This document provides an overview of using WordPress as a content management system for building library websites. It discusses WordPress features like posts, pages, themes, plugins and customization options. It also covers hosting options for WordPress sites and basic WordPress administration tasks like adding content, media, and customizing the appearance.

1. Building Library Websites with WordPress Internet Librarian 2009 Polly-Alida Farrington Resources at: http://lib20.pbworks.com

2. Agenda What’s a Content Management System Wordpress as CMS – examples Hosting your site WordPress Building Blocks CMS features

3. Slides, notes, resources, etc. http://lib20.pbworks.com links to additional resources and these slids http://libraryblogs.net your test blogs are on this server. NOTE: your libraryblogs.net accounts won’t have all the options we’re going to cover today.

4. WordPress is a Content Management System Create site without writing code Web based interface Contributors can focus on CONTENT! Update “look & feel” easily Content stored in a database Flexible

5. WordPress is Open Source Free! You can access the source code. And modify it. And develop tools to enhance it! Be part of the community that supports it. Other familiar open source software: Firefox Open Office

6. WordPress as CMS Examples

7. But first…. a blog

11. Writing a WordPress Post

12. PAGES make it more than a blog

13. Pages for Static Content

14. Custom Layout for Static Page

21. How it works You create content Content stored in a database Pages don’t ‘exist’ until requested User clicks on a link PHP code retrieves content from database. CSS used to style page Page is displayed

22. Add Content – Web Based Interface

23. Stored in a database the_title the_content

24. Page created when requested

25. Same content on other pages

26. THEMES make it look good!

27. Same Content – Different Design

28. Types of Content Posts – news articles, timely, up to date, frequently changing. Pages – Static pages, timeless info, about, contact, policies, services, etc. Links – lists of links on a sidebar (aka: blogroll) Media – photos and images Comments – from your readers

29. Posts News & updates Timely Most recent first Comments!

30. Pages Static content eg: About Us Contact Info Services etc.

31. Links

32. Media

33. Comments

34. Hosting WordPress

35. Free Hosted Versions

36. Free Hosted Versions

37. Self Hosted – Your Own Server Cost? Storage capacity? Bandwidth? Tech Support? Install software yourself PHP version 4.3 or greater MySQL version 4.1.2 or greater Recommended: Linux & Apache

38. “If you have no idea what to do with this download….” 

39. Self Hosted – Commercial Services Often under $10/month Tech support One Click Install! For more hosts: http://wordpress.org/hosting/

40. Technical Requirements For version 2.9 (coming soon) PHP version 4.3 or greater MySQL version 4.1.2 or greater http://codex.wordpress.org/Hosting_WordPress

41. WordPress Building Blocks Hopefully a live demo!

42. Getting Started

43. Your WordPress Site

44. Logging In Your site address with /wp-admin on the end http://ca001.libraryblogs.net/wp-admin

45. Admin Dashboard

46. Users  Authors & Users For security reasons, don’t use ADMIN as your login name.

47. Users  Your Profile

48. Users  Your Profile

49. Users  Add New User

50. Settings  General

51. Settings  Permalinks

52. Editing a Post Permalink

53. Writing a Post News & events & updates Most recent appears at the top Older posts get bumped off the page Stored in Archives Special page for posts

54. Writing a Post

55. Writing a Post

56. Read More…

57. Read the rest of the entry…

58. Make a Post STICKY

59. Sticky post at top.

60. Publish Later

61. Tags vs Categories

62. Adding Images

63. Add Media Button

64. Add Media Button

66. Places image in post

67. Get rid of Caption?

68. ALT text

69. Adding Pages

70. Adding a New Page

71. Create Page Hierarchies

72. Hierarchy Shows on Sidebar

73. Links to Sub-Pages Format for creating a link to another page: <a href=&quot;index.php?page_id=42&quot;>Page title</a > Get page ID from Pages  Edit panel.

74. Discussion - Comments Settings  Discussion Set options for handling comments Comments Approve, edit & delete comments Manage spam

75. Discussion Settings

76. Managing Comments

77. Approve, delete, spam it!

78. Review & Delete Spam

79. Themes

80. Themes

84. Themes – Add new themes

85. Search for a new theme

86. Browse for a new theme

87. Preview

88. Install

89. Installation Confirmed

90. Ready to activate

91. Adding Themes via FTP Download the theme to your computer Unzip it ftp to your server Copy the new theme folder to : /wp-content/themes It will appear in list of themes Activate it

