Sean Costain 2012

Advanced Web2012

Lecture 10

Sean Costain 2012

Wordpress

The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform a website into almost anything imaginable.

WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing. Starting as just a blogging system, Wordpress has evolved to be used as full content management system for websites.

Wordpress is a well-architectured personal publishing system built on PHP and MySQL and licensed under the GPLv2 (or later).

Sean Costain 2012

Open Source

WordPress is an Open Source project, which means there are hundreds of people all over the world working on it. It also means you are free to use it for anything from a cat’s home page to a Fortune 500 web site without paying anyone a license fee and a number of other important freedoms.

A program is free software if the program's users have the four essential freedoms:• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).• The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your

computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2). • The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3).

By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Sean Costain 2012

RequirementsTo run WordPress your host just needs a couple of things:• PHP version 5.2.4 or greater• MySQL version 5.0 or greater

For this subject we will be installing wordpress locally into our Xampp installation.Xampp has:• Apache 2.4.3• MySQL 5.5.27• PHP 5.4.7• phpMyAdmin 3.5.2.2• FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.41• Tomcat 7.0.30 (with mod_proxy_ajp as connector)• Strawberry Perl 5.16.1.1 Portable• XAMPP Control Panel 3.1.0 (from hackattack142)

Sean Costain 2012

Some Key FeaturesFull standards compliance — We have gone to great lengths to make sure every bit of WordPress generated code is in full compliance with the standards of the W3C. This is important not only for interoperability with today’s browser but also for forward compatibility with the tools of the next generation. Your web site is a beautiful thing, and you should demand nothing less.

Password Protected Posts — You can give passwords to individual posts to hide them from the public. You can also have private posts which are viewable only by their author.

WordPress Themes — WordPress comes with a full theme system which makes designing everything from the simplest blog to the most complicated webzine a piece of cake, and you can even have multiple themes with totally different looks that you switch with a single click

Sean Costain 2012

Some Key FeaturesComments — Visitors to your site can leave comments on individual entries, and through Trackback or Pingback can comment on their own site. You can enable or disable comments on a per-post basis.

Spam protection — Out of the box WordPress comes with very robust tools such as an integrated blacklist and open proxy checker to manage and eliminate comment spam on your blog, and there is also a rich array of plugins that can take this functionality a step further.

Full user registration — WordPress has a built-in user registration system that (if you choose) can allow people to register and maintain profiles and leave authenticated comments on your blog. You can optionally close comments for non-registered users. There are also plugins that hide posts from lower level users.

Sean Costain 2012

ThemesFundamentally, the WordPress Theme system is a way to "skin" your weblog. Yet, it is more than just a "skin." Skinning your site implies that only the design is changed. WordPress Themes can provide much more control over the look and presentation of the material on your website.

A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. These files are called template files. A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software. Themes may include customized template files, image files (*.jpg, *.gif), style sheets (*.css), custom Pages, as well as any necessary code files (*.php).

Sean Costain 2012

ThemesWordPress Themes are files that work together to create the design and functionality of a WordPress site. Each Theme may be different, offering many choices for site owners to instantly change their website look.

Why Wordpress Themes?• To create a unique look for your WordPress site.• To take advantage of templates, template tags, and the WordPress Loop to

generate different website results and looks.• To provide alternative templates for specific site features, such as category pages

and search result pages.• To quickly switch between two site layouts, or to take advantage of a Theme or

style switcher to allow site owners to change the look of your site.

Sean Costain 2012

ThemesBenefits of Themes?• It separates the presentation styles and template files from the system files so the

site will upgrade without drastic changes to the visual presentation of the site.• It allows for customization of the site functionality unique to that Theme.• It allows for quick changes of the visual design and layout of a WordPress site.• It removes the need for a typical WordPress site owner to have to learn CSS,

HTML, and PHP in order to have a great-looking website.

Why build your own Theme?• It's an opportunity to learn more about CSS, HTML, and PHP.• It's an opportunity to put your expertise with CSS, HTML, and PHP to work.• It's creative.• It's fun (most of the time).• If you release it to the public, you can feel good that you shared and gave

something back to the WordPress Community (okay, bragging rights)

Sean Costain 2012

PluginsA WordPress Plugin is a program, or a set of one or more functions, written in the PHP scripting language, that adds a specific set of features or services to the WordPress weblog, which can be seamlessly integrated with the weblog using access points and methods provided by the WordPress Plugin Application Program Interface (API).

Contact Form 7Just another contact form plugin. Simple but flexible. Version 3.3Updated 2012-9-24Downloads 8,234,278Average Rating 4 stars

All in One SEO PackWordPress SEO plugin to automatically optimize your WordPress blog for Search Engines. Version 1.6.15.2Updated 2012-9-28Downloads 12,419,613Average Rating 3 stars

Sean Costain 2012

PluginsJetpack by WordPress.comSupercharge your WordPress site with powerful features previously only available to WordPress.com users. Version 1.8.1Updated 2012-9-28Downloads 2,581,311Average Rating 3 stars

WordPress SEO by YoastImprove your WordPress SEO: Write better content and have a fully optimized WordPress site using the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast. Version 1.2.8.5Updated 2012-9-27Downloads 2,334,589Average Rating 4 stars

Google Analytics for WordPressTrack your WordPress site easily and with lots of metadata: views per author & category, automatic tracking of outbound clicks and pageviews. Version 4.2.7Updated 2012-9-20Downloads 3,568,420Average Rating 4 stars

Sean Costain 2012

WidgetsWhat is a Widget?“Widgets” is just a silly buzzword that has been chosen for a sidebar-chopping plug-in that has been developed. They could have been called Gadgets or Gizmos or Wizbangs or Whatevers. On the surface, they’re just things you can use to personalize your WordPress site without knowing HTML.

Encyclopedia / Lexicon / Glossary / Wiki / DictionaryEncyclopedia Lite enables you to create, manage and present a Knowledge Base / Encyclopedia / Lexicon / Glossary / Dictionary -- Completely coalesced Version 1.0.2Updated 2012-10-2Downloads 121Average Rating5 stars

Fancy Gallery LiteFancy Gallery associates linked images and galleries with the jQuery Fancybox. This Plugin has been granted the "Famous Software" Award! Version 1.0.10Updated 2012-10-2Downloads 21,655Average Rating4 stars

Sean Costain 2012

WidgetsProofread BotProofread Bot automatically checks your content for grammar, style, statistic and plagiarism issues. Version 2.10Updated 2012-10-2Downloads 4,923Average Rating5 stars

Auto Image Resizer LiteThis Plugin reduces all uploaded images to the maximal used image dimensions of your WordPress website. Version 1.2.2.0Updated 2012-10-2Downloads 4,533Average Rating4 stars

Associated Posts LiteThe award-winning Associated Posts Lite (formerly Post Page Associator) Plugin enables you to display posts on a page. Version 0.9.8.0Updated 2012-10-2Downloads 5,094Average Rating4 stars

Sean Costain 2012

Wordpress Summary As can be seen, Wordpress is a PHP & MySQL based website which is highly configurable.

Themes are used for designing a layout, look and feel for the site.

Plugins allow for additional functionality to be added to the Wordpress system

Widgets are specialised plkugins that focus on menu functionality.