Presentation by adii @ WordPress Cape Town Meetup (28/05/2008). Covers topics about using WordPress as a fully-fledged CMS, as well as alternative uses for WP.

1. alternative uses of wordpress
presented by adii @ wordpress meetup cape town 3

2. what is wordPress?
๏ Blog Platform? Content Management System? No...
๏ At the core? It’s a database with content...
๏ WordPress Admin Interface = Database Manager
๏ You the WordPress user? The Database Controller
๏ WordPress Front-end = Database Aggregator / Display

3. a default wordpress entry
๏ A default WordPress (database) entry consists of...
๏ Unique ID (Computer Identifier)
๏ Title (Human Identifier)
๏ Content & Excerpt
๏ Timestamp (Date & Time)
๏ Category / Tag
๏ Author Details

4. if wordpress was a spreadsheet
By default...
ID Title Content Date Cats / Tags Author
1 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
2 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
3 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
4 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
5 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
6 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
7 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
8 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
9 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
10 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
11 ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

5. if wordpress was a spreadsheet
But what happens if we add something to this sheet??
ID Title Content Date Cats / Tags Author Image
1 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
2 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
3 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
4 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
5 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
6 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
7 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
8 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
9 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
10 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......
11 ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... .......

6. wordpress custom fields
๏ Every WP entry has the ability to add unlimited custom fields
๏ What is a custom field? It is just an identifier (key) with a
value... Eg. Author Image = adii.jpg
๏ Uses unique functions to “call” custom values in WordPress
front-end (theme); needs to be coded initially
๏ What if I had to add 10 custom fields to every entry? Sounds
like hard work... Custom Write Panel Plugin

7. before we get there... what about an example...
๏ So how about an alternative use for WordPress?
๏ Turning WP into a Contact Manager...
๏ What do we need to make it work? Data?
๏ First Name, Last Name, Title
๏ E-mail, Phone, Mobile, Fax
๏ Address
๏ Company
๏ Notes

8. time for a live demo...

9. unique / alternative uses for wordpress
๏ Standard Blog ๏ Corporate CMS
๏ Tumblelog ๏ eCommerce / Shop
๏ Magazine / News Website ๏ Contact Manager
๏ Photoblog / Image Gallery ๏ Project Management
๏ Portfolio ๏ Real Estate Directory
๏ Video Blog ๏ Events Directory / Calendar
๏ Podcasting ๏ Job Listings
๏ Web Chat / Twitter Clone ๏ Newsroom / Public Relations
inspiration: http://performancing.com/blogging-tools/48-unique-ways-use-wordpress

10. some examples...

11. wordpress as a cms
๏ CMS!? Huh!? ... Content Management System
๏ What are the characteristics of a CMS?
๏ Can WordPress function as a fully-fledged CMS?
๏ If not WordPress, what are the alternatives?

12. alternative cms options
๏ Alternative CMS Options
๏ Joomla - http://www.joomla.com - Old School
๏ Drupal - http://www.drupal.org - Improved, perhaps bloated?
๏ Movable Type - http://movabletype.com - Not WP
๏ ExpressionEngine - http://www.expressionengine.com

13. wordpress has cms features
๏ Custom Fields
๏ Page Templates
๏ Multiple Users / Responsibility Levels
๏ Plugins
๏ But these need to be coded...

14. this is why you’will use wordpress instead...
๏ Open Source = Free = Great dev & support community
๏ Regularly updated / upgraded / improved
๏ Latest round of funding of $30m earlier this year, shows
ambition (widespread adoption of corporates shows respect)
๏ bbPress - Integrated discussion forum software
๏ BuddyPress - Distributed Social Network
๏ And... WordPress is nothing other than a CMS!

15. the end.
๏ Blog: http://www.adii.co.za
๏ Company: http://www.radiiate.com
๏ Premium News Themes: http://www.premiumnewstheme.com/
๏ E-mail: adii@adii.co.za
๏ Image Credits: http://iunewind.deviantart.com
๏ WP-Contact Manager: http://designintellection.com/
๏ Demo: http://people.thedesigncanopy.com/
๏ Custom Write Panel: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/custom-write-panel/