This is from session one of my Wordpress Workshop for AIGA San Diego.

1. Web Wizards
W ordpress Workshop
2012
San Die go, March/April
By Rob Marlb rough, for AIGA

2. About Me: townRob)
ob Marlbrou gh (@Down
R
● Owner of Web Wizards Hosting
(@WebWizards), in business since 1997
http://webwizards.net/
● Co-founder of Fandom Marketing,
(@FandomMarketing), social media strategy
and consulting firm
http://fandommarketing.com/
● Created Minglestream, (@Minglestream) a
tweetwall for live events
http://minglestream.com/

3. Wordpress Experience
My
● Using Wordpress since 2005
● Tech Support for hundreds of Wordpress
hosting customers over many years
● Dozens and dozens of Wordpress client
projects (installations, administration,
customizations, implementation, etc.)

4. Wo rkshop One
1st of a 4-part series. What we'll cover:
● Wordpress Overview
● Dashboard Overview
● Theme Overview
● Multisite Overview
● Q&A

5. Wordpres s Overview
Born from a blogging system in 2003, now it's
no longer just for blogs!
● Decent at v1.5 (2005)
● Good at v2.0 (2005-2007)
● Great at v3.0 (2010-present)
Powers CNN, New York Times, TechCrunch

6. W ordpress.c om vs .org
Wordpress.com:
● Free hosting, with basic upgrades
● Cannot upload custom themes or plugins
Wordpress.org:
● Free, open-source download
● Get a web host, full control over your site
● Upload anything, customize everything

7. Wo rdpress CMS
Benefits of using Wordpress as a CMS:
● Easy to build with... (easy being relative)
● Easy for end-users to make changes
● Easy to find themes/developers
● Easy SEO optimization
● Easy categorized/tagged content
● Easy to add functionality via plugins
Easiest CMS to build, customize, use!

8. Dashboar d Overview
Four main areas
● Toolbar (top)
● Navigation Menu (left)
● Work Area (middle)
● Footer (bottom)

9. D ashboard S creenshot

10. Dashb oard Menu
Home: Overview of content and discussions.
Posts: Write, edit, trash all blog posts.
Media: Upload, edit, trash media files.
Pages: Write, edit, trash static pages.
Comments: Approve, mark, trash comments.
Appearance: Themes, Widgets, Custom Menus.
Plugins: Install, activate, delete plugins.
Settings: All site and plugin settings.

11. hboard Cus tomizations
Das
Plugins available to:
● white-label the dashboard & login (MyBrand
plugin)
● Minimize user's views of dashboard menus
(Adminimize plugin)
● Change colors, themes, add ajax menus,
etc...

12. Theme Overview
Themes are prepackaged Wordpress files that
control the look & feel, colors, & placement
of all the site content.
Differs from HTML/CSS sites:
● The styling and placement is stored in the
theme, all content is stored in the database
● Swapping themes out is easy
● PHP functions embedded within HTML

13. omponents of a theme
C
A theme is a group of template files, (X)HTML
+ PHP + CSS files.
● index.php and style.css are mandatory.
Other files usually included:
● header.php, footer.php, page.php, single.
php, sidebar.php, comments.php, etc
http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development
http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy

14. T heme Cust omizations
Modifying a 3rd party theme?
● Easily create a child theme, add
customizations
● Child theme CSS overrides parent theme
● Upgrading the parent theme is still possible
● Create page template files for unique page
designs
http://codex.wordpress.org/Pages
http://codex.wordpress.org/Stepping_Into_Templates

15. Multis ite Overview
Wordpress Multisite is an easy way to manage
multiple web sites under one WP installation.
FYI, used to be named MultiUser (WPMU)
Benefits:
● Single login to access multiple sites
● Single hosting account for multiple sites
(host should support domain aliases)
● Centralized admin of plugins, themes,
users, authors, etc.

16. Multisite and clients
Easily support multiple clients and their sites
from one installation... managed Wordpress:
● Each client can have access to only their
web site
● You can have access to everyone's web site
● You manage their plugins and themes, etc
● They can manage their content themselves

17. Turn o n Multisite
Enabling Multisite is easy, by editing the wp-
config.php file.
Some caveats to mind:
● Setup is easy, but detailed
● Deactivate all plugins
● Add this line to wp-config.php:
define('WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true);
● Follow the steps in the new Network Setup
menu under Tools

18. of Tips: Se ssion One
Summary
Get comfortable with Wordpress, be
innovative, create services that compliment
it's use.
● Use child themes to customize themes so
the parent theme can still be upgraded.
● Use multisite for easy centralized
management of multiple web sites.
● Ask questions first, when possible.

19. ant More W ordpress?
W
My Wordpress Workshops on Meetup.com
(ongoing every 6 weeks):
http://meetup.com/webhelp/
WordCamp San Diego, March 24th-25th:
http://sandiego.wordcamp.org/
Facebook Groups... WP Users Group: http://on.fb.
me/wpusersgroup
Advanced WP: http://on.fb.me/advancedwp
Wordpress.org: http://codex.wordpress.org/

20. Q&A
Thanks!
Any questions?