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Intro to the Web

1Monday, September 21, 2009

Topics- Intro to the Web, Intro to Wordpress, and a word on Edublogs.

The Web as it WASHTML: Hyper Text Markup language

The language that your web browser can speak.


This is an example of the web as we may have learned about it in High School HTML Class. The down side was that everythign was coded by hand, and each element (say, a headline with the word “News”) had to be styled individually. This took forever, and everything was stagnant.

The Web TodayCSS: Cascading Style SheetsPHP: Hypertext Processor

SQL (Sequel): Manages the “stuff”

They work together (with others).


This is an abridged list, but for beginners purposes, its a good place to start. These things make the web DYNAMIC, and allow all the cool stuff we love about the beb today.

CSSHow your stuff looks


Think of CSS as the designer’s swatchbook. CSS establishes what your site looks like. You set up “Classes” of objects, and assign them a set of attributes. Then, instead of styling each element by hand, you just make it part of that class and it gets ALL the attributes (atributes like size, color, font, ect.)

SQL (Sequel)Where your stuff lives.


SQL is your filing cabinet online. It stores the data of your website or blog (data like posts, pictures, tags, videos ect.)

PHPThe HTML Machine

+


PHP is a programming language, but its a one-trick-pony. It only knows how to write HTML. It goes and gets stuff from SQL, grabs the appropriate CSS and then combins them to print the proper HTML.

How it works...


PHP

SQL

CSS

HTML(What you see)


Extra Terms

HTTPFront-endBack-endUI (GUI)

WYSIWYGadmin

permissionsFlash

JavaScriptweb 2.0


HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer ProtocolFront End: the user/visitor side of a siteBack-end: the andinistration side of a siteUI(GUI)- User Interface, or Graphical User Interface (pronounced gooey)WYSIWYG- (pronounced wizzywig) means What You See Is What You Get, it is a visual kind of website editor that allows you to see what the finished product will look like, rather than the “code”Admin- a website administratorPermissions- varied levels of administrative accessFlash- Kind of dynamic content written in its own language- bad for search engines, sometimes cool lookingJavaScript- web language that runs certain kinds of web stuffweb 2.0- web protocol that enables certain new levels of interactivity (think google maps)

So, thats a lot of Shit.


CMSContent Management System


Wordpress is our CMS of choice

PHP

SQL

CSS

HTML(What you see)


PHPSQLCSS


wordpress translates commands you give it into the correct actions for CSS, SQL and PHP so that it all “just works”


Wordpress manipulates the code so that it is changeable by a pretty and intuitive panel called “the dashboard”

In the Wordpress World

Your Stuff lives in SQL

But its CALLED: Posts, Media, Links, Pages ect.


In the Wordpress World

Your have a CSS Swatchbook

But its CALLED:

Your Theme.


World of Wordpress17Monday, September 21, 2009

3 Flavors

wordpress.com

wordpress MU

wordpress.org


Wordpress.com“Instant Blog”

wordpress.ilovekittens.com


this is similar to blogger ect. you just sign up and your blog is all ready.

Wordpress MUAdministrate several of blogs, make

them cohesive.

(e.g. WSJ properties)


This is for organizations that want several blogs but want to display data and posts from them all on one main page.

Wordpress.org100% Delicious

As simple as you want.

ilovekittens.com


this is designed for an individual user to make use of the power and ease of Wordpress CMS, but be able to make as many changes/customizations as their skills allow. I can be as simple as wordpress.com, or as complicated as you can imagine.

Edublogshsblogs.stanford.edu/yourname/

- flexibility for the users+ admin rights for Comm Staff.


lots more on this later... short story, we, as J students, will have to use these too.

Wordpress.orgIts cool because its not just a knife...

Its Expandable.


Wordpress.org makes use of plugins and widgets (more on those later) to be expandable.

Intro to WordpressTerms and User Interface


Terms

PostPage

CategoriesMediaThemePluginsWidgets


Post: content added to the site desgned to be periodic and short lived in importance (like a blog post)Page: A location on the site that will have more static info (like “About Me”Categories: a sort of filing system for articles-have as many or as few as you wantMedia: Movies, Audio, PicturesTheme: The syle sheet that tells you wordpress site how to lookPlugins: stand-alone pieces of code that attach to wordpress to give it a new functionality- like adding a calendar to your site. Widgets: the front-facing side of a plugin- a new functionality added to the site to benefit the user experience.

Plugins & WidgetsThis is why we like wordpress.


Plugins and Widgets are how we extend Wordpress from a basic blog into a pull featured web presence.

Plugins, Widgets and Themes

As of Today:

Plugins & Widgets: 6,651Themes: 982

JUST through wordpress.org


lots of options... also, there is a whole industry devoted to making custom wordpress themes, so if its not out there, you can have it made.

Setting up wordpress.org total flexibility and at yourname.com


Now some info about setting up your own website with wordpress, first some terms.

Host ServerYour remote hard drive


This is the physical location where your data lives.

FTPFile Transfer Protocol

How you put stuff on your server


This is a way of acessing that data when it lives on the server.

Domainwww.you.com


your name online (mine is withdrake.com)

http://www.you.com

http://www.you.com

How it works...


Back-end

Front-end

Host Server

Your Computer

FTPServer

Web Visitor

FTPClient

Admin

Web Browser

How the world interacts with your website.

Domain Name

FTPServer

AdminPanel

http://www.ilovekittens.com


overly complicated diagram



So what do we do next?

1. Register a Domain2. Sign up with Hosting ($5-$6/month)3. Install Wordpress (easy)4. Have a popsicle.


Strap in, we’re gonna do it.


This is where we (in the meeting) set up a full wordpress install. It took about 10 mins.

Next time we will go over widgets, plugins, multi-media management, content production and developer tools. Stay tuned. next Blog-Luck is on Sunday, Jan 27th.

http://www.hostmonster.com





























http://www.hostmonster.com/

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