Downloaded 12 times
More Related Content
Similar to WCBos13 intermediate workshop
WCBos13 intermediate workshop
- 1. WordPress: Tips & Tricks JonBishop Kurt Eng Oct 25th, 2013
- 2. Agenda • Plugins • Howto select and test • Review of some basic and advanced plugins • Themes • How to choose and properly edit themes • How to find quality themes • SEO – on-site preparation and how to • Security – how to protect your site from Spam, robot attacks • Backup and Recovery – updates, how to implement your own process
- 3.
- 4. Themes Where to findthemes • Reputable resources • Free vs. premium How to test themes • Theme Preview • Theme Customizer Editing Themes • WordPress File Editor • Child Themes
- 5. Child Themes • Inheritthe functionality of a parent theme • Typically override: • Styling (colors, fonts, margin/padding) • Addition or removal of functionality • Templates • A good way to modify third party themes without hacking the original code • Provide several “flavors” of a parent theme • Video of Jonathan May‟s presentation: http://youtu.be/t8npHrg-teI
- 6. Example • A typical theme: wp-content/ -themes/ - twentyeleven/ - style.css (etc…) - index.php - twentyeleven-child/ - style.css - functions.php - custom-template.php - images/
- 7. Child Theme Files • style.css ‣Replaces parent theme‟s style.css stylesheet ‣ You must manually import the parent theme‟s stylesheet • functions.php ‣ Loaded automatically, in addition to the parent theme‟s functions.php, and loaded right before it!
- 8. How To (style.css) /* ThemeName: Twenty Eleven Child Theme URI: http: //example.com/ Description: Child theme for the Twenty Eleven theme Author: Your name here Author URI: http: //example.com/about/Template: twentyeleven Version: 0.1.0*/ @import url("../twentyeleven/style.css"); h1 {font-size:24px;} #header {margin-bottom:10px;}
- 9. How To (functions.php) <?php functionmy_name() { echo „James!‟; } add_action('wp_head', ‟my_name');
- 10. How To (templates) • Anytemplate file with the same name ‣ Overrides parent theme‟s template file • New template files ‣ Made available to website when using child theme • More specific template files ‣ category.php in place of more generic archives.php
- 11. Plugins Be skeptical ofany plugin that does not live on WordPress.org Plugin Support • Plugins on WordPress.org rely more on community support and the good graces of the plugin author • Most premium plugins offer support as a core part of their business model How To Find Good Plugins • Check plugin ratings and reviews
- 12. Security • Upgrade WordPresscore, plugins, and themes! • Password strength across all entry points (Hosting control panel, FTP, WordPress admin) • Don‟t use default username “admin” • Download code directly wordpress.org • Public WiFi caution: your traffic is probably not secure • Disable unused/unneeded features (e.g., remote publishing) • File permissions (FTP)
- 13. Akismet Built-in spam removercreated by Automattic ● Requires registration of plugin ● Works extremely well with WordPress ○ ● There may be some hiccups with forums or other plugins Works only as good as you use it ○ Emptying spam folder sends data to Automattic
- 14. Wordfence Free or premiumplugin for security • Repairs files • Scans site for bad links/URLs • Scans for malware • Built-in firewall • Manage IPs and crawlers
- 15. Updates/Upgrades • Upgrade often,but maybe not too often • Don‟t wait for minor updates that fix critical bugs or security issues • Wait a bit longer on major releases (3.0, 3.2, 3.3) • Follow the WordPress Development Blog: http://wordpress.org/news • WordPress, themes & plugins are open-source & community developed: embrace but be cautious • Keep plugins & themes updated, too • Be careful & mindful of what files you‟ve changed (ideally, don‟t change any “core” files in themes, plugins or WordPress itself) • Before upgrading, backup your site & check plugin compatibility
- 16. ManageWP • Access allof your WordPress sites from one dashboard • With one click, all of your plugins and themes will be updated • Uptime Monitoring • SEO Analysis • Automated Backup Scheduling • Mass Migrations • Bulk Posting https://managewp.com
- 17. Backups • Automated backupsprovided by your hosting provider (but don‟t back up to the same server your site is hosted!) • Remember: A WordPress site lives in two separate worlds simultaneously • Files in a folder you can see via FTP (especially /wp-content) • Data in tables in a database server (you can see and manipulate using 3rd party tools, often provided by your hosting provider) • Secure your backups! More Tips: http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress
- 18. Architecture of WordPress • • • • •Posts & Pages • Comments • Links • Options/Settings • Taxonomy • Users WordPress core Themes Plugins File Uploads WordPress Important for Backups!
- 19.
- 20. VaultPress • Monitor BackupActivity in Realtime • Restore Backups Automatically • Download a Backup • Scan Your Site Daily • Review & Fix
- 21. SEO “WordPress takes careof 80-90% of (the mechanics of) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)” - Matt Cutts • Beyond the benefits provided by a stock WordPress install… • Theme used & author‟s ability to write semantic HTML • Additional meta data you supply using an SEO plugin • How you write and organize your content (HTML, taxonomy, etc.) • Permalinks w/ a good link structure (the default works wonders) • Google Webmaster Tools (monitor your site‟s ranking performance)
- 22. WordPress SEO • Manage PageTitles • Internal Links • Sitemaps • Canonical Links • Robots.txt
- 23. Caching • What isit? • Practice of storing data in a way so that future accesses are much faster. • Types • Server-side: Expensive, repeated operations like large database queries are performed once, saved in a cache, and served from cache (until data changes or cache expires) • Client-side (browser): Images, CSS, JavaScript assets are saved locally on the visitor‟s computer until a specific expiration date or until assets change
- 24. W3 Total Cache •Server & client side caching tools for WordPress • Recommended by notable hosts MediaTemple, HostGator, etc. • Used by smashingmagazine.com, mashable.com, etc. • Promises at least 10x performance increase • Reduce web server load • Up to 80% bandwidth reduction ($$$!) • Comes from Boston!
- 25. HostGator • Cheaper hostingwith unlimited storage, bandwidth and domains • Great if you plan on starting more than 1 WordPress site • Plenty of support for the server and you don‟t need to have WordPress on it (self-install) • Lots of software, room to experiment! Use code WordCampBoston for 25% discount
- 26. WP-Engine • WordPress onlyhosting • Cheap, integrated, automatic backups and updates • Set it and forget it! • Secure, fast and reliable Use code WPMeetupBoston2013 at http://j.mp/boswpshop for 1 month free
- 27. Thank You Jon Bishop Twitter:@jondbishop http://johbishop.com Kurt Eng Twitter: @kurteng http://kurteng.com