92. Directory Structure - Themes

93. Sidebar Widgets

94. Widgets on Sidebar

95. Appearance  Widgets

96. Text Widget to Customize

97. Text Widget & 3 rd Party Content

98. Plugins

99. Plugins add functionality & features

100. Plugins Page

101. WordPress.com Stats Requires API code from wordpress.com http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stats/

102. Google Analytics Sign up with GA Enter ID in WP Settings panel http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/

103. Akismet Requires API code from wordpress.com http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/akismet/

104. More great plugins later!

105. Adding New Plugins

106. Adding New - Search

107. Check the plugin first

108. Lots of earlier versions?

109. Lots of downloads?

110. Updating Plugins

111. View Details

112. Upgrade

113. Update Reactivated Successfully!

114. Add Plugins via FTP

115. WordPress Maintenance!

116. Plugins - Deactivate, then Delete

117. Backup! Backup your database: Via web host control panel Or wp-db-backup plugin (wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/) FTP to server and copy: wp-content/themes wp-content/plugins wp-content/uploads (images, files, etc

118. WP-DB-BACKUP plugin

119. Tools  Upgrade Automatic upgrade plugin is so handy. BACKUP first!!!

120. CMS Tips & Tricks

121. ‘ Pretty’ Permalinks

122. Settings  Permalinks

123. Custom Structure news/gaming-night-for-teens/

124. Making a static front page

125. Create a Main Page

126. Create a Page for Posts No Content for the Page, just a title

127. Settings  Reading Select Front Page & Posts Page

128. News tab shows Posts now

129. But … Home & Welcome both go to the same place. Need to delete HOME

130. Edit header.php file Delete the line of code that creates the default HOME link

131. Yay, extra tab is gone!

132. More Code! Theme & CSS Editor

133. A quick look at the Theme Editor Modify existing themes Change fonts, colors, graphics Create your own themes NOTE: Can’t do this with class test blogs Wordpress.com – $$ extra

134. Example: Editable Theme Files

135. Stylesheet – styles.css

136. Custom 404 page

137. Default 404 – page not found

138. Custom 404

139. Custom 404 page

140. Appearance > Editor > 404.php

141. PHP code & HTML <?php get_header(); ?> <div id=&quot;primary&quot;> <h1 class=&quot;page-title&quot;>Oops! </h1> <p>Visit the <a href=“ <?php bloginfo('url'); ?> &quot;>Home Page</a></p> <?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . &quot;/searchform.php&quot;); ?> </div> <?php get_sidebar(); ?> <?php get_footer(); ?>

142. Add Navigation to Footer

143. Custom Footer Navigation Bar added Customize the credits too!

144. With WP template tag

145. Or with straight HTML

146. Template Pages

147. Page uses “no sidebar” template

148. Add Page – Select Template

149. Editing a Template

150. Web Developer Firefox Add On

151. Artiseer ($) Theme Designer

152. Handy Plugins

153. My Page Order http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/my-page-order/

154. My Page Order http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/my-page-order/

155. AWS Easy Page Link Adds list of pages to the Insert Link dialog box VERY handy! (note: doesn’t work with WP MU) http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/aws-easy-page-link/

156. WP Contact Form Plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-contact-form/

157. Add <!--contact form--> to a page

158. MobilePress Detects mobile device Displays mobile version of page http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mobilepress/

159. MobilePress

160. Page Links To

161. Page Links To

162. Flexi Pages Many options for PAGES Widget List subpages only on the relevant pages Easily exclude pages http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/flexi-pages-widget/

163. aggr – rss feed tool Place this code on page <!--rss url=“ http://feed.address.here /&quot;--> http://perassi.org/p/aggr/

164. aggr – rss feed tool

165. OpenBook Book Data http://johnmiedema.ca/portfolio/openbook-wordpress-plugin/

166. More Plugins… There are more plugins on your test site! And still more listed at: http://delicious.com/grdnldy/wordpress+plugins http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

167. Some books WordPress For Dummies 2 nd edition by Lisa Sabin Wilson WordPress 2.7 Cookbook by Jean-Baptiste Jung WordPress 2.7 Complete by April Hodge Silver & Hasin Hayder

168. More Help! WordPress Codex - http://codex.wordpress.org/ WordPress Forums - http://wordpress.org/support/ WordPress FAQ’s - http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ New to WordPress? –tips http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_New_To_WordPress

169. Thank you! http://lib20.pbworks.com

170. Photo Credits Jamison Judd, Server Rack , April 21, 2008, Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamisonjudd/2433102356/ Joe Popp, 'THAT WAS EASY!' , January 24, 2006, Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/spackletoe/90811910/. Open Source Graphic: www.lumaxart.com