Slides from Kurt Eng & Jon Bishop's WordPress Beginners Workshop at Tech Day Camp 2012

1. 1
Beginning WordPress"
Jon Bishop"
Kurt Eng
November 10th, 2012!
Norwell High School

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Today s Schedule
• Introduction to WordPress
Period A
• WordPress installation
• The Admin Dashboard
Period B + Break
• Content Types & Media
Lunch
Period C
• Theme, Widgets & Plugins

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What is WordPress?
• Blogging software
• Content management system (CMS)
• Engine
‣ E-commerce
‣ Discussion Forums
‣ Subscription / Paid Content
‣ Wiki
‣ Job Boards
‣ Product Reviews
‣ Business Directories
‣ Social Network

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Flavors of WordPress
WordPress.org
WordPress.com
• Self-hosted (your own server)
• Hosted by Automattic, no server needed
• Complete control (themes, plugins, etc.)
• Limited selection of themes & plugins
• Open source and completely free
• Basic sites are free, paid add-ons available

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What can you do with WordPress?
1
Higher Ed

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What can you do with WordPress?
2
Magazine

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What can you do with WordPress?
3
Blog / Corporate

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What can you do with WordPress?
4
Mixed Platform

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What can you do with WordPress?
5
Community

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What can you do with WordPress?
6
http://en.wordpress.com/notable-users/

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Features of WordPress
How does WordPress make my life/job easier?
• Control panel! • Built-in SEO*
(web-based & mobile)
• Comments
• Users & profiles!
(authentication & roles)
• Themes & widgets
• Content types
• Plugins
• Taxonomy (content organization)
• Feeds
• Media management
• API
• Link & navigation management

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Installation

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Content Types
• Built-in content types in WordPress
‣ Posts: blogging/news, chronologic, appears in RSS feeds
‣ Pages: static content (e.g., “About”, “Contact”), hierarchical
‣ Comments: enable visitors to discuss your content

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Posts

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Posts
• Title
‣ Arguably one of the most important aspects of content (include relevant/rich keywords
related to the content – SEO!)
‣ Responsible for building the content URL
• Content
‣ Actual post/page content (“body”), w/ text, images, videos, links, shortcodes, etc.
‣ WYSIWYG (similar to Microsoft Word) w/ Visual & HTML edit modes (and full-screen!)
• Publishing
‣ Preview posts before publishing
‣ Set status (draft, pending, published) and visibility (private, password-protected)
‣ Set date (specific date in the past, scheduled date in the future)

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Posts (cont.)
• Excerpt
‣ Write a custom post excerpt/teaser for category/archives pages or home page, as opposed to
auto-generated excerpts
• Taxonomy (Defaults: Categories & Tags)
‣ Categories are hierarchical (parent/child) and useful for navigation menus
‣ Tags are “labels” assigned to
‣ Have separate pages in the Dashboard to manage
• Additional Meta Boxes
‣ Discussion settings, comments list
‣ Custom functionality from themes (featured image/thumbnail)
‣ Custom functionality from plugins (SEO plugins to edit title, meta description & keywords…)

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Posts (cont.)
• Permalinks
‣ Auto-generated from title
‣ SEO-friendly or “pretty” permalinks need to be enabled manually on default WordPress
installations!
✦ http://bostonwp.org/2011/07/bwpm-june-2011-creating-better-content-w-shortcodes/
✦ http://bostonwp.org/?p=505
‣ Can be customized per post/page on edit screen
• Trackbacks/Pingbacks
‣ Send automated notices to other websites & services when you change content
‣ Pingback: Include a link to 3rd party article, save it, WP pings that article and adds a
pingback to the 3rd party website article page
‣ Trackback: Outdated? Similar but not automatic. You find the trackback URL on 3rd party
website or article page (if enabled/advertised), paste into WordPress to send a trackback

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Posts (cont.)
• Revisions
‣ Autosaves and previously saved versions available for rollback or reference
• Author
‣ Change post/page author
• Custom Fields
‣ Stores all other metadata specific to your project
‣ Previously used to enable/disable certain theme-specific features
‣ Key/value pair format

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Pages
• Pages
‣ Content that is “timeless” (About, Contact)
‣ Hierarchical (a parent page can have child pages)
‣ Page order (a number can be assigned for displaying pages in arbitrary
order)
‣ Can use custom page templates for completely different designs/layouts
per-page. Page templates can include other template files, WordPress
Template Tags, and PHP code

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Pages

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Pages (cont.)
• Pages are not Posts!
‣ Pages do not show up in the RSS feed
‣ Cannot be organized using category and tag taxonomies
‣ Typical page permalinks take the form of: http://mysite.com/the-page-slug
‣ Can be added to Menus, or to sidebars using the Pages widget

