WordPress for Higher Ed Websites
Who is iFactory?•Based in Boston•Interactive design and development company with over 20
years experience•A division of RDW Group, a full-service agency•Designers, strategic consultants, information architects,
usability experts•Higher ed profiles include:
colleges & universities | public & private
large & small | ivy league to community colleges
undergraduate & graduate | Massachusetts to California
Where to find uswww.ifactory.com
blog: interactivity.ifactory.com
Find us as iFactoryBoston:
What you’ll learn today:
• How PSU determined WordPress was theright solution
• The potential issues and limitations you might encounter with WordPress
• Why the WordPress implementation for PSU was ultimately a success
Your presenters
Zachary Tirrell Director of Management Information
Systems for Plymouth State University
Lisa Sawin Solutions Architect for iFactory
Plymouth State University: case study
About PSU
Located in Plymouth, a small town in
Northern New Hampshire (pop. ~6,600)
• ~4,300 undergraduates / ~1,500 graduates• Small class sizes• Tight knit, collaborative community
Before WordPress
Selected commercial CMS product in 2006• Never fully deployed• Frustrating cycle of regular re-training• Not flexible• No social integration• Poor embedded code handling (JavaScript/PHP)• Poor image management• Small user community
Why WordPress
WordPress was already in use…• Personal student/faculty/alumni blogs
• Internal sites• Library
• Staff had experience• Excitement and interest• Massive user community
WordPress as CMS
• Pilot with College of Graduate Studies in April 2009• Hesitant Project Endorsement
• Deployment Timeline:• Began rollout in June 2009• First plan: slow transition• Revised plan Summer 2010 — full transition• Completed June 2011
Visual Changes
• Initially: none• College of Graduate Studies redesign• Site redesign phase 1• Site redesign phase 2
Things To Be Aware Of
• Live vs. static rendering• Regular maintenance• No workflow
Project Issues
• Hesitant project endorsement• Partial deployment
• Pound and Varnish (saviors)
• Employee turnover
WordPress Issues
• Development to production• Installation and maintenance• CMS or blog?• Must learn it (WordCamp)
The Good!
• Easy for content• Diverse available plugins• Regularly updated• Extremely flexible
Open Source
• LAMP• Good to see code, debug• Core mods = BAD!• Plugins, themes, and widgets
Up Next…
• Just launched site phase 2• Development / production split• Better authorization management / auditing
Thank you www.ifactory.com
617.426.8600
Find us as iFactoryBoston: