This document provides an overview of WordPress, including what it is, who uses it, and how to get started with WordPress. It discusses the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, how to set up and configure a WordPress site, add content and customize the site using themes and plugins. It also covers updating WordPress and finding resources for help.

1. Anthony Hortin
@maddisondesigns maddisondesigns.com
Getting to Know WordPress

2. About me
Designer/Developer @ Maddison Designs
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WordPress Theme & Plugin Developer
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WordPress Theme & Plugin Directory contributor
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Provides support on official WordPress Support Forum
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Created Easy WP Guide (over 100K downloads)
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Co-Organiser Melbourne WordPress WordCamp 2013
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Co-Organiser for monthly WP Melbourne WordPress Meetups

3. WordPress is web software you can use
to create a beautiful website or blog. We
like to say that WordPress is both free
and priceless at the same time.
“
What is WordPress?

4. WordPress is an Open Source software system used
by millions of people around the world to create
beautiful websites and blogs.
!
It is completely customisable by the use of
themes and plugins.
!
WordPress powers approx 60.3% of all cms sites
That’s 21.9%* of the entire web!
source: http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all

6. Who’s using WordPress?
Bata Shoes

7. Who’s using WordPress?
TechCrunch

8. Who’s using WordPress?
Sony Music

9. Who’s using WordPress?
Brian Smith

10. Who’s using WordPress?
Sweden

11. WordPress.org Vs WordPress.com
One Software
Two Flavours

12. WordPress.org Vs WordPress.com
Self Hosting
!
Need own domain/hosting
!
Access to plugins
!
Install any theme
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You are responsible for
security and maintenance
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Greater flexibility &
customisation
Hosted
!
Fully managed website hosting
!
Easy to get up and running
very quickly.
!
Security and maintenance
managed for you
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Automatically updated
!
Secure dashboard
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Free with paid feature upgrades

13. WordPress.org Vs WordPress.com
Full Control
!
You have 100% control on:
Limited Control
Design
!
Themes
!
Plugins
Content
!
Monetisation
!
Performance
No custom plugins
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No custom themes
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No FTP access

14. The WordPress Dashboard

15. Dashboard
Your main Dashboard ‘homepage’
Provides brief stats on Posts, Pages & comments
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Posts
Where you create new Blog Posts.
Also update Categories and Post Tags
!
Media
Where your uploaded images, documents or files are stored
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Pages
Where you create new Pages
The WordPress Dashboard

16. Comments
Where you manage blog Comments
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Appearance
Controls how your site looks.
You can choose Themes and manage Widgets & Menus
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Plugins
Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress
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Users
Where you add new users as well as manage their Roles
The WordPress Dashboard

17. Tools
Gives you access to various convenient tools
Import & Export data to/from your WordPress site
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Settings
This is where your site is configured
The WordPress Dashboard

18. First Things First
Setting up your site

19. General Settings
Configure your basic site preferences such as the Site Title and
Tag Line, the Administrator’s email address and the Date and
Time format
First Things First

20. Writing Settings
Configure default publishing settings such as defining the Default
Post Category
First Things First

21. Reading Settings
Configure how your site is viewed. You can define whether your
front page displays a static Page or your blog Posts, and how
many blog posts are displayed by default.
First Things First

22. Discussion Settings
Define how your readers interact with your site. Configure
whether readers can post Comments or not and how those
Comments are moderated and displayed
First Things First

23. Media Settings
Configure the default image sizes that are created when an
image is uploaded
First Things First

24. Permalink Settings
Configure the URL format that is displayed in the web browser
when someone browses your site. This also helps with SEO
First Things First

25. Managing Users
Configure who has access to your site
!
DON’T use “Admin” for the Username
DON’T use the Username as the “Display name”
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DO use strong passwords!
First Things First

26. source: http://xkcd.com/936
It can’t be stressed enough, use strong passwords!

27. Administrator
Somebody who has access to all the administration features
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Editor
Can publish & manage posts and pages as well as manage
other users’ posts, etc.
!
Author
Can publish and manage their own posts
!
Contributor
Can write and manage their posts but not publish them
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Subscriber
Somebody who can only manage their profile
First Things First

28. Adding Content
Pages Vs Posts

29. Posts
Posts are typically blog entries. A series of articles, listed
(usually) reverse-chronologically.
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Posts can also be assigned Categories and Tags.
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Pages
Pages are used for more static content. Content that doesn’t
change or changes infrequently.
!
Pages are also hierarchical and can have individual page
templates.
Adding Content

30. Adding content to Posts & Pages is easy with the visual editor
Adding Content

31. Use the Visual Editor toolbar buttons to Bold or Italicise text
content. You can also add bullet points, links, headings etc..
Adding Content

32. Any media you upload will be added to the Media Library
Adding Content

33. Customising Your Site

34. There’s various ways to customise your website. Some are
Theme dependent, some are built into WordPress core
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Themes (incl. Theme Options)
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Custom Header
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Custom Background
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Widgets
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Plugins
!
Customising Your Site

35. Change the look of your site by adding new themes
Customising Your Site

36. Official WordPress Theme Directory
All themes are free and code reviewed for quality
http://wordpress.org/themes
Customising Your Site