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Comments

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Comments
• Enabling/disabling
‣ Site-wide
‣ Per post or per page
• Moderating
‣ Always require administrator approval, or require the first to be approved per visitor
‣ Blacklist or hold in moderation queue by URLs, email address, IP addresses
• Nesting
‣ Replies are visible beneath the parent comment, and indented
• Gravatars
‣ Show commenter Gravatars next to comments (gravatar.com)
• Replacing built-in comments
‣ Disqus, IntenseDebate

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Break

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Themes
• A theme is a skin for your website
• Separation between the data layer and presentation layer
• Front-end: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and some PHP
• Themes can also add functionality to WordPress
‣ Custom content types (a Cake for a bakery website)
‣ Custom taxonomies (flavors & occasions)
‣ Custom widgets (search box)

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Theme Resources
• WordPress Theme Directory: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
• 3rd party, free themes: Smashing Magazine, ThemeLab, WPSalon,
Mashable.com, Google search (of course)
• Premium Themes
‣ Support from developer & community
‣ Documentation
‣ Often higher quality, and feature-rich, and with child themes/variations
‣ Multiple licenses (individual, developer, etc.)
• Theme frameworks

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Premium Theme Examples
• Press75
• WooThemes
• StudioPress
Test-drive themes at
• Thesis
BostonWPDemo.com!
• Headway
• Pagelines Platform
• ElegantThemes

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Child Themes
• Inherit the functionality of a parent theme
• Typically override:
‣ Styling (colors, fonts, margin/padding)
‣ Addition or removal of functionality (functions.php)
‣ Templates
• A good way to modify third party themes without hacking the original
code
• Provide several flavors of a parent theme

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Install a Theme

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Plugins
• Plugins extend the functionality of WordPress
‣ Add new menus & configuration options to the Admin Dashboard (post
types, spam filters, content importing)
‣ Add new features to the frontend of your website (social sharing tools)
‣ Change the way your site is displayed (mobile)
‣ Collect stats (analytics)
‣ Automate tasks (backup)

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Plugin Resources
• WordPress Plugins Directory: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
• Premium Plugins:
‣ WishList Membership Plugin
‣ Gravity Forms
‣ Scribe (copy-writing & SEO)
‣ WP e-Commerce, Shopp, PHPurchase
‣ WP Review Engine (reviews/star-ratings)
‣ WPtouch (mobile theme)
‣ Language translation

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Plugin Recommendations
• Google Analyticator
• Disqus/Intense Debate
• All-in-one SEO or SEO Ultimate
• Akismet (already built in)
• JetPack
• Twitter Blog
• Gravity Forms
• VaultPress/Backup Buddy
• W3 Total Cache

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Install a Plugin

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Widgets
• Draggable & configurable modules that can be reused on WP sites
• Widgets are dragged into sidebars (widgetized regions), declared by the
theme
• WordPress contains many useful default widgets (the Text Widget is
powerful!)
• You don’t add new widgets directly: plugins & themes add new widgets
• The more “widgetized” regions your theme contains, the more easily
configurable the page layout will be from the Dashboard, instead of
modifying code

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Configure Widgets

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Best Practices
• Security
• Backups
• SEO
• Upgrades
• Managing Content

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Security
• Upgrade WordPress core, 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)

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Backups
• Use a plugin or service (set & forget)
‣ BackupBuddy, VaultPress
• Automated backups provided 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!
• Test your backups!

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SEO
• 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)

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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)
‣ 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

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Content Tips
• Chris Brogan
‣ http://www.chrisbrogan.com/40-ways-to-deliver-killer-blog-content/
‣ http://www.chrisbrogan.com/the-writing-practice/
‣ Boston WordPress Meetup presentation: http://blip.tv/file/4368461
• Chris Penn
‣ Upcoming WordCamp Session

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Content Tips (cont.)
• Use paragraphs and lists
‣ Break up long pieces of content & thoughts in sections
‣ WordPress will automatically add HTML paragraph tags in the Visual editor
‣ Lists group related pieces of content together
• Use headings
‣ Use Heading 2, 3, 4, etc. to label/group sections of content
• Call out important keywords/concepts
‣ Bold relevant and meaningful keywords and text, but don’t abuse
• Hyperlink to other articles
‣ Pingbacks build deeper linking & relationships

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Content Tips (cont.)
• Spell-check & proof
‣ Spell-check plugins
‣ Post as “pending” and have other preview
• Think before you post
‣ Beware: ranting on blogs is commonplace today
‣ Once it’s published, it’s syndicated via RSS, reblogged, tweeted, indexed by SEs &
directories…
• Write about what you like
‣ Don’t force yourself to write about uninteresting things, enjoy the experience.
• Avoid excess slang and localized terms

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Content Tips (cont.)
• Don’t hide your emotions
‣ If you have to, remain anonymous but voice your opinions (take a stand!)
‣ Show your readers your passion & seek to create good discussion
• Consider your readers/audience
‣ Who’s reading? Is your content useful to that person/group? Is it appropriate?
‣ How often will you post? Consider your audience’s attention span vs. your average article length?
• Make use of comments (even the nasty ones)
‣ Feedback can be rewarding and useful, whether it’s praise or constructive criticism.
• Worry about content first, then blog design, features, etc.
‣ Content is king! Build an audience/readership first. Get visitors to subscribe via RSS and email
(increase repeat visits).
‣ Your site will likely undergo many design and functional iterations anyway.

