Advanced WordPress

Advanced WordPress Saturday 19 Sep 09 Software Freedom Day Melbourne Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://slideshare.net/KathyReid Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

This workshop is for YOU Let me know if there's something you would like covered in more depth or in a different way If it's too technical, let me know Kathy Reid If it's not technical enough, kathy@kathyreid.id.au let me know http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

What does this workshop assume? ● You are comfortable with creating posts and pages ● You are comfortable installing and changing themes, widgets and plugins Slide 3 ● Have used WordPress.com online or have installed your own WordPress on your server ● Installation page on Codex: Kathy Reid http://codex.wordpress.org/Getting_S kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Common installation issues - permissions ● wp-config.php has to be writable by the web server. This is the file that you enter your DB username and Slide 4 password details into ● Permissions can usually be changed via FTP ● Is everyone familiar with Kathy Reid Linux file system kathy@kathyreid.id.au permissions? http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Common installation issues - DB ● MySQL database has to be created, and the MySQL user has to be given permissions to the database Slide 5 ● This is best done through PhpMyAdmin (available through most hosting control panels) ● If MySQL is upgraded on your Kathy Reid host, you may need to kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au recreate the user and http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid permissions

Common installation issues - upgrades ● Since WordPress 2.7, there are tools that automate the process of upgrading ● Disable all plugins before Slide 6 upgrading ● Ensure you make a backup of your database ● This can also be done in Kathy Reid PhpMyAdmin kathy@kathyreid.id.au ● Everyone familiar with http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid PhpMyAdmin?

Common installation issues - timeout ● By default, WordPress has a timeout set to 30 seconds when downloading from FTP to do an automatic update ● This can result in an error like; Downloading update from Slide 7 http://wordpress.org/wordpress2.7.1 Download failed.: Operation timed out after 30000 milliseconds with 351500 bytes received Installation Failed Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Timeout (cont'd) ● You need to do the following to fix this error ● In the file system where WordPress is installed, find the file called 'file.php' Slide 8 ● /wpadmin/includes/ ● Find the line; $response = wp_remote_get($url, array(’timeout’ => 30)); Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au ● Change the '30' to something like http://blog.kathyreid.id.au '500' and try the upgrade again http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Themes – modifying or building your own ● Easier to modify an existing theme as the basic layout will already have been done for you Slide 9 ● (check licensing of theme) ● Modifying or building your own themes requires some knowledge of HTML and CSS Kathy Reid ● Themes intro page on Codex kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://codex.wordpress.org/Usin http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Themes – File hierarchy ● When building themes, it is important to have an understanding of the file hierarchy – ie which 'pieces' Slide 10 of the theme get included where. This page on the WordPress codex covers this; ● http://codex.wordpress.org/Step Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Themes – styles.css ● This is the main file that needs to be edited ● The first block is used by WordPress to show style Slide 11 information in the Appearance menu in the Dashboard ● You will need CSS skills to Kathy Reid edit the Theme kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au ● http://www.cssreference.com http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Themes – Getting new ones ● There are literally tens of thousands of themes. High quality themes usually have; – Widget support Slide 12 – 'Fluid layouts' that fit to screen – Are standards compliant – Well tested or many installs Kathy Reid ● Good place to start is: kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au ● http://wordpress.org/extend/the http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Exercise 1 – Modifying an existing theme ● Create a copy of one of the themes in the 'wp- content/themes' directory ● Edit the styles.css file so Slide 13 that the first block of information is changed ● Make some changes to the colours or CSS styling within Kathy Reid the file kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Exercise 1 - contd ● Navigate to 'Appearance' in your Dashboard and change the chosen theme to the one you modified. Slide 14 ● Can you see the differences? ● What else would you like to change about your theme? Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Installing plugins ● A plugin is a piece of code written in PHP by a developer which can be added to WordPress to provide additional functionality Slide 15 ● The quality of plugins and their maturity varies – some are excellent, some are rubbish Kathy Reid ● Most are usually free, some kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au are not. http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Finding plugins ● The best place to start is: ● http://wordpress.org/extend/plu ● Each plugin has information on Slide 16 – Version – Compatibility – Author – Home page Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au – Screenshots http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid – Documentation

