Post on 08-May-2015
description
transcript
WordPress Basics
Getting Started with WordPress as your Website Publishing Tool
Jeff Bennett
www.DigitalSplashMedia.com
Introductions
• Your name & company/business
• Have you ever used Wordpress?
• What do you hope to get from this workshop?
WordPress Basics
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Engineer
System Analyst/Programmer
Software Engineer
Multimedia & Web Developer
WordPress BasicsObjectives:
Learn how to set up a basic business website using Wordpress
A lot of content to coverNeed to stay on topic
May have to defer questions to later
WordPress Basics
Topics
Acvivation & Sign-up The DashboardThemesSettingsCreating PostsCreating PagesPages vs PostsEditing Posts & PagesCategories & TagsManaging CommentsSite Structure/OrganizationStatic Home PageLinksMedia LibraryWidgetsPolls & RatingsWordpress.orgInstalling Wordpress.orgPluginsUsersContact PagesCustom FieldsPage TemplateseCommerceBackupsSecurityUpdatingImporting
Intro
Conceptual Overview
Demonstration & Guided Tour
Live Demo + Hands-on Interaction
Agenda
www.DigitalSplashMedia.com
Content will be posted online:
Intro
Conceptual Overview
Demonstration & Guided Tour
Live Demo + Hands-on Interaction
Agenda
Every Business NEEDS a Website
But historically, to build a website, you
needed to know how to code
... or hire someone who did
But with the advent of free Internet
publishing tools like Wordpress
Geek-speaknot required!
You don’t have to know how to code
Though it started as a blogging platform,
Wordpress is now a very rich online
publishing tool used for building entire websites
For example...
For example...
So, why is this good news for you?
You can build this...
without knowing this
You just use a simple text editor to create
and edit pages
Are you ready to get started?
Intro
Conceptual Overview
Demonstration & Guided Tour
Live Demo + Hands-on Interaction
Agenda
What is WordPress?
A website publishing tool that lets you build and publish websites from
your browser
Create a website using only your browser for FREE
$0
The Basic Process
Sign-up/
Install
Choose theme
Adjust settings
Write a page
Publish
The Basic Process
Sign-up/
Install
Choose theme
Adjust settings
Write a page
Publish
The Basic Process
Sign-up/
Install
Choose theme
Adjust settings
Write a page
Publish
The Basic Process
Sign-up/
Install
Choose theme
Adjust settings
Write a page
Publish
The Basic Process
Sign-up/
Install
Choose theme
Adjust settings
Write a page
Publish
The Basic Process
Sign-up/
Install
Choose theme
Adjust settings
Write a page
Publish
If you’re familiar with Micrsoft Word or another word processor,
you should be able to get the hang of Wordpress
Before we jump in...
Flavors
.com.org
.comHosted for youLimited themesLimited optionsLimited flexibility
BUT FREE!
.orgTons of themesTons of optionsTons of flexibilityFree software
You have to buy the web hosting plan
Web Hosting?
A company that rents web server space for your
website
Which flavor is right for
you?
We’ll cover that later,
but for now...
Let’s start with .com
Intro
Conceptual Overview
Demonstration & Guided Tour
Live Demo + Hands-on Interaction
Agenda
WordPress Basics
Sign-up and Activation - A Brief Video
WordPress BasicsBuilding a Site in < 4 Minutes
Time-lapse Video(a preview of what we’ll be doing here)
From this ...
