ins can provide widgets

Standard modules− Archives: Months, Authors, Categories− Popular Posts (Popular Posts plugin)− Recent Posts− Recent Comments− Twitter Feed

Text – anything you want− Links− Sponsors (STC Houston – uses JavaScript)− Events (Google calendar)

Widgets

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Common Elements

Widget areas can be included anywhere on a page

Widgets

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Common Elements

Widgets define the sidebar for this page

Widgets

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Common Elements

Easy UI to create lists of links

Can be navigation menus

Can be lists in other parts of page

Menus

Adding Features (Custom Code)

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Adding Features

Lightbox to display full-sized graphics

Fancybox to display graphics, iframe, video, swf

Lightbox, Fancybox

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Adding Features

<html><head><script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4/jquery.min.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="fancybox/jquery.fancybox-1.3.4.pack.js"></script>

<link rel="stylesheet" href="fancybox/jquery.fancybox-1.3.4.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /></head>

<body>

<a class="iframe" href="http://www.google.com">Open iframe</a>

</body></html>

Fancybox Example

Resources

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Resources

w3schools.com provides tutorials & reference info

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Resources

dynamicdrive.com provides samples and code

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Resources

msdn.microsoft.com provides reference & samples

Thank You