Beginner's Guide to WordPress with Kathryn Presner and Shannon Smith

A Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
Presented by Kathryn Presner & Shannon Smith • User Track• WordCamp Montreal 2012

This introductory session is geared for bloggers, web designers and programmers who are new to WordPress. Even those who don’t know a Codex from a Cadillac will feel comfortable here. Delving into WordPress from a beginner’s point of view, we use unintimidating plain language to explain the fundamental concepts of WordPress, from themes, to widgets, to plug-ins. We go spelunking in the admin panel and show real-world examples of what WordPress can do. Questions are welcome, and no query is too basic, so don’t be shy!

For beginners to WordPress, no knowledge of HTML required.

About Shannon Smith
Shannon is the founder of Café Noir Design, a boutique Montreal web design company specializing in multilingual web development. She builds beautiful, functional websites that her clients can update themselves and that are easy for search engines to find. She support things like making the web accessible for everyone, using open source software, helping organizations find greener more sustainable ways to operate through online technology and helping non-profits with online community organizing. Also foodie and mother of four. Follow @cafenoirdesign on twitter.

About Kathryn Presner
Kathryn Presner of Zoonini Web Services takes a holistic approach to web design and development, building unique sites that work well, look great, and are easily found in search-engine results by the target market. Kathryn is passionate about helping people avoid common website pitfalls and as an enthusiastic WordPress user, gives back to the open-source community by answering questions as a volunteer WordPress support-forum moderator and presenting at events like WordCamp, Podcamp, and Girl Geek Dinners. Non-web pastimes include cooking healthy and delicious food, pondering which of her three cats is the most human-like, and eagerly awaiting her first crop of homegrown organic garlic. Follow @zoonini on Twitter.

Transcript

1. A Beginner’s Guide to WordPress with Shannon Smith & Kathryn Presner August 2012 WordCamp Montréal 2012
2. Kathryn Presner Automattic Happiness Engineer Web Designer @zoonini
3. Shannon Smith Café Noir Design www.cafenoirdesign.com @cafenoirdesign
4. What We’ll Cover Welcome Intro to WordPress Intro to the Admin Panel Resources Closing Questions
5. Intro to WordPress
6. Diving into WordPress What is WordPress? WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org What is it used for? http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
7. Blog http://julienchung.com/blog/
8. CMS+Blog http://www.boxofcrayons.biz/
9. CMS http://mygirlfriend.ca/
10. CMS http://www.thewittyoffice.com
11. Magazine
12. Photo Portfolio http://www.silviaphotography.com/
13. Video Portfolio http://www.presner.com
14. Audio Portfolio
15. Interactive
16. Some WordPress Basics Database vs. files PHP vs. HTML Do I need to know PHP? Database ➜ Scripting Language ➜ Markup Language ➜ Structure Presentation Dynamic Functions Data
17. Posts vs. Pages Page
18. Posts vs. Pages Post
19. Posts vs. Pages Posts
20. Introduction to Themes A WP Theme is a collection of Template files - (X)HTML + PHP + CSS The CSS (aka stylesheet) usually controls the layout and design Only two template files are required: index.php, style.css Some are optional: sidebar.php, comments.php, etc. http://codex.wordpress.org/Stepping_Into_Templates http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy
22. http://www.lonelythebook.com/emily-white-author/
23. Get Started With Blank Themes Starkers http://starkerstheme.com/ DIW Blank Theme http://themeclubhouse.digwp.com/ Whiteboard http://whiteboardframework.com/ Roots http://www.rootstheme.com/ HTML5 Boilerplate https://github.com/iamamused/wp-theme-html5-boilerplate
24. Get Started With A Pre-made Theme WordPress.org Directory http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ WooThemes http://www.woothemes.com/ elegantthemes http://www.elegantthemes.com/ Press75 http://www.press75.com/ WPswitch http://wpswitch.com/ Smashing Magazine - Free WordPress Themes: 2011 Edition http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/2011/07/05/free-wordpress-themes-2011-edition/
25. Introduction to Plugins What is a plug-in? Where do you get plug-ins? http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
26. Managing Plug-ins
27. Introduction to Widgets What is a widget? What is a widget-ready theme? http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Widgets
28. Intro to the Admin Panel
29. The Admin Panel Let’s go spelunking!
30. WordPress Resources
31. Official wordpress.org (of course!) The Codex http://codex.wordpress.org/ Support Forum http://wordpress.org/support wordpress.tv http://wordpress.tv/
32. Cheat Sheets WordPress Template Tags Reference Guide http://www.dbswebsite.com/design/wordpress-reference/V3/ Optimization Cheat Sheet for WordPress http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Optimization/Cheat_Sheet Various 3.0-Ready Cheat Sheets http://www.webanddesigners.com/11-extremely-helpful-wordpress-cheatsheets/ Remember: Cheat sheets need to be current
33. Theme Development Tools Theme Test Drive Plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/theme-test-drive/ Official Theme Development Checklist & Sample Data http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development_Checklist Book: Digging Into WordPress http://digwp.com/ Online and In-Person Classes http://zoonini.wordpress.com/wordpress-resources-wcnyc/
34. WordPress Inspiration We Love WP http://welovewp.com/ WPInspiration http://wpinspiration.com/ WP Float http://wpfloat.com/ WP Showcase http://wordpress.org/showcase/
35. Kathryn’s Recommended Plugins WordPress SEO by Yoast or All in One SEO Pack FeedBurner FeedSmith Extend Subscribe to Comments Reloaded Obfuscate Email Contact Form 7 DirtySuds - Embed YouTube Bad Behavior WordPress Database Backup Secure WordPress WordPress File Monitor Plus
36. Shannon's Recommended Plugins WP-DB-Backup Contact Form 7 Jetpack php-enkoder WordPress SEO Simple Image Widget WP Super Cache WP Minify WP-smushit Limit Login Attempts or Login Lockdown (feedburner, google analytics, wufoo forms, microformats)
37. Closing
38. Questions? What Next? Get the presentation at Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/zoonini Find Us http://www.zoonini.com Twitter @zoonini http://www.cafenoirdesign.com Twitter @cafenoirdesign