Transcript WordPress.com (free)

Instructional Technology & Design Office
[email protected]
217-244-4903 or 800-377-1892
Start the Presses!
Using Wordpress for Website Design
Presented by Laura Miller
Overview of WordPress
Website Builder
1.
2.
3.
4.
Non-Blogging Possibilities of WordPress
Content Management Systems
Levels of WordPress’ Flexibility
Fighting with the Interface
• Free WordPress sites
• Freemium WordPress sites
• Full Domain Management of a WordPress site
What Do You Want to Do
With WordPress?
Non-Blogging Examples
Bonner Springs City Library
http://www.bonnerlibrary.org/
365awesomedesigners
http://365awesomedesigners.com/
Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland
http://kansasgirlscouts.org/
DC Diaper Bank
http://www.dcdiaperbank.org/
How to Draw App
http://howtodrawapp.com/
Content Management
Systems (CMSs)
•
Manages pictures, video, audio, page layouts,
etc. for easy collaboration with other users
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Uses PHP, MySQL, CSS, HTML, etc. without
you having to know about them
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Other examples of CMSs:
• Drupal
• Omeka
• Joomla!
Why choose WordPress
as a CMS?
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Ease of Collaboration
Rich community of users
& documentation
Ease of setup
Flexible!
Commonly used by
employers
Stepping stone to more
a complex CMS
Why choose WordPress
as a CMS?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ease of Collaboration
Rich community of users
& documentation
Ease of setup
Flexible!
Commonly used by
employers
Stepping stone to more
a complex CMS
•
•
It can get complicated
It is limited
Publish Illinois
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www.publish.illinois.edu
Expires after graduating
Modifying Your Site
What you can do depends on where the site
lives
WordPress.com (free)
WordPress.com (paid)
WordPress.org (free*with your own hosting space)
WordPress.com (free)
Quick and Easy!
Never goes down
Always backed up
Potential for extra traffic
from tied-in WordPress
community
It gets you started!
No $$$ Commitment
WordPress.com (free)
Quick and Easy!
•
Never goes down
•
Always backed up
•
Potential for extra traffic •
from tied-in WordPress •
community
It gets you started!
No $$$ Commitment
No plug-ins
Possible Ads
No PHP customization
No customized themes
Less professional web
address
yourblogname.wordpress.com
vs
yourblogname.org or .com
WordPress.com (paid)
Quick and Easy!
Never goes down
Always backed up
Potential for extra traffic
from tied-in WordPress
community
It gets you started!
CSS customization
Pro web address
WordPress.com (paid)
Quick and Easy!
Never goes down
Always backed up
• No plug-ins
• No PHP customization
Potential for extra traffic
from tied-in WordPress
community
It gets you started!
CSS customization
Pro web address
• Some customized themes
• Moderate $$$ investment
WordPress.org (paid)
Infinity customization
Fully customizable
themes
Fantastic for building
technical experience
WordPress.org (paid)
Infinity customization • Infinity customization
• $$$ investment for
Fully customizable
managing your own
themes
domain
Fantastic for building • No tech support
technical experience • No automatic backups
Modifying Your Site
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Themes
Content
Menus & Pages
Widgets
Plug-ins
Mobile
Questions?