To this
Intro
Conceptual Overview
Demonstration & Guided Tour
Live Demo + Hands-on Interaction
Agenda
Wordpress Guided
Tour
Wordpress Guided Tour
The Dashboard
Customize Layout
Expand/Collapse Menu
Themes
Search
Appearance
Browse
Preview
Activate
Options - not all themes created equal
Settings
GeneralWritingReadingDiscussion
Creating Posts
Title
Type or paste content
Insert imagesFormatting icons
Click for all icons
Publish options
Categories
Tags
Creating Pages
Similar layout as posts
Attributes instead of Categories and Tags
Posts vs Pages
Posts PagesTime-based content displayed in reverse chronological order - more “bloggy”
Pseudo-static pages used to create web pages for non-changing information like contact, about, events, products, services, etc. Not listed by date, and they don’t use categories and tags
Editing Posts & PagesSelect Edit under either Posts or Pages
Select item to edit
Categories & Tags
Categories - helpful for organizing your posts by topic
Tags like keywords
Managing Comments
UnapproveApproveSpam
Site Structure
Organize your site’s pages according to your business needs
Order pages using the order attribute in the Pages section
Menu editor in Wordpress 3.0 will make this better and easier
Static Home Page
First create a page that will be your home page
Under Settings > Reading click on A static page in the Front page displays section & select the new home page for Front page and new blog page for posts page
Create another new page that will be for blog posts
Links
Optional if you want to have a set of links in your sidebar
Media Library
Upload and manage photos, video and other media
Widgets
Content for your sidebar & footer
Drag-n-drop widgets with your mouse
Find it under Appearance menu
Useful Widgets:Recent PostsArchivesCategoriesRSS
Some themes include extra widgets
Polls & Ratings
Ratings - people can rate posts
Polls - requires account with PollDaddy.com
Included with .com, need plugins for .org
Wordpress.com Upgrades
Your own domain name - $9.97/year
Custom CSS (extra flexibility for changing your theme) - $14.97/year
Applies to .com, not .org
Wordpress.orgMuch the same as .com as far as interface goes
Lots more themes
Lots more options via plugins
Tons of flexibility
You have to sign up with a web host
BlueHost.com - very affordable ($6.95/month), good options, easy Wordpress installation
Installing Wordpress.org
Pick a version
Pick a non-default username and a good password (and remember that password!)
Where to install it
Name can be changed later
Plugins
There’s a plugin for that!
Essential:Akismet - stop spam
Plugin menu item
Hundreds, maybe thousands of plugins available
Add functionality to your site
Add new plugins via Add New
Users
Add many other users with varying levels of permission
Available in .com & .org
Contact Forms
Need a plugin if you want more than the standard comment form included on pages and posts by default
Contact Form Plugins:-Fast and Secure Contact Form-cforms
Custom Fields
Powerful feature in posts that provides ability to add extra information to posts
Requires a theme that supports it or extra coding
Don’t worry about it for now. Topic of a more advanced workshop.
Page Templates
Ability to create pages using different templates
Some themes have multiple templates defined. Many do not.
Addressed in more detail in a subsequent workshop
eCommerce
Lots of options:
Text links to 3rd party stores (cafepress)
PayPal buttons using PayPal as both shopping cart and payment gateway
3rd Party shopping cart buttons
Plugins
More detail in a subsequent workshop
BackupsVery Important!
Minimum backup of core Wordpress data using Tools > Export
Full Wordpress database backup using phpMyAdmin plugin
Service: Online Backup for Wordpresswordpress.backup-technology.com/
Security
Delete default admin username
Hackers are out there!
Choose good password
Keep up to date with latest version of Wordpress and Plugins
Security Scan Plugin
Upgrading
Back up first!Database and Files
Disable Plugins
Automatic Update
Importing
Import content from other Wordpress site, Blogger and more
Wordpress 3.0
New in 3.0
Menu Manager
New default theme
Custom background & headers
Custom post types
and much, much more
www.mauiwordpress.com/?p=15
Analytics & Site Stats
Google Analytics
Webserver stats
.com stats in dashboard
Themes RevisitedAll themes are NOT created equal
Different themes - different options and customization
Free themes and premium ($) themes
Some Themes with good customization options:
Suffusion (free)Twenty Ten (free, Wordpress 3.0 for .org, available now in .com)Indy PremiumSimple IndyUnder the InfluenceArthemiaThesis ($)
Which flavor is right for
you?
Intro
Conceptual Overview
Demonstration & Guided Tour
Live Demo + Hands-on Interaction
Agenda
WordPress ResourcesDigitalSplashMedia.com
MauiWordpress.comWordPress.tv
codex.wordpress.orgTwitter.com/DigitalSplash
Twitter.com/MauiWordpress
Wordpress 201A new Wordpress workshop coming soon.
Topics to include:
•Plugins in more depth•Photo galleries•Forms•Custom Fields•Tweaking themes by editing the stylesheet•Page templates•eCommerce