This document provides an overview of building a website using WordPress. It discusses the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, and recommends using WordPress.org for self-hosted sites to have full control. It also lists the basic tools needed like a domain name, web hosting, code editor, FTP client, and image editor. Additionally, it covers installing WordPress, selecting themes, plugins, and settings as well as resources for learning more about using WordPress for websites.
3. Powerful tools at your disposal
Relatively easy to build
Robust Content Management
System (CMS)
Open Source
4. Static versus Dynamic Sites
Which Flavor of WordPress?
Key Components of a WordPress
Site
Pages, Permalinks and Posts… Oh
My!
5. WordPress.com WordPress.org
Hosted at Self-hosted
WordPress.com Your Domain:
blogging service “yoursite.com”
WordPress Domain: Total control of
“yoursite.wordpress. your site
com” Download / install
Less control: can’t latest version
use plugins, your Discussion forums
own ads
Browse the Codex
(documentation)
“Real” designers
/developers
No usage
restrictions at all.
“Free” Professional
6. Domain Name
Web Host
Text / Code Editor
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Program
Image Editor
Webmasters Tools Kit
[http://www.leveltendesign.com/
wtk ]
7. Register a domain name such
as rudyduke.com
www.Hostway.com or
www.Godaddy.com or
www.HostGator.com are good
choices for registering domains.
◦ Cost is around $10 per year.
◦ At such a low price, consider purchasing
the “yoursite.com”, “yoursite.org” and
even “yoursite.net” versions.
Select a domain name that:
◦ Represents what your site is about;
◦ Is as short (25 letters or less) as possible, and
◦ Contains real words that are easy to spell.
8. Owning a domain name is half of the
equation. Now you need a web
server to “host” your domain.
Hosting is more expensive than
domain names, but for low to
medium traffic sites, even basic
hosting plans are adequate.
HostGator.com and GoDaddy.com
start at $3 - $5 per month.
Don’t ever skimp on hosting:
◦ Pick a professional, reliable host that offers great
tech support via multiple media
(web/chat/phone) and can usually get all issues
resolved via text chat in less than 15 minutes.
◦ You get hundreds of professional email boxes
(and can loose that AOL email address)
◦ You can host a WordPress or other CMS site
◦ You can host an e-Commerce site
9. You don’t really need a
WYSIWYG editor like
Dreamweaver
Use a real Code Editor
Several to choose from that are
free of inexpensive (< $60)
Notepad++ (www.notepad-plus-
plus.org) is a free source code
editor for MS Windows
jEdit is a mature programmer's
text editor for MACs
10. You’ll need an FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) software program to
connect to your web server and
transfer files back and forth from your
computer
File transfer is all you need, but some
programs offer more
Several to choose from that are free
or inexpensive
FileZilla (http://filezilla-project.org/ )is
a free program that is all you need
whether Windows or MAC
11. You’ll need an image editor to
prepare graphics for your
WordPress site
Although WordPress does a good
job of optimizing and resizing
graphics, you often need original
graphics to be in the right
proportion for sliders and such
Free/Inexpensive Image Editors:
◦ Color Schemer:
www.colorschemer.com/online.html
◦ GIMP:
◦ Photoshop Elements (<$100)
Premium
◦ Adobe CS5.5 Web Premium
12. You MUST see what your site looks
like in all the major browsers, so
it’s a good idea to download
them to your system
◦ Firefox (FF3.0+)
Most Popular amongst Web Designers
for Developers’ add-ons
Latest version is FF4.0
◦ Internet Explorer (IE7+) – Latest version
is IE9.0
◦ Google Chrome
◦ Safari (Mac and iDivices)
◦ Opera (prettiest)
13. Webmasters Tools Kit
◦ [http://www.leveltendesign.com/wtk
] is a compilation of many of the
aforementioned
ColorPix:
◦ http://colorschemer.com/colorpix_inf
o.php
◦ ColorPix is a neat little app that will let
you grab the color values and screen
coordinates at any pixel on your
screen.
15. Business Requirements &
Objectives
Picking the Perfect Theme
Picking Powerful Plugins
Categories and Tags
Permalinks: Your URL Structure
Users and Administrators
16. Things to look for in a theme
Where to find free themes
Where to buy premium themes
17.
18. There are certain features that all
themes should have:
◦ Navigation
◦ Theme Options
◦ Widget Ready
◦ The Functionality you need for each
project
◦ Source files for customization
19. Free themes are normally not as
feature-rich as paid/premium themes;
but there are many free themes that
are better than some paid themes
◦ WordPress.org Theme Library -
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
◦ Smashing Magazine -
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/tag/
wordpress/
◦ http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/201
0/08/19/100-free-high-quality-wordpress-
themes-for-2010/#more-51885
◦ Google -
http://www.google.com/search?q=wordpr
ess+themes
◦ Digging Into WordPress Theme Clubhouse
http://themeclubhouse.digwp.com/
A sample free theme:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2
011/05/30/free-wordpress-3-1-theme-
splendio-with-psd-sources/
21. The WordPress Plugin Repository
Installing and Activating Plugins
22.
23.
