09.09.09 HiMA Presentation
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Transcript of 09.09.09 HiMA Presentation
WordPress: It's Not Just For Blogs Anymore
Dean McCall | Ideaginwww.ideagin.com
Blair Garrou | DFJ Mercurywww.dfjmercury.com
Today’s Talk
• Choosing a CMS for SMB clients• Brief History of WordPress• About Ideagin• Case Study: DFJ Mercury• Development process for DFJ Mercury• Final Product• Top WordPress Development Shops• Q&A
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Choosing a CMS for SMB ClientsQ: Traditional ISV platform or Open Source?
If Open SourceQ: Extensive customization or moderate customization to web platform?
If extensive customization
If moderate customization
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2003 co-founders Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little release WordPress as a fork of the b2/cafelog codebase
• licensing terms for the competing Movable Type platform are changed by Six Apart, causing many of its users to migrate to WP
2008 WP continues to grow at a rapid pace, with over 5.3M downloads for WP v2.8 (8th major release)
Brief History of WordPress• A leading blog publishing application
and content management system (CMS) written in PHP
• Developer Community = Most Powerful Aspect
• Community continues to improve WP and create more user options Robust plug-ins directory
Hundreds of custom themes
• Result = very adaptable CMS platform
• BONUS - WP is closely associated with Automattic, where some of WP’s main contributing developers are employees
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About Ideagin• San Antonio-based web development
and marketing company• Founded by Dean McCall, CEO• Ideagin Services
– Interaction consulting services– User-interface and web design– Web development and support– Ideagin Finishing School (coming soon…)
• Why Ideagin?– Deep knowledge of web trends and
technology– Separate “buzz” from real thing– Delivered sites and events for both global
multi-million dollar companies and SMBs
• Sample Clients:
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Case Study: DFJ Mercury• Houston-based seed and
early-stage venture capital firm• 12 employees• Needed a website with the
following characteristics: Fresh, clean look Basic “brochure-ware” needs Easy to update without the
need for a “web master” Availability of Social media
widgets and plug-ins• Approached Ideagin for a
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Development Process for DFJ MercuryNeeds/Budget• Easy and Cheap! ($10-15K upfront)
Platform Decision: Expression Engine vs. WordPress• WordPress has wider range of functionality given their large catalog of plug-ins • SEO, Popup windows, customizable Contact Forms, Lightbox, etc
Widgets & Plug-ins: Existing vs. Custom Development• We incorporated a number of widgets (SEO, Popup windows, Alpha Post Sorting)• ShareThis – social network distribution• News Post – created custom RSS widget to modify existing WP RSS feed• WP Lightbox – added due to conflicts in the JavaScript libraries version used when
adding the prototype library to WordPress
Issues/hurdles to overcome• Integrating right set of plug-ins and development on a custom theme• Continued Diligence – stay on top of security releases and plug-in updates!
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comHome page
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comHome page
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comHome page w/Lightbox
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comHome page
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comHome page w/ShareThis widget
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comFocus page
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comTeam page
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comPortfolio page
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comNews page
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comNews page
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Final Product: www.dfjmercury.comNews page
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Top WordPress Dev Studios• Automattic: NYC-based firm that was one of the first independent WP dev
studios. Many top WordPress code contributors work at Automattic.• cnp_studio: Enterprise-level WordPress development.• Covered Web Services: WordPress plug-in development, content
migration, security analysis & performance tuning.• Crowd Favorite: Alex King’s WordPress dev shop based in Colorado. • Jessica Perilla Design: High-end WordPress blogs and websites that are
fully customized and easy to maintain.• Slipfire: NYC-based WordPress development studio.• Sandbox Development & Consulting: Web development firm specializing
in WordPress blog and other CMS solutions.• Watershed Studio: Offering WordPress consulting related to blogging,
CMS, podcasting, plug-ins and themes.
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Q&A and Follow-upDean McCallCEOIdeagin, [email protected]: @ideagin; @deanmccall
Blair GarrouManaging Director DFJ [email protected]: @dfjmercury; @bgarrou
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