The document provides an overview of WordPress, including what it is, who uses it, its pros and cons, hosting requirements, common terms, and architecture. Key points include that WordPress is an open-source CMS written in PHP and MySQL that powers many websites, has a low barrier to entry and high level of customization through plugins and themes, and relies on a modular architecture with APIs and hooks.

1. Rapid CMS enabled site
development with
Wordpress
August 31, 2012
The Berndt Group

2. What is Wordpress

3. What is Wordpress
• Open source CMS

4. What is Wordpress
• Open source CMS
• Written in PHP

5. What is Wordpress
• Open source CMS
• Written in PHP
• MySQL database

6. What is Wordpress
• Open source CMS
• Written in PHP
• MySQL database
• Developed and
maintained by
Automatic

7. What is Wordpress
• Open source CMS
• Written in PHP
• MySQL database
• Developed and
maintained by
Automatic
• First version release in
2003

8. Who is powered by

9. Who is powered by
• All Things Digital

10. Who is powered by
• All Things Digital
• Nytimes.com blogs

11. Who is powered by
• All Things Digital
• Nytimes.com blogs
• Mashable

12. Who is powered by
• All Things Digital
• Nytimes.com blogs
• Mashable
• Smashing Magazine

13. Who is powered by
• All Things Digital
• Nytimes.com blogs
• Mashable
• Smashing Magazine
• Techcrunch

14. Who is powered by
• All Things Digital
• Nytimes.com blogs
• Mashable
• Smashing Magazine
• Techcrunch
• Citizen Cope

15. Who is powered by
• All Things Digital
• Nytimes.com blogs
• Mashable
• Smashing Magazine
• Techcrunch
• Citizen Cope
• Wheaton College

16. Wordpress pros

17. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry

18. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry
• Good levels of
abstraction

19. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry
• Good levels of
abstraction
• Good separation of
presentation and data

20. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry
• Good levels of
abstraction
• Good separation of
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in

21. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry
• Good levels of
abstraction
• Good separation of
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in
• Plugins

22. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry
• Good levels of
abstraction
• Good separation of
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in
• Plugins
• Ease of customization

23. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry
• Good levels of
abstraction
• Good separation of
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in
• Plugins
• Ease of customization
• custom post types

24. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry
• Good levels of
abstraction
• Good separation of
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in
• Plugins
• Ease of customization
• custom post types
• custom taxonomies

25. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry
• Good levels of
abstraction
• Good separation of
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in
• Plugins
• Ease of customization
• custom post types
• custom taxonomies
• featured images

26. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry • Ease of installation
• Good levels of
abstraction
• Good separation of
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in
• Plugins
• Ease of customization
• custom post types
• custom taxonomies
• featured images

27. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry • Ease of installation
• Good levels of • Hosting options
abstraction
• Good separation of
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in
• Plugins
• Ease of customization
• custom post types
• custom taxonomies
• featured images

28. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry • Ease of installation
• Good levels of • Hosting options
abstraction
• Multi site option
• Good separation of
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in
• Plugins
• Ease of customization
• custom post types
• custom taxonomies
• featured images

29. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry • Ease of installation
• Good levels of • Hosting options
abstraction
• Multi site option
• Good separation of • Child Themes
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in
• Plugins
• Ease of customization
• custom post types
• custom taxonomies
• featured images

30. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry • Ease of installation
• Good levels of • Hosting options
abstraction
• Multi site option
• Good separation of • Child Themes
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in • Multiple authors
• Plugins
• Ease of customization
• custom post types
• custom taxonomies
• featured images

31. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry • Ease of installation
• Good levels of • Hosting options
abstraction
• Multi site option
• Good separation of • Child Themes
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in • Multiple authors
• Plugins • Jquery and other
Javascript libraries
• Ease of customization included
• custom post types
• custom taxonomies
• featured images

32. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry • Ease of installation
• Good levels of • Hosting options
abstraction
• Multi site option
• Good separation of • Child Themes
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in • Multiple authors
• Plugins • Jquery and other
Javascript libraries
• Ease of customization included
• custom post types
• Strong & engaged
• custom taxonomies user community
• featured images

33. Wordpress pros
• Low barrier of entry • Ease of installation
• Good levels of • Hosting options
abstraction
• Multi site option
• Good separation of • Child Themes
presentation and data
• Strong SEO built in • Multiple authors
• Plugins • Jquery and other
Javascript libraries
• Ease of customization included
• custom post types
• Strong & engaged
• custom taxonomies user community
• featured images
• Free