24. 300+ Resources to Become an Expert
◦ http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/09/300-
resources-to-help-you-become-a-wordpress-expert/
Book: Digging Into WordPress
◦ http://digwp.com/book/
Major WordPress Update (3.2) due out June 30th
◦ http://www.sitepoint.com/seven-things-you-should-know-
about-wordpress-3-2/
Editor's Notes
Since we are working with the self-hosted version of WordPress, we are going to need an environment to work. That’s what “self” means – bring your own environment. The first step is getting a domain name such as rudyduke.com. Hostway.com is a good choice for purchasing domains. Cost is around $8 per year. At such a low price, consider purchasing the “yoursite.com”, “yoursite.org” and even “yoursite.net” versions. Select a domain name that:Represents what your site is about; Is as short (25 letters or less) as possible, and Contains real words that are easy to spell.
Owning a domain name is half of the equation. Now you need a web server to point that domain toward. The web server will then do its thing and serve up your website. You don’t need to buy your domain and hosting at the same place, and in fact, we advise against it. For example, a hosting company doesn’t have a whole lot of incentive to offer you support in moving your hosting to a different server, should that ever become necessary. Hosting is more expensive than domain names, but for low to medium traffic sites, even basic hosting plans are adequate. RudyDuke.com is hosted at HostGator for $5 per month. Don’t skimp on hosting; pick a professional, reliable host that offers great tech support via multiple media (web/chat/phone). We can usually get all issues resolved via text chat in less than 15 minutes.
A Text EditorTo do things yourself, you need the tools of the trade that will facilitate getting your hands dirty.Your FrontPage / Dreamweaver days are over. WYSIWYG editors will be of no use to you while building dynamic, WordPress-powered websites. You are better than that anyway. We are going to get our hands dirty with real code, so you need to be using a real code editor. Here is a summary of some of the better code editors currently available: Mac TextMate$59 http://digwp.com/u/231 Mac TextWranglerFree http://digwp.com/u/232 PC UltraEdit$49 http://digwp.com/u/233 PC Notepad++ Free http://digwp.com/u/234 Both jEditFree http://digwp.com/u/235 FTP Program To connect to your web server and transfer files back and forth from your computer, you’ll need some FTP software. If the program transfers files, you are good to go, but some also have swell features you may be interested in. You make the call. Mac Transmit $29 http://digwp.com/u/236 Mac Fetch Free http://digwp.com/u/237 PC WS_FTP $34 http://digwp.com/u/238 PC AutoFTPFree http://digwp.com/u/239 Both FileZillaFree http://digwp.com/u/240 Both FireFTPFree http://digwp.com/u/414
FTP Program To connect to your web server and transfer files back and forth from your computer, you’ll need some FTP software. If the program transfers files, you are good to go, but some also have swell features you may be interested in. You make the call. Mac Transmit $29 http://digwp.com/u/236 Mac Fetch Free http://digwp.com/u/237 PC WS_FTP $34 http://digwp.com/u/238 PC AutoFTP Free http://digwp.com/u/239 Both FileZilla Free http://digwp.com/u/240 Both FireFTP Free http://digwp.com/u/414
A Text EditorTo do things yourself, you need the tools of the trade that will facilitate getting your hands dirty.Your FrontPage / Dreamweaver days are over. WYSIWYG editors will be of no use to you while building dynamic, WordPress-powered websites. You are better than that anyway. We are going to get our hands dirty with real code, so you need to be using a real code editor. Here is a summary of some of the better code editors currently available: Mac TextMate$59 http://digwp.com/u/231 Mac TextWranglerFree http://digwp.com/u/232 PC UltraEdit$49 http://digwp.com/u/233 PC Notepad++ Free http://digwp.com/u/234 Both jEditFree http://digwp.com/u/235 FTP Program To connect to your web server and transfer files back and forth from your computer, you’ll need some FTP software. If the program transfers files, you are good to go, but some also have swell features you may be interested in. You make the call. Mac Transmit $29 http://digwp.com/u/236 Mac Fetch Free http://digwp.com/u/237 PC WS_FTP $34 http://digwp.com/u/238 PC AutoFTPFree http://digwp.com/u/239 Both FileZillaFree http://digwp.com/u/240 Both FireFTPFree http://digwp.com/u/414
A Text EditorTo do things yourself, you need the tools of the trade that will facilitate getting your hands dirty.Your FrontPage / Dreamweaver days are over. WYSIWYG editors will be of no use to you while building dynamic, WordPress-powered websites. You are better than that anyway. We are going to get our hands dirty with real code, so you need to be using a real code editor. Here is a summary of some of the better code editors currently available: Mac TextMate$59 http://digwp.com/u/231 Mac TextWranglerFree http://digwp.com/u/232 PC UltraEdit$49 http://digwp.com/u/233 PC Notepad++ Free http://digwp.com/u/234 Both jEditFree http://digwp.com/u/235 FTP Program To connect to your web server and transfer files back and forth from your computer, you’ll need some FTP software. If the program transfers files, you are good to go, but some also have swell features you may be interested in. You make the call. Mac Transmit $29 http://digwp.com/u/236 Mac Fetch Free http://digwp.com/u/237 PC WS_FTP $34 http://digwp.com/u/238 PC AutoFTPFree http://digwp.com/u/239 Both FileZillaFree http://digwp.com/u/240 Both FireFTPFree http://digwp.com/u/414