WordPress for Girl Geeks 2009-11-24
by Shannon Smith on Nov 25, 2009
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A presentation for the Montreal Girl Geek Dinner series presented by Kathryn Presner of zoonini.com and Shannon Smith of cafenoirdesign.com.
A presentation for the Montreal Girl Geek Dinner series presented by Kathryn Presner of zoonini.com and Shannon Smith of cafenoirdesign.com.
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Elisabeth Bucci
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
We met at WordCamp Montreal last summer, one of a series of international, informal conferences to share WordPress knowlege. I was sitting in on a session meant for total newbies to WordPress to see how they presented it - and I (Kathryn) realized that even this was too advanced for folks just getting started, assumed too much WordPress familiarity already - and an even more basic session could be valuable - so here we are.
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
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.
This portfolio site for a film & TV editor features dozens of video clips. “Premium theme” purchased & customized.
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
- Posts vs. Pages
- Pages are just what they sound like - whole pages on a site
- posts are individual entries within a blog, they can include things like:
- the title of the entry, the date, tags, categories, comments
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/
Free, easy to use
Can be paid or free
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.
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.
(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/
Without good content, no one will read it.
Also no one will read:
-long paragraphs, too many big words, overly formal tone.
Use concrete nouns, short sentences. break things up.
Grammar and spelling count. Use a consistent style. Try a style guide.
You need a good lead.
Your home page needs to be great.
I like Shannon's quote from WordCamp: "If all you have is text you better be a damn good writer."
-2-3 times per week recommended
-even if only a couple paragraphs
-be predictable
-many people will subscribe the the feed and learn your schedule
-have a couple posts in the ready all the time - not time-linked
-Add a category for random thoughts
Comments are excellent in Wordpress
Conversation
Keep communication between commenters respectful
Extend this to twitter, delicious, etc.
(example - HorsePigCow - http://www.horsepigcow.com/)
You don’t need to limit yourself to plugins
http://sixrevisions.com/wordpress/16-wordpress-sites-to-help-you-build-a-better-blog/
Food52 was created by Amanda Hesser, a food writer and NYT journalist. It’s a one-year project (hence the “52”) where the public contributes recipes on different themes every week - i.e. sweet potatoes, autumn salad... and the public votes on their favourite recipe.
Visitors can also leave comments and rate the recipes.
The winning recipes will be compiled in a cookbook. You can see how the book is progressing as the contests continue. Down the road they’ll also solicit opinions on a cover design and photos.