34. Wordpress cons

35. Wordpress cons
•Plugins

36. Wordpress cons
•Plugins
•no built in e-commerce
functionality

37. Wordpress cons
•Plugins
•no built in e-commerce
functionality
•no built in personalization
capability

38. Wordpress hosting

39. Wordpress hosting
• Runs best on an Apache
web server

40. Wordpress hosting
• Runs best on an Apache
web server
• usually a Linux hosting
environment

41. Wordpress hosting
• Runs best on an Apache
web server
• usually a Linux hosting
environment
• must have:

42. Wordpress hosting
• Runs best on an Apache
web server
• usually a Linux hosting
environment
• must have:
• PHP 5.2.4 or greater

43. Wordpress hosting
• Runs best on an Apache
web server
• usually a Linux hosting
environment
• must have:
• PHP 5.2.4 or greater
• MySQL 5.0 or greater

44. Wordpress hosting
• Runs best on an Apache
web server
• usually a Linux hosting
environment
• must have:
• PHP 5.2.4 or greater
• MySQL 5.0 or greater
• The mod_rewrite
Apache module

45. Wordpress terms

46. Wordpress terms
•Themes

47. Wordpress terms
•Themes
•Templates

48. Wordpress terms
•Themes
•Templates
•Plugins

49. Wordpress terms
•Themes
•Templates
•Plugins
•Sidebar

50. Wordpress terms
•Themes
•Templates
•Plugins
•Sidebar
•Admin
Center

51. Wordpress terms
•Themes
•Templates
•Plugins
•Sidebar
•Admin
Center
•Posts

52. Wordpress terms
•Themes •Pages
•Templates
•Plugins
•Sidebar
•Admin
Center
•Posts

53. Wordpress terms
•Themes •Pages
•Templates •Custom Post
types
•Plugins
•Sidebar
•Admin
Center
•Posts

54. Wordpress terms
•Themes •Pages
•Templates •Custom Post
types
•Plugins
•Sidebar •Widgets
•Admin
Center
•Posts

55. Wordpress terms
•Themes •Pages
•Templates •Custom Post
types
•Plugins
•Sidebar •Widgets
•Admin •Tags
Center
•Posts

56. Wordpress terms
•Themes •Pages
•Templates •Custom Post
types
•Plugins
•Sidebar •Widgets
•Admin •Tags
Center •Custom Fields
•Posts

57. Wordpress terms
•Themes •Pages
•Templates •Custom Post
types
•Plugins
•Sidebar •Widgets
•Admin •Tags
Center •Custom Fields
•Posts •Permalinks

58. Wordpress layers

59. Wordpress layers
application
layer

60. Wordpress layers
application data layer
layer

61. Wordpress layers
application data layer theme/ template layer
layer

62. Wordpress architecture

63. Wordpress architecture
•Wordpress core files

64. Wordpress architecture
•Wordpress core files
•Wordpress database

65. Wordpress architecture
•Wordpress core files
•Wordpress database
•Themes

66. Wordpress architecture
•Wordpress core files
•Wordpress database
•Themes
•images

67. Wordpress architecture
•Wordpress core files
•Wordpress database
•Themes
•images
•js files

68. Wordpress architecture
•Wordpress core files
•Wordpress database
•Themes
•images
•js files
•Plugins

69. Wordpress architecture
•Wordpress core files
•Wordpress database
•Themes
•images
•js files
•Plugins
•Uploads

70. Wordpress architecture

71. Wordpress architecture
• Extensive APIs

72. Wordpress architecture
• Extensive APIs
• Core relies on extensive API interface
allowing quick and effective
customization.

73. Wordpress architecture
• Extensive APIs
• Core relies on extensive API interface
allowing quick and effective
customization.
• Can be overridden or modified by
user-generated hooks and filters.

74. Wordpress architecture
• Extensive APIs
• Core relies on extensive API interface
allowing quick and effective
customization.
• Can be overridden or modified by
user-generated hooks and filters.
• Feeds:

75. Wordpress architecture
• Extensive APIs
• Core relies on extensive API interface
allowing quick and effective
customization.
• Can be overridden or modified by
user-generated hooks and filters.
• Feeds:
• Supports RSS 1.0 (aka RDF), RSS 2.0
and ATOM specifications

76. Enterprise Ready

77. Enterprise Ready
•Has been adapted to
enterprise environments

78. Enterprise Ready
•Has been adapted to
enterprise environments
•Provides support for Active
Directory authentication

79. Enterprise Ready
•Has been adapted to
enterprise environments
•Provides support for Active
Directory authentication
•user management