Assessing a plugin ● What rating does it have? ● How comprehensive is the documentation or website? ● What version is the plugin Slide 17 (usually higher version, more mature) ● How active is the development (last version date) Kathy Reid ● How many other people have kathy@kathyreid.id.au it installed (a good indicator of http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid quality)

Exercise 2: Assessing and installing a plugin ● In your Dashboard, navigate to Plugins -> Add New ● You will be presented with a field where you can search for Slide 18 plugins. Try the keyword for a plugin you're interested in. In this example, we'll use 'twitter' (it's not case sensitive) ● WordPress will go and search Kathy Reid all the plugins that match this kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au keyword and present them to http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid you in a table

Exercise 2: Assessing and installing a plugin ● Identify the plugin you wish to install (refer to 'assessing a plugin' earlier in this presentation) Slide 20 ● Click the 'install' link next to the plugin ● The plugin will install automatically Kathy Reid ● You may have to configure kathy@kathyreid.id.au options for the plugin http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Plugins – you MUST have ● Akismet is an anti-spam plugin; it is packaged by default with WordPress. It will identify which comments Slide 21 are spam and which are legitimate with a high rate of accuracy. ● http://wordpress.org/extend/plu Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Plugins - Forms ● Cforms is a plugin which provides a very robust and complete method to create forms for your website. Slide 22 ● It is overkill for basic contact forms, but has a lot of functionality such as captcha control and auto replies Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au ● http://www.deliciousdays.com/c http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Other plugins you might like ● Sociable: Allows people to read your posts and flag them with tools such as Delicious, Digg, Twitter etc Slide 23 ● Similar posts: Automatically suggest posts your readers may also like from keywords and categories ● WordPress mobile edition: Kathy Reid Make sure your blog is kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au readable on mobile devices http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Keeping plugins updated ● It's important that you keep an eye out for plugins that need to be updated – for bugs and vulnerabilities but Slide 24 also for enhancements. ● WordPress automatically notifies you of plugins that have updates available; Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Keeping plugins updated ● It's important that you keep an eye out for plugins that need to be updated – for bugs and vulnerabilities but Slide 25 also for enhancements. ● WordPress automatically notifies you of plugins that have updates available; Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Writing your own plugin ● You will need to know PHP reasonably well ● Helps to have a knowledge of the WordPress code and Slide 26 components – and 'hooks' that are built in for plugin developers ● Has someone else already written the plugin Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au ● How will you support it? http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid ● http://codex.wordpress.org/Writing

Roles ● Roles and permissions in WordPress are basic; it is designed to be a blog used by a single person Slide 27 ● Blog owner can assign a role to a user which restricts what abilities that user has on the site – each role has different capabilities Kathy Reid ● http://codex.wordpress.org/Roles_ kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

WordPress Multi User (WPMU) ● WPMU is a different form of WordPress that is designed to be installed in a multi-blogging environment Slide 28 ● For instance, you can run hundreds of blogs from one installation ● The administrator can set privilege levels and plugins site Kathy Reid wide or on certain sites only kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au ● http://mu.wordpress.org http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Social networking: BuddyPress ● BuddyPress aims to add social networking functionality to WordPress to make it more suitable for Slide 29 community sites ● Still in its infancy; is quite immature – but one to watch ● http://buddypress.org Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

Additional resources FLOSS Manual (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) Slide 30 http://en.flossmanuals.net/wordpress WordPress – downloads, docs, themes http://www.wordpress.org Kathy Reid kathy@kathyreid.id.au http://blog.kathyreid.id.au http://www.slideshare.net/KathyReid

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Advanced WordPress

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