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Content Tips (cont.)
• Use rich multimedia (images, audio, video, maps)
‣ The make your content pages more colorful, break up lengthy copy, and present information in a
visual (and often more easily interpreted) ways
• Keep writing!
‣ Don’t stop publishing content
‣ Writer’s block could mean you’re holding back on something
‣ Browse and subscribe to others’ blogs for inspiration and motivation
• Write everywhere
‣ You can publish to your WordPress blog from your mobile phone, your iPad, popular
social web apps like Facebook and Twitter, email, and desktop applications

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WordPress Multisite
• Originally two versions: WordPress & WordPress Multi-User (MU)
• Merged into WordPress 3.0 w/ Multisite feature
• Operate a network of related WordPress sites from a single dashboard
‣ Subdomains: http://games.mysite.org, http://music.mysite.org, ...
‣ Subdirectories: http://mysite.org/james, http://mysite.org/kurt, ...
• Super admins can administer all websites through the “Network Admin”
Dashboard, site admins can administer a single website through the
traditional dashboard
• Many plugins can be installed network-wide!

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Additional Resources
• WordPress-related blogs!
WPRecipes.com, WPTavern.com, ...
• WordPress video tutorials from the source: http://wordpress.tv
• WordPress.org free theme & plugin directories - submit your work here!
• Commercial themes: custom admin panels & premium support!
WooThemes, ThemeForest, StudioPress, ElegantThemes, Press75
• Theme frameworks: video tutorials and extensive documentation!
Thesis, Genesis, Hybrid, Headway, Thematic
• WordPress Codex (Template Tags, loop query parameters, etc.)
• LiveWP.tv – WordPress news, tips, and banter…unscripted & live from Boston!

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Book: Digging into WordPress

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Boston WordPress Meetup
• Monthly events at Microsoft NERD (last Monday of
every month)
• 1500+ members
• 2nd largest WordPress Meetup in the U.S.
• Support forums & job board
• Past presentation slides & videos available online
• Free pizza (pending sponsors)!
• http://bostonwp.org
• @bostonwp on Twitter

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HostGator
• Cheaper hosting with 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 TechDayCamp for 25% discount

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Questions
Open Q&A

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Thank You
Jon Bishop
Kurt Eng
Twitter: @jondbishop
Twitter: @kurteng
http://jonbishop.com
http://kurteng.com

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Appendix

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Architecture of WordPress
1
• Posts & Pages
• WordPress core
• Comments
• Themes
• Links
• Plugins
• Options/Settings
• File Uploads
• Taxonomy
• Users
Important for Backups!

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Architecture of WordPress
2
wp-admin/
wp-links-opml.php
wp-content/
wp-cron.php
wp-includes/
wp-load.php
wp-app.php
wp-trackback.php
readme.html
wp-pass.php
wp-signup.php
license.txt
xmlrpc.php
wp-atom.php
wp-login.php
wp-commentsrss2.php
wp-mail.php
wp-rdf.php
wordpress.zip
wp-config-sample.php
wp-rss.php
wp-comments-post.php
wp-rss2.php
wp-settings.php
index.php
wp-feed.php
wp-blog-header.php
wp-activate.php
wp-register.php

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Architecture of WordPress
3
themes/
twentyten/
mytheme1/
plugins/
akismet/
wp_e-commerce/
uploads/
wp-content/
2010/
11/
photo1.jpg
photo2.jpg

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Installation
• Required software
‣ Web server (serves web pages to the web browser)
‣ PHP language processor (runs the code WordPress is written in)
‣ Database (stores content and site settings)
• Download & install server software on local computer
‣ Windows: XAMPP: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html
‣ Mac: MAMP: http://www.mamp.info/en/downloads/index.html
• Download WordPress
‣ http://wordpress.org/download/

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Elements of a Theme
Required
Base
Additional
404.php
author.php
author-[nickname].php
header.php
category.php
footer.php
sidebar-[name].php
comments.php
style.css
category-[id].php
sidebar.php
index.php
functions.php
page.php
home.php
single.php
page-[name].php
archive.php
taxonomy-[name].php
screenshot.png
...
These files override the default WordPress templates.

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The Loop
• WordPress builds a query for the loop based on the requests it receives.
‣ Category: http://mysite.org/tech!
Find all published posts in the category Tech ordered most recent first.
‣ Specific Post: http://mysite.org/2010/11/06/welcome-to-design-camp!
Find the specific published post with URL slug welcome-to-design-camp
‣ Home*: http://mysite.org!
Configure WordPress to show a series of posts, a static page, your home.php file, etc.!

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