80. Enterprise Ready
•Has been adapted to
enterprise environments
•Provides support for Active
Directory authentication
•user management
•work-flow integration

81. Enterprise Ready
•Has been adapted to
enterprise environments
•Provides support for Active
Directory authentication
•user management
•work-flow integration
•scheduled backups

82. Wordpress user roles

83. Wordpress user roles
• Super Admin - access to site network
administration features controlling the
entire network

84. Wordpress user roles
• Super Admin - access to site network
administration features controlling the
entire network
• Administrator - access to all the
administration features

85. Wordpress user roles
• Super Admin - access to site network
administration features controlling the
entire network
• Administrator - access to all the
administration features
• Editor - can publish and manage posts
and pages as well as manage other
users' posts, etc.

86. Wordpress user roles
• Super Admin - access to site network
administration features controlling the
entire network
• Administrator - access to all the
administration features
• Editor - can publish and manage posts
and pages as well as manage other
users' posts, etc.
• Author - can publish and manage their
own posts

87. Wordpress user roles
• Super Admin - access to site network
administration features controlling the
entire network
• Administrator - access to all the
administration features
• Editor - can publish and 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

88. Wordpress site planning

89. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory

90. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory
• Pages

91. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory
• Pages
• Posts

92. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory
• Pages
• Posts
• Custom post types

93. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory
• Pages
• Posts
• Custom post types
• Widgets

94. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory
• Pages
• Posts
• Custom post types
• Widgets
• Menus

95. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory
• Pages
• Posts
• Custom post types
• Widgets
• Menus
• Taxonomies

96. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory
• Pages
• Posts
• Custom post types
• Widgets
• Menus
• Taxonomies
• Categories

97. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory
• Pages
• Posts
• Custom post types
• Widgets
• Menus
• Taxonomies
• Categories
• Tags

98. Wordpress site planning
•Content type
inventory
• Pages
• Posts
• Custom post types
• Widgets
• Menus
• Taxonomies
• Categories
• Tags
• Links

99. Wordpress site planning
•Content type •Inventory
inventory fields
• Pages
• Posts
• Custom post types
• Widgets
• Menus
• Taxonomies
• Categories
• Tags
• Links

100. Wordpress site planning
•Content type •Inventory
inventory fields
• Pages • Title
• Posts
• Custom post types
• Widgets
• Menus
• Taxonomies
• Categories
• Tags
• Links

101. Wordpress site planning
•Content type •Inventory
inventory fields
• Pages • Title
• Posts • Content
• Custom post types
• Widgets
• Menus
• Taxonomies
• Categories
• Tags
• Links

102. Wordpress site planning
•Content type •Inventory
inventory fields
• Pages • Title
• Posts • Content
• Custom post types • Excerpt
• Widgets
• Menus
• Taxonomies
• Categories
• Tags
• Links

103. Wordpress site planning
•Content type •Inventory
inventory fields
• Pages • Title
• Posts • Content
• Custom post types • Excerpt
• Widgets • Featured image
• Menus
• Taxonomies
• Categories
• Tags
• Links

104. Custom post types

105. Custom post types
•A custom post type is a
representation of a type of
content

106. Custom post types
•A custom post type is a
representation of a type of
content
•Helps organize differing types
of content

107. Custom post types
•A custom post type is a
representation of a type of
content
•Helps organize differing types
of content
•Create page templates to
render unique content type

108. Custom post types
•A custom post type is a
representation of a type of
content
•Helps organize differing types
of content
•Create page templates to
render unique content type
•Don’t use just a a means of

109. Wordpress Themes

110. Wordpress Themes
• A Theme is the collection of files that work
together to produce the look and feel of a
Wordpress site.

111. Wordpress Themes
• A Theme is the collection of files that work
together to produce the look and feel of a
Wordpress site.
• Separates the presentation styles and
template files from the system files so the
site will upgrade without drastic changes
to the visual presentation of the site.

112. Wordpress Themes
• A Theme is the collection of files that work
together to produce the look and feel of a
Wordpress site.
• Separates the presentation styles and
template files from the system files so the
site will upgrade without drastic changes
to the visual presentation of the site.
• Allows for customization of the site
functionality unique to that Theme.

113. Wordpress Themes
• A Theme is the collection of files that work
together to produce the look and feel of a
Wordpress site.
• Separates the presentation styles and
template files from the system files so the
site will upgrade without drastic changes
to the visual presentation of the site.
• Allows for customization of the site
functionality unique to that Theme.
• Allows for quick changes of the visual
design and layout of a Wordpress site.

