Using WordPress to power your non-profit website Presentation by Jason King at Making Links 2008

You shouldn’t have to rely on a web designer to make content changes

Nor do you need to learn web design

Take control of your own website

WordPress started out as a very good blogging tool… Posts Ordered by date Archived by month and year Organised by category Performs well in search engines e.g. Google RSS feed

Posts

Ordered by date

Archived by month and year

Organised by category

Performs well in search engines e.g. Google

RSS feed

… and evolved into a capable content management system Pages can be structured in a hierarchy Plugins add new functionality Customisable themes and templates Built using popular technologies Categorisation of content Upload documents as well as images

Pages can be structured in a hierarchy

Plugins add new functionality

Customisable themes and templates

Built using popular technologies

Categorisation of content

Upload documents as well as images

Why is WordPress a good CMS choice for a non-profit?

It’s free

It’s open source

It’s built on popular, tried and tested technologies

It’s evolving. New versions are published regularly, bringing improvements to functionality and ease of use

Simplicity. Anyone can use it

Documentation is better than many other open source CMS

It’s very popular

The WordPress forums have an active community of users

WordPress is very flexible. Take a look at these non-profit organisations’ websites to see how different they are in content, layout and design…

Children’s Rights

Too Young to Work

Greek Care

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

What can you do in WordPress? Publish your news immediately Or schedule your announcements Create and rearrange pages Maintain a links page Categorise your pages, posts and links Publish a photo gallery

Publish your news immediately

Or schedule your announcements

Create and rearrange pages

Maintain a links page

Categorise your pages, posts and links

Publish a photo gallery

Just for practice, you could get a free account with www.wordpress. com

Host WordPress on your webspace Download from www.wordpress. org and upload files by FTP. Your hosting provider must offer PHP and MySQL technologies. Some web hosting comes with one-click installation of WordPress (but check you’re getting the latest version)

Download from www.wordpress. org and upload files by FTP.

Your hosting provider must offer PHP and MySQL technologies.

Some web hosting comes with one-click installation of WordPress (but check you’re getting the latest version)

The famous “five minute installation”

Despite the WordPress boast, installation takes more like an hour (halve that if you’ve done it before). But that’s still pretty quick!

If you’re not confident, pay someone or get a volunteer to install WordPress for you

You’ll need to install upgrades WordPress is regularly improved, made more secure and new features added. So upgrade several times a year. Plugins also have to be upgraded but that’s a quicker, one-click task.

WordPress is regularly improved, made more secure and new features added.

So upgrade several times a year.

Plugins also have to be upgraded but that’s a quicker, one-click task.

Get a new look with a new theme

Download a free or paid-for theme Do you want a theme for a blog? Or a CMS type theme? Or a magazine style theme? Download free themes from http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ You can also buy themes

Do you want a theme for a blog?

Or a CMS type theme?

Or a magazine style theme?

Download free themes from http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

You can also buy themes

Design your own theme If you can write semantic, standards-compliant XHTML and CSS… then you can learn to create a WordPress theme There are lessons in the Codex There are many tutorials on the web Get help from the WordPress forums

If you can write semantic, standards-compliant XHTML and CSS… then you can learn to create a WordPress theme

There are lessons in the Codex

There are many tutorials on the web

Get help from the WordPress forums

The motto of WordPress is that: Code is Poetry

<p> The motto of <cite> WordPress </cite> is that: </p> <blockquote> Code is Poetry </blockquote>

Hire a WordPress designer Make sure your web designer has had WordPress experience They should be able to create a theme from scratch, not just take the default Kubrick theme and change the header graphic

Make sure your web designer has had WordPress experience

They should be able to create a theme from scratch, not just take the default Kubrick theme and change the header graphic

You get what you pay for

Want more functionality?

A few plugins that make WordPress a better CMS Search Everything - pages can be searched SEM Search Reoaded - better search results Breadcrumbs Nav XT - breadcrumb navigation Dagon Design SiteMap - adds a sitemap cForms - insert forms

Search Everything - pages can be searched

SEM Search Reoaded - better search results

Breadcrumbs Nav XT - breadcrumb navigation

Dagon Design SiteMap - adds a sitemap

cForms - insert forms

Resources www.wordpress.org www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/15/ wordpress-developers-toolbox www.wordcamp.com.au

www.wordpress.org

www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/15/ wordpress-developers-toolbox

www.wordcamp.com.au

WordCamp Australia

WordPress for Dummies

Alternatives to WordPress Blogger (if all you want is a blog) Joomla (popular CMS, well supported) Drupal (very complex, very flexible CMS) Adobe Contribute (software for directly editing HTML on an existing static website) Many, many others!

Blogger (if all you want is a blog)

Joomla (popular CMS, well supported)

Drupal (very complex, very flexible CMS)

Adobe Contribute (software for directly editing HTML on an existing static website)

Many, many others!

www.kingjason.co.uk www.slideshare.net/jasoncharlesstuartking