37. Theme Shops
There are an extensive range of Theme Shops that sell ‘Premium
Themes’
!
Some of the more dependable Theme Shops are:
!
http://www.woothemes.com
http://www.elegantthemes.com
http://array.is
https://thethemefoundry.com
http://tokokoo.com
http://www.themezilla.com
http://press75.com
Customising Your Site

38. Theme Options
WordPress has some built in options that allow you to customise
your theme. It even gives you a live preview
Customising Your Site

39. Theme Options
Lots of themes also have their own Theme Options pages for
theme specific settings & customisation
Customising Your Site

40. Custom Header
Add a custom header to your website
Customising Your Site

41. Custom Background
Change the background image or colour for your site
Customising Your Site

42. Widgets
Widgets are independent sections of content that can be placed
into any widgetized area provided by your theme.
!
Customising Your Site

43. Widgets
Widgets are commonly found in the sidebar or footer area
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Customising Your Site

44. Extending Your Site
WordPress Plugins

45. Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress
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There are both Free and Premium (Paid) plugins
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The easiest (& best) place to find free plugins is the official
WordPress Plugin Directory - http://wordpress.org/plugins
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Best to use plugins that are updated regularly & recently
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Currently over 30,000 free plugins available
Extending Your Site

46. Install & Activate Plugins
Once installed, plugins need to be activated
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Some plugins will have settings pages for configuring them
Extending Your Site

47. Official WordPress Plugin Directory
All plugins are free and code reviewed for quality
http://wordpress.org/plugins
Extending Your Site

48. Recommended Plugins (Free)
The following are useful, reliable free plugins
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WooCommerce - A powerful, extendable eCommerce plugin
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Easy Digital Downloads - Sell digital downloads through WordPress
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JetPack - Supercharge your WordPress site with powerful features
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WordPress SEO by Yoast - Improve your WordPress SEO
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Meteor Slides - Create easy to customise, responsive slideshows
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WordPress Backup to Dropbox - Backup your media & database to Dropbox
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Akismet - Checks your comments for spam
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WordFence Security - An enterprise class security and performance plugin
Extending Your Site

49. Recommended Plugins (Premium/Paid)
The following are useful, reliable paid plugins
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Gravity Forms - Build complex, powerful contact forms, easily
http://www.gravityforms.com
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BackupBuddy - Backup, Migrate or Restore your site quickly & easily
http://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy
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VaultPress - Daily & realtime, offsite backups
http://vaultpress.com
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Envira Gallery - Easily create beautiful, responsive image galleries
http://enviragallery.com
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Events Calendar Pro - Create & manage events with ease
http://tri.be/shop/wordpress-events-calendar-pro/
Extending Your Site

50. Recommended Plugins (Free & Paid)
Some plugin developers provide the core plugin for free & then
have (optional) paid extensions that provide extra functionality
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WooCommerce - Free core plugin for selling products online. Paid extensions
for Payment Gateways, Product Add-ons etc.
http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce
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Easy Digital Downloads - Free core plugin for selling digital products. Paid
extensions for Payment Gateways, Checkout Fields Add-ons etc.
https://easydigitaldownloads.com
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Advanced Custom Fields - Free core plugin for providing powerful custom
fields for developers. Paid add-ons for extra functionality
http://www.advancedcustomfields.com
Extending Your Site

51. Updating Your Site
Keeping WordPress Safe & Secure

52. From time to time, Themes, Plugins & WordPress will require
updating
!
Updates typically happen when developers release security
patches or add extra functionality
!
It’s good practice to keep your Themes, Plugins & WordPress
version updated to the latest versions
!
The top two reasons for sites being hacked are insecure
passwords & outdated (vulnerable) software
!
WordPress will (attempt to) automatically update for minor versions
(e.g. v3.8.2, v3.9.1)
Updating Your Site

53. Updating Your Site

54. Resources

55. Like any website, WordPress requires a web server to operate.
!
Specifically, WordPress requires:-
PHP (version 5.2.4 or greater) - Server Side Scripting Language
MySQL (version 5.0 or greater) - Database software
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Running on (preferably) Apache or Nginx
!
If you want to play around with WordPress locally (i.e. on your own
computer), you can setup a test environment using MAMP (Mac) or
XAMPP (Windows)
Installing WordPress Locally

56. MAMP (Mac)
Setting up MAMP
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-install-wordpress-locally-on-mac-using-mamp/
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XAMPP (Windows)
Setting up XAMPP
http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/install-wordpress-locally-on-windows-with-xampp/
Installing WordPress Locally

57. WordPress Codex
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Easy WP Guide
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WP Beginner
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SiteGround
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Learn WordPress.com
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WP101 Video Training
Where to Go for Help
http://codex.wordpress.org
http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons
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http://easywpguide.com
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http://www.wpbeginner.com
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http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress
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http://learn.wordpress.com
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http://code.tutsplus.com/series/wp101-basix-training

58. I’m Anthony Hortin
You can find me here
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@maddisondesigns
maddisondesigns.com
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@easywpguide
easywpguide.com
Thanks!
Questions?