Wordpress A Webmasters Paradise

CIL 2008 Cybertours WordPress: Webmaster's Paradise Oleg Kreymer Systems Librarian, TJ Watson Library The Metropolitan Museum of Art WordPress as a Web Platform? • Content Management System: CMS (forget html!) • User-friendly admin interface • WYSIWYG editor (invites contribution) • Presentation layer (XHTML + scripting) • Simplicity: • Clear functionality (it’s a blog!) • Straightforward design: posts + categories + pages • Open Source = always in development + ¢ • Can be enhanced with plugins • Familiarity (used it for other projects) CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS Keeping It Simple • Modify a WordPress Theme ONLY • Preserve core WordPress functionality • Protection from changes in future upgrades • Theme of choice: Andreas09 (website look) • Two types of files • PHP: controls WHAT elements are displayed • CSS: controls HOW elements are displayed • Making changes • Keep track of changes (annotate) • Suppressing and rearranging elements CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS How to work with PHP CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS How to work with PHP CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS How to work with PHP CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS How to work with CSS CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS How to work with CSS CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS How to work with CSS CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS How to work with CSS CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS Widgets & Plugins • Widgets: dynamic and static sidebar elements • Plugins extend Wordpress functionality • Select carefully (functionally useful plugins only) • Test! Plugins can break WP • WP upgrade? Test your plugins • Plugins we’re using • Forms: cforms II • Calendar: Event Calendar & Widget • User Role Manager CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS Thank you! • DO try this at home: • WordPress.com • Questions? Oleg Kreymer Systems Librarian, TJ Watson Library The Metropolitan Museum of Art CIL 2008 Cybertours: WORDPRESS