From Zero to Wordpress in 60 Minutes @ Manchester NLPN

I gave a brief introduction to Wordpress at the 1st "Manchester New Library Professionals Network" meeting. A blog post (the Wordpress blog was set up as a consequence of this talk) about the event can be found here: http://manchesternlpn.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/getting-the-ball-rolling-2/

Transcript

1. 30 June 2012 From Zero to Wordpress in 60 Minutes Samantha Bail, Manchester Girl Geeks
2. Me, me, me! ✤ In Manchester since 2008 ✤ BSc in Media Informatics ✤ MSc in Advanced Computer Science ✤ PhD student in Computer Science ✤ = never had a job. ✤ Co-founder of Manchester Girl Geeks
3. Overview ✤ The Internet (GASP!) ✤ What is Wordpress? ✤ The famous 5 minute install in 15 minutes. ✤ Content management with Wordpress ✤ Prettification
4. How does “the internet” work?
5. What is being served? ✤ The core of (almost) every web page you see is HTML ✤ HTML can be created statically (write it in a text editor)... ✤ ... or dynamically, e.g. with a “scripting” language (PHP, JSP...) ✤ Browser “understands” HTML and renders it ✤ Can be styled with CSS
6. Stop! Demo time.
7. Content Management Systems ✤ Web content changes all the time! ✤ Writing a blog directly in HTML is possible but... sigh... yawn... ✤ ... which is why there exist reusable frameworks! ✤ CMS = (usually) a database + set of scripts ✤ takes care of adding, storing, modifying and removing content ✤ displaying the (styled) content to visitors
8. Wordpress ✤ Wordpress is such a Content Management System ✤ MySQL database + PHP scripts ✤ It’s free and Open Source ✤ Two options: ✤ wordpress.com - hosted by them, but limited customisation ✤ wordpress.org - install WP on your own webspace
9. The famous 5 minute install: Prep! ✤ You need (all from the same provider or separate) ✤ webspace (PHP-ready) ✤ a database management system (e.g. MySQL) ✤ a domain name ✤ (I’m using krystal.co.uk’s “amethyst” package) ✤ an FTP client (e.g. Cyberduck, ...)
10. The famous 5 minute install: Go! ✤ Instructions: http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress 1. Download Wordpress + unzip 2. Create database + user (in phpMyAdmin) 3. Open wp-config.php in text editor & fill in database details 4. Upload folder to your webspace (using an FTP client or cPanel) 5. Go to www.mysite.com/wp-admin/install.php 6. Congratulations, you now have a working Wordpress install!
11. Stop! Demo time.
12. Managing content with Wordpress ✤ Content can be added in the admin area of your Wordpress install ✤ Posts: e.g. blog posts, news... - all on one page, newest first ✤ Pages: “static” pages in menu, e.g. “About me”, “Contact” ✤ Categories, tags: organise content ✤ Widgets: e.g. Twitter feed, calendar, tags, ...
13. Prettification ✤ Different options to modify look & feel: ✤ Use existing theme “out of the box” ✤ Use existing theme with “theme options” ✤ Use existing theme and modify CSS and/or PHP ✤ Build theme from scratch ✤ Hint: Changing layout can be very tricky
14. Last demo!
15. That’s it! ✤ Check out http://wordpress.com and http://wordpress.org ✤ Thousands of themes: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ ✤ Other CMS: ✤ http://drupal.org/ ✤ http://www.joomla.org/ ✤ http://typo3.org/ (very, very powerful)
16. Want to become a Wordpress pro? ✤ Omniversity (at MadLab) are running a Wordpress workshop! ✤ Led by Mike Little, co-founder of Wordpress ✤ 7th and 8th July, £200 for two days incl. food and drinks ✤ http://omniversity.madlab.org.uk/