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Anthony Hortin @maddisondesigns maddisondesigns.com
Getting to Know WordPress
About me
Designer/Developer @ Maddison Designs !WordPress Theme & Plugin Developer !WordPress Theme & Plugin Directory contributor !Provides support on official WordPress Support Forum !Created Easy WP Guide (over 100K downloads) !Co-Organiser Melbourne WordPress WordCamp 2013 !Co-Organiser for monthly WP Melbourne WordPress Meetups
WordPress is web software you can use
to create a beautiful website or blog. We
like to say that WordPress is both free
and priceless at the same time.“What is WordPress?
WordPress is an Open Source software system used by millions of people around the world to create
beautiful websites and blogs. !
It is completely customisable by the use of themes and plugins.
!WordPress powers approx 60.3% of all cms sites
That’s 21.9%* of the entire web!
source: http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all
Who’s using WordPress?
Bata Shoes
Who’s using WordPress?
TechCrunch
Who’s using WordPress?
Sony Music
Who’s using WordPress?
Brian Smith
Who’s using WordPress?
Sweden
WordPress.org Vs WordPress.com
One Software Two Flavours
WordPress.org Vs WordPress.com
Self Hosting !Need own domain/hosting !Access to plugins !Install any theme !You are responsible for security and maintenance !Greater flexibility & customisation
Hosted !Fully managed website hosting !Easy to get up and running very quickly. !Security and maintenance managed for you !Automatically updated !Secure dashboard !Free with paid feature upgrades
WordPress.org Vs WordPress.com
Full Control !
You have 100% control on:
Limited Control
Design !Themes !Plugins
Content !Monetisation !Performance
No custom plugins !No custom themes !No FTP access
The WordPress Dashboard
Dashboard Your main Dashboard ‘homepage’Provides brief stats on Posts, Pages & comments !Posts Where you create new Blog Posts. Also update Categories and Post Tags !Media Where your uploaded images, documents or files are stored !Pages Where you create new Pages
The WordPress Dashboard
Comments Where you manage blog Comments !Appearance Controls how your site looks. You can choose Themes and manage Widgets & Menus !Plugins Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress !Users Where you add new users as well as manage their Roles
The WordPress Dashboard
Tools Gives you access to various convenient tools Import & Export data to/from your WordPress site !Settings This is where your site is configured
The WordPress Dashboard
First Things First
Setting up your site
General Settings Configure your basic site preferences such as the Site Title and Tag Line, the Administrator’s email address and the Date and Time format
First Things First
Writing Settings Configure default publishing settings such as defining the Default Post Category
First Things First
Reading Settings Configure how your site is viewed. You can define whether your front page displays a static Page or your blog Posts, and how many blog posts are displayed by default.
First Things First
Discussion Settings Define how your readers interact with your site. Configure whether readers can post Comments or not and how those Comments are moderated and displayed
First Things First
Media Settings Configure the default image sizes that are created when an image is uploaded
First Things First
Permalink Settings Configure the URL format that is displayed in the web browser when someone browses your site. This also helps with SEO
First Things First
Managing Users Configure who has access to your site !DON’T use “Admin” for the Username DON’T use the Username as the “Display name” !DO use strong passwords!
First Things First
Administrator Somebody who has access to all the administration features !Editor Can publish & manage posts and pages as well as manage other users’ posts, etc. !Author Can publish and manage their own posts !Contributor Can write and manage their posts but not publish them !Subscriber Somebody who can only manage their profile
First Things First
Adding Content
Pages Vs Posts
Posts Posts are typically blog entries. A series of articles, listed (usually) reverse-chronologically. !Posts can also be assigned Categories and Tags. !Pages Pages are used for more static content. Content that doesn’t change or changes infrequently. !Pages are also hierarchical and can have individual page templates.
Adding Content
Adding content to Posts & Pages is easy with the visual editor
Adding Content
Use the Visual Editor toolbar buttons to Bold or Italicise text content. You can also add bullet points, links, headings etc..
Adding Content
Any media you upload will be added to the Media Library
Adding Content
Customising Your Site
There’s various ways to customise your website. Some are Theme dependent, some are built into WordPress core !Themes (incl. Theme Options) !Custom Header !Custom Background !Widgets !Plugins !
