Beginners Guide to WordPress WordCamp Montreal 2010
by Shannon Smith
- 3,820 views
This introductory session is geared for bloggers, web designers and programmers who are new to WordPress. Even those who don’t know a Codex from a Cadillac will feel comfortable here. Delving into ...
This introductory session is geared for bloggers, web designers and programmers who are new to WordPress. Even those who don’t know a Codex from a Cadillac will feel comfortable here. Delving into WordPress from a beginner’s point of view, we use unintimidating plain language to explain the fundamental concepts of WordPress, from themes, to widgets, to plug-ins. We go spelunking in the admin panel and show real-world examples of what WordPress can do.
Shannon Smith is the founder of Café Noir Design Inc. a small boutique web design company in the Montreal area specializing in bilingual web design. She supports web standards, semantic markup, microformats, open source products, and sustainable business practices. Shannon works with a number of PHP/MySQL content management systems to create clean, minimalist designs, that adhere to W3C standards.
Kathryn Presner of Zoonini Web Services does a lot more than simply create attractive websites – she delivers custom-designed solutions tailored to her clients’ goals. Coming from a communications background, Kathryn takes a holistic approach to web design and development, building unique sites that work well, look fabulous, and are easily found in search-engine results. She is passionate about helping people avoid common website pitfalls and enjoys speaking to entrepreneurs on the topic.
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Javier Laguens Garcia
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I’m Kathryn Presner. Been building Web sites for over a decade through Zoonini Web Services. My background in communications leads me to look at web design holistically, taking into account design/technical aspects/content/optimization. Started using WordPress about two years ago, still have a lot to learn but happy to share what I know.
Shannon Smith is the founder of Café Noir Design Inc., a small boutique web design company in the Montreal area specializing in bilingual web design. She supports web standards, semantic markup, microformats, open source products, and sustainable business practices. Shannon works with a number of PHP/MySQL content management systems to create clean, minimalist designs, that adhere to W3C standards. She also holds graduate degrees in journalism and psychology. Also a foodie and mother of two
What is WordPress?
- popular open-source blogging platform that started in 2003
- two distinct flavours: WordPress.com & WordPress.org
- .org - need your own Web host server but the basic software is Open Source, meaning that the source code is made available to anyone, free of charge and free of copyright restrictions
- .com - WordPress hosts site for you, there are commercial limitations (advertising, affiliate links), limited choice of themes or plug-ins, can’t install your own plug-ins or custom themes, to access certain features & customization you need to buy credits, URL like janesblog.wordpress.com (you can upgrade to use your own domain). WordPress.com may display ads on your site unless you upgrade
- our focus today is on WordPress.org
This blog for an illustrator allows the designer to share news easily
-Typical blog format, few plugins
WordPress doesn't have to be used like a traditional written blog - example: presner.com (video blog), can also be used solely as a CMS (content management system)
This site for a business coach incorporates a blog as well as informational pages (CMS part). Each section has a different colour scheme.
-plugins here are mostly for navigation, audio
This portfolio site for a film & TV editor features dozens of video clips. “Premium theme” purchased & customized.
http://sixrevisions.com/wordpress/16-wordpress-sites-to-help-you-build-a-better-blog/
-Doesn’t look like a blog
-Uses few plugins
-Uses web tools instead (Google interactive maps, Wuforms, Email Signup, etc.
Some technical things that are helpful to understand at least the basics of:
- WordPress runs on PHP (scripting language) PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor& MySQL (type of database)
-Php allows for a dynamic site
- Difference between database vs. files - what’s a good analogy?
- file - document
- database - bits of information that can be interconnected in different ways
- WordPress - and most other CMS’s - use both files and a database to allow quick updating and access of information
- What is PHP and how does it differ from HTML. Do you need to know HTML or PHP or CSS to use WordPress? No - BUT a little bit can go a long way.
- We will assume most of you know at least a little HTML but little-to-no PHP
-On top of these can be added javascript, flash, etc.
-Javascript is a programming language designed for performing dynamic tasks.
-Flash is a multimedia platform that is popular for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. It contains a scripting language called ActionScript.
-Ajax uses a combination of HTML and CSS to mark up and style information. The DOM is accessed with JavaScript to dynamically display, and to allow the user to interact with, the information presented. JavaScript and the XMLHttpRequest object provide a method for exchanging data asynchronously between browser and server to avoid full page reloads.
- Posts vs. Pages
- Pages are just what they sound like - whole pages on a site
-meant to be used for static content - content that rarely changes
-example : the about page
- posts are individual entries within a blog, they can include things like:
- the title of the entry, the date, tags, categories, comments
-typical blog entries, but can also be any dynamic content (events list, etc.)
Intro to themes
- a theme is a collection of template files that tells WordPress what your site should look like and how it should work
- (X)HTML files & CSS stylesheet
- Where to get a blank theme
How does a theme file work - i.e. usually pulls in header, footer, sidebar
Theme file structure
(Good intro for beginners here: http://www.wpdesigner.com/2007/02/21/wp-theme-lesson-1-intro/)
http://css-tricks.com/the-book-digging-into-wordpress/
-List of typical theme files
-Typical layout
-Atypical layouts can include multiple sidebars, special files for repeating sections, like contact info, etc.
Free, easy to use
-Can also make your own
Can be paid or free
Smashing magazine often has roundups of attractive pre-made themes
Plug-ins add extra functionality to the basic WordPress setup, so you only have to install what you need. This keeps your base installation as lean & mean as possible.
The WP plug-in directory lets you choose from thousands of plug-ins contributed by the WP community.
You can often get added functionality without a plugin - see passups.ca
Plug-ins do everything from encrypt email addresses to make them harder for spammers to harvest to... to generating a complete database backup of your site and emailing it to you.
Those things are “behind-the-scenes” - often plug-ins are more up-front, too - like rotating testimonials or social-bookmarking tools.
Widgets allow you to drag-and-drop ready-made bits of functionality to a pre-designated spot on your site. It could be a search box, a text bock, a calendar, or list of archives in your bog... just for starters.
-You can widgetize many areas of your blog, not just the sidebar.
(info here: http://lifehacker.com/5365600/the-beginners-guide-to-tricking-out-your-wordpress-blog)
Intro to the admin panel: see http://www.geekniche.com/you/tutorials/intro-to-wordpress/