How to Build a Website on a Non-Profit Budget - WordPress 101

WordPress is the leading content management system and powers about 15% of the Web. As of 2011, over 100,000 new WordPress websites are created every day. WordPress is also a free-to-use, open source software project that relies on volunteers. Come learn about how you can use WordPress for your organization, to build a website, a blog, a store, or more and find out more about the Montreal WordPress Community (wpmtl.org).

Transcript

1. How to Build a Website
   on a Non-Profit Budget -
   WordPress 101
   with Shannon Smith
   December 2012
   Tech-Works 2012
   

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2. Café Noir Design
   Shannon Smith
   www.cafenoirdesign.com
   @cafenoirdesign
   

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3. A special thanks to
   Kathryn Presner
   Automattic Happiness Engineer
   Web Designer
   @zoonini
   

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4. What We’ll Cover
   What is WordPress?
   Which WordPress Do I Need?
   What Can WordPress Do?
   Intro to WordPress
   Intro to the Admin Panel*
   Resources
   Closing
   Questions
   

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5. What is WordPress?
   

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6. Diving into WordPress
   What is WordPress?
   WordPress.com vs.
   WordPress.org
   Content Management
   System vs Blog
   What is it used for?
   http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
   

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7. What Can WordPress Do?
   

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8. Blog
   http://julienchung.com/blog/
   

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9. CMS+Blog
   http://www.boxofcrayons.biz/
   

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10. CMS
    http://mygirlfriend.ca/
    

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11. CMS
    http://www.thewittyoffice.com
    

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12. Magazine
    

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13. Photo Portfolio
    http://www.silviaphotography.com/
    

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14. Video Portfolio
    http://www.presner.com
    

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15. Audio Portfolio
    

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16. Interactive
    

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17. Which WordPress Do I
    Need?
    

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18. WordPress for Every Budget
    Step 1:
    Hosted by WordPress.com
    Theme via WordPress.com
    Managed by WordPress.com
    (free or $25/year)
    

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19. WordPress for Every Budget
    Step 2:
    Self-Hosted
    Ready-Made Theme
    Self-Managed
    

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20. WordPress for Every Budget
    Step 3:
    Self-Hosted
    Custom Theme
    Managed by Freelancer/Small Agency
    

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21. WordPress for Every Budget
    Step 4:
    Hosted by Large Agency/Self-Hosted
    Custom Theme
    Managed by Large Agency
    $20,000-100,000+
    

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22. WordPress for Every Budget
    Step 5:
    VIP Cloud Hosting
    Custom Theme
    $50,000/year minimum
    

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23. Intro to WordPress
    

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24. 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
    

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25. Posts vs. Pages
    Page
    

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26. Posts vs. Pages
    Post
    

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27. Posts vs. Pages
    Posts
    

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28. Introduction to Themes
    A Theme is a collection of Template files -
    (X)HTML + PHP + CSS
    The CSS (aka stylesheets) usually control 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
    

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30. http://www.lonelythebook.com/emily-white-author/
    

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31. Get Started with a Blank Theme
    _s (underscores)
    http://www.underscores.me
    Starkers
    http://viewportindustries.com/products/starkers/
    DIW Blank Theme
    http://themeclubhouse.digwp.com/
    Whiteboard
    http://whiteboardframework.com/
    Roots
    http://www.rootstheme.com/
    Bluelime Media
    http://www.bluelimemedia.com/2012/07/14/bluelime-media-stater-theme-now-in-3-
    flavours/
    HTML5 Boilerplate
    https://github.com/iamamused/wp-theme-html5-boilerplate
    

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32. 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/
    

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33. Introduction to Plugins
    What is a plug-in?
    Where do you get plug-ins?
    http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
    

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34. Managing Plug-ins
    

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35. Introduction to Widgets
    What is a
    widget?
    What is a
    widget-ready
    theme?
    http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Widgets
    

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36. Intro to the Admin Panel
    

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37. The Admin Panel
    Let’s go spelunking!
    

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38. WordPress Resources
    

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39. Official Resources
    wordpress.org (of course!)
    The Codex
    http://codex.wordpress.org/
    Support Forum
    http://wordpress.org/support
    WordPress.tv
    http://wordpress.tv/
    

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40. 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
    

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41. Theme Development Tools
    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
    

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42. WordPress Inspiration
    Official WordPress
    Showcase
    http://wordpress.org/showcase/
    We Love WP
    http://welovewp.com/
    WPInspiration
    http://wpinspiration.com/
    WP Float
    http://wpfloat.com/
    

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43. Recommended Plugins
    Backup
    WP-DB-Backup
    SEO
    WordPress SEO by Yoast
    Caching
    WP Super Cache
    Performance
    WP Minify, WP-smushit
    Security
    Limit Login Attempts
    Spam Protection
    Akismet, Bad Behaviour
    Email Obfuscator
    php-enkoder
    Contact Form
    Contact Form 7
    Social Sharing
    Jetpack
    Analytics, RSS, Forms
    

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44. Closing
    

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45. Questions?
    What Next?
    Get the presentation
    http://speakerdeck.com/cafenoirdesign
    Find Shannon
    http://www.cafenoirdesign.com
    Twitter @cafenoirdesign
    Special thanks to Kathryn Presner, who helped prepare this presentation.
    http://www.zoonini.com
    

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