114. Wordpress Theme files

115. Wordpress Theme files
• Live in subdirectories residing in site-
root/wp-content/themes/

116. Wordpress Theme files
• Live in subdirectories residing in site-
root/wp-content/themes/
• Theme's subdirectory holds all of the
Theme's stylesheet files, template files,
and optional functions file (functions.php),
JavaScript files, and images.

117. Wordpress Theme files
• Live in subdirectories residing in site-
root/wp-content/themes/
• Theme's subdirectory holds all of the
Theme's stylesheet files, template files,
and optional functions file (functions.php),
JavaScript files, and images.
• At the very minimum, a Wordpress Theme
consists of two files:

118. Wordpress Theme files
• Live in subdirectories residing in site-
root/wp-content/themes/
• Theme's subdirectory holds all of the
Theme's stylesheet files, template files,
and optional functions file (functions.php),
JavaScript files, and images.
• At the very minimum, a Wordpress Theme
consists of two files:
• style.css

119. Wordpress Theme files
• Live in subdirectories residing in site-
root/wp-content/themes/
• Theme's subdirectory holds all of the
Theme's stylesheet files, template files,
and optional functions file (functions.php),
JavaScript files, and images.
• At the very minimum, a Wordpress Theme
consists of two files:
• style.css
• index.php

120. Theme Structure

121. Theme Structure

122. Anatomy of a theme

123. Anatomy of a theme

124. Approaches to Themes

125. Approaches to Themes
•Modify an existing theme

126. Approaches to Themes
•Modify an existing theme
•Create a child theme of an
existing theme

127. Approaches to Themes
•Modify an existing theme
•Create a child theme of an
existing theme
•Use a starter theme

128. Approaches to Themes
•Modify an existing theme
•Create a child theme of an
existing theme
•Use a starter theme
•Use a theme framework

129. Approaches to Themes
•Modify an existing theme
•Create a child theme of an
existing theme
•Use a starter theme
•Use a theme framework
•create a child theme to the
framework

130. Theme framework layers

131. Theme framework layers
application
layer

132. Theme framework layers
application data layer
layer

133. Theme framework layers
application data layer
layer theme framework layer

134. Theme framework layers
application data layer
layer theme framework layer
child theme
layer

135. Anatomy of a theme

136. Anatomy of a theme

137. Wordpress loop

138. Wordpress loop

139. Some things to do with the loop

140. Some things to do with the loop
•The loop is mark up agnostic

141. Some things to do with the loop
•The loop is mark up agnostic
•Multiples loops

142. Some things to do with the loop
•The loop is mark up agnostic
•Multiples loops
•Query posts by

143. Some things to do with the loop
•The loop is mark up agnostic
•Multiples loops
•Query posts by
•category

144. Some things to do with the loop
•The loop is mark up agnostic
•Multiples loops
•Query posts by
•category
•tags

145. Some things to do with the loop
•The loop is mark up agnostic
•Multiples loops
•Query posts by
•category
•tags
•custom post type

146. Some things to do with the loop
•The loop is mark up agnostic
•Multiples loops
•Query posts by
•category
•tags
•custom post type
•author

147. Some things to do with the loop
•The loop is mark up agnostic
•Multiples loops
•Query posts by
•category
•tags
•custom post type
•author
•date

148. The Wordpress loop
3.4.2 The Loop in Plain English
Are there any posts published? Sorry, just had to ask, the
rest of this code will go funky if there aren’t any.
Begin the loop. This will cycle through the number of Posts
you have set to display (under Settings > Reading).
rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_
A header tag with an anchor link inside it. The text will be
the title of the Post, and the link will be the permalink to
the single Post page.
A custom field that is attached to this Post is pulled out
and displayed. In this case, the key of “PostThumb”, which <p class="meta">
returns an “ ” tag symbolizing this Post.
“Meta” information about the Post is displayed: the Month
Day, Year the Post was published and the display name of </p>
the Author who wrote it.
The full content of the Post is displayed.
More meta information about the post is displayed: all the
tags and categories given to this Post and the number of
comments, which is a link to the commenting area.
</div>
End of the loop
If there are older or newer posts available, display links to
them.
No posts? (a failsafe) <?php else : ?>
Better tell the people.
All done.
68

149. Wordpress and jquery

150. Wordpress and jquery
The proper way to incluce jquery in a Theme

151. Wordpress and jquery
The proper way to incluce jquery in a Theme
<?php wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); ?>

152. Wordpress and jquery
The proper way to incluce jquery in a Theme
<?php wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); ?>
It’s easy. It creates a link to a file you know is
there and you know works.