Customising Your Site
Change the look of your site by adding new themes
Customising Your Site
Official WordPress Theme Directory All themes are free and code reviewed for quality http://wordpress.org/themes
Customising Your Site
Theme Shops There are an extensive range of Theme Shops that sell ‘Premium Themes’ !Some of the more dependable Theme Shops are: !http://www.woothemes.com http://www.elegantthemes.com http://array.is https://thethemefoundry.com http://tokokoo.com http://www.themezilla.com http://press75.com
Customising Your Site
Theme Options WordPress has some built in options that allow you to customise your theme. It even gives you a live preview
Customising Your Site
Theme Options Lots of themes also have their own Theme Options pages for theme specific settings & customisation
Customising Your Site
Custom Header Add a custom header to your website
Customising Your Site
Custom Background Change the background image or colour for your site
Customising Your Site
Widgets Widgets are independent sections of content that can be placed into any widgetized area provided by your theme. !
Customising Your Site
Widgets Widgets are commonly found in the sidebar or footer area !
Customising Your Site
Extending Your Site
WordPress Plugins
Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress !There are both Free and Premium (Paid) plugins !The easiest (& best) place to find free plugins is the official WordPress Plugin Directory - http://wordpress.org/plugins !Best to use plugins that are updated regularly & recently !Currently over 30,000 free plugins available
Extending Your Site
Install & Activate Plugins Once installed, plugins need to be activated !Some plugins will have settings pages for configuring them
Extending Your Site
Official WordPress Plugin Directory All plugins are free and code reviewed for quality http://wordpress.org/plugins
Extending Your Site
Recommended Plugins (Free) The following are useful, reliable free plugins !WooCommerce - A powerful, extendable eCommerce plugin !Easy Digital Downloads - Sell digital downloads through WordPress !JetPack - Supercharge your WordPress site with powerful features !WordPress SEO by Yoast - Improve your WordPress SEO !Meteor Slides - Create easy to customise, responsive slideshows !WordPress Backup to Dropbox - Backup your media & database to Dropbox !Akismet - Checks your comments for spam !WordFence Security - An enterprise class security and performance plugin
Extending Your Site
Recommended Plugins (Premium/Paid) The following are useful, reliable paid plugins !Gravity Forms - Build complex, powerful contact forms, easily http://www.gravityforms.com !BackupBuddy - Backup, Migrate or Restore your site quickly & easily http://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy !VaultPress - Daily & realtime, offsite backups http://vaultpress.com !Envira Gallery - Easily create beautiful, responsive image galleries http://enviragallery.com !Events Calendar Pro - Create & manage events with ease http://tri.be/shop/wordpress-events-calendar-pro/
Extending Your Site
Recommended Plugins (Free & Paid) Some plugin developers provide the core plugin for free & then have (optional) paid extensions that provide extra functionality !WooCommerce - Free core plugin for selling products online. Paid extensions for Payment Gateways, Product Add-ons etc. http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce !Easy Digital Downloads - Free core plugin for selling digital products. Paid extensions for Payment Gateways, Checkout Fields Add-ons etc. https://easydigitaldownloads.com !Advanced Custom Fields - Free core plugin for providing powerful custom fields for developers. Paid add-ons for extra functionality http://www.advancedcustomfields.com
Extending Your Site
Updating Your Site
Keeping WordPress Safe & Secure
From time to time, Themes, Plugins & WordPress will require updating !Updates typically happen when developers release security patches or add extra functionality !It’s good practice to keep your Themes, Plugins & WordPress version updated to the latest versions !The top two reasons for sites being hacked are insecure passwords & outdated (vulnerable) software !WordPress will (attempt to) automatically update for minor versions (e.g. v3.8.2, v3.9.1)
Updating Your Site
Updating Your Site
Resources
Like any website, WordPress requires a web server to operate. !Specifically, WordPress requires:- PHP (version 5.2.4 or greater) - Server Side Scripting Language MySQL (version 5.0 or greater) - Database software !Running on (preferably) Apache or Nginx !If you want to play around with WordPress locally (i.e. on your own computer), you can setup a test environment using MAMP (Mac) or XAMPP (Windows)
Installing WordPress Locally
MAMP (Mac) Setting up MAMP http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-install-wordpress-locally-on-mac-using-mamp/ !XAMPP (Windows) Setting up XAMPP http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/install-wordpress-locally-on-windows-with-xampp/
Installing WordPress Locally
WordPress Codex !!Easy WP Guide !WP Beginner !SiteGround !Learn WordPress.com !WP101 Video Training
Where to Go for Help
http://codex.wordpress.org http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons !http://easywpguide.com !http://www.wpbeginner.com !http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress !http://learn.wordpress.com !http://code.tutsplus.com/series/wp101-basix-training
I’m Anthony Hortin You can find me here
!@maddisondesigns
maddisondesigns.com !
@easywpguide easywpguide.com
Thanks! Questions?