153. Wordpress and jquery
The proper way to incluce jquery in a Theme
<?php wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); ?>
It’s easy. It creates a link to a file you know is
there and you know works.
It lets WordPress know that the requested file is
successfully loaded.

154. Wordpress and jquery
The proper way to incluce jquery in a Theme
<?php wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); ?>
It’s easy. It creates a link to a file you know is
there and you know works.
It lets WordPress know that the requested file is
successfully loaded.
<script type="text/javascript"

155. Wordpress and jquery
The proper way to incluce jquery in a Theme
<?php wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); ?>
It’s easy. It creates a link to a file you know is
there and you know works.
It lets WordPress know that the requested file is
successfully loaded.
<script type="text/javascript"
src="<?php bloginfo('template_url'); ?>/js/
myscript.js"></script>

156. Plugins

157. Plugins
•Advanced Custom Fields

158. Plugins
•Advanced Custom Fields
•All in One SEO

159. Plugins
•Advanced Custom Fields
•All in One SEO
•Maintenance Mode

160. Plugins
•Advanced Custom Fields
•All in One SEO
•Maintenance Mode
•Contact Form 7

161. Plugins
•Advanced Custom Fields
•All in One SEO
•Maintenance Mode
•Contact Form 7
•Gravity Forms

162. Plugins
•Advanced Custom Fields
•All in One SEO
•Maintenance Mode
•Contact Form 7
•Gravity Forms
•W3 Total Cache

163. Plugins
•Advanced Custom Fields
•All in One SEO
•Maintenance Mode
•Contact Form 7
•Gravity Forms
•W3 Total Cache
•Google XML Site maps

164. Plugins
•Advanced Custom Fields
•All in One SEO
•Maintenance Mode
•Contact Form 7
•Gravity Forms
•W3 Total Cache
•Google XML Site maps
•Akismet comment spam

165. Security

166. Security
• Keep core up to date

167. Security
• Keep core up to date
• Limit use of plugins

168. Security
• Keep core up to date
• Limit use of plugins
• Keep plugins up to date

169. Security
• Keep core up to date
• Limit use of plugins
• Keep plugins up to date
• Don’t use admin as the default admin user
name

170. Security
• Keep core up to date
• Limit use of plugins
• Keep plugins up to date
• Don’t use admin as the default admin user
name
• Use secure passwords

171. Security
• Keep core up to date
• Limit use of plugins
• Keep plugins up to date
• Don’t use admin as the default admin user
name
• Use secure passwords
• for user accounts and DB user

172. Security
• Keep core up to date
• Limit use of plugins
• Keep plugins up to date
• Don’t use admin as the default admin user
name
• Use secure passwords
• for user accounts and DB user
• Edit .htaccess file to limit access

173. Security
• Keep core up to date
• Limit use of plugins
• Keep plugins up to date
• Don’t use admin as the default admin user
name
• Use secure passwords
• for user accounts and DB user
• Edit .htaccess file to limit access
• Change default table prefix from wp_

174. Security
• Keep core up to date
• Limit use of plugins
• Keep plugins up to date
• Don’t use admin as the default admin user
name
• Use secure passwords
• for user accounts and DB user
• Edit .htaccess file to limit access
• Change default table prefix from wp_
• Do DB backups

175. Security
• Keep core up to date
• Limit use of plugins
• Keep plugins up to date
• Don’t use admin as the default admin user
name
• Use secure passwords
• for user accounts and DB user
• Edit .htaccess file to limit access
• Change default table prefix from wp_
• Do DB backups
• Limit login attempts

176. Resources
• General Wordpress • Themes:
resources: • http://themeshaper.com/
• http://wordpress.org/
•
•
http://digwp.com/
http://www.wpbeginner.com/
• Framework Themes:
• Genesis
• http://wpmu.org/
• Woo Themes
• http://wpcandy.com/
• Thematic
• http://lorelle.wordpress.com/
• Starter Themes:
•
•
Security:
http://akismet.com/
•
•
http://underscores.me/
Starkers: http://bit.ly/QIyGDK
• http://vaultpress.com/ • Super Hijinks: http://bit.ly/
QIyC6T

177. Thank you!
peter.kaizer@crs.org
http://www.facebook.com/pkaizer
https://twitter.com/pdkaizer
http://dribbble.com/pdkaizer