introduction to wordpress

Tim Riley – An introduction to WordPress

Introduction to WordPress

WordPress is the largest blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people

every day



It is free to use and open-source


What is open-source software?

•Computer software that gives access to the source code

•Uses a free and open source licenses (non-proprietary)



•Developed out of the free software movement •A social and political movement with the goal of ensuring

software users’ basic freedoms •The freedom to use it, to study and change it, and to redistribute

it free of charge.



• Free to use

• Free to redistribute

• Access to and modification of source code

• Distribution of License - rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed (no overall ownership)

• Often developed in a public, collaborative manner


Examples of open-source software


The Cathedral & the Bazaar

The Cathedral model: In which source code is available with each software release, but code developed between releases is restricted to an exclusive group of software developers.

The Bazaar model: In which the code is developed over the Internet in view of the public.

Two free free software development models


Advantages of open-source software

• Affordability - free to use, free to update

• Perpetuity of access through open standard – sustainable

• Interoperability - compatibility with other systems

• Localism - cheap access to technology helps build local economies with less reliance on proprietary software

• Can be more reliable - it potentially has thousands of independent programmers testing and fixing bugs in the software


Disadvantages of open-source software

• Lack of sound business model - Difficult to design a commercial business model around the open source model

• Technical requirements may be satisfied but not the ones of the market

• Security - may allow hackers to know the weaknesses in the software

• Difficult to collected data concerning productivity and quality


Open-source software

In 2010 the International Intellectual Property Alliance, an influential lobby group asked the US government to consider open source as the equivalent of piracy.

"Special 301" is a report that examines the "adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights" around the planet - effectively the list of countries that the US government considers enemies of capitalism.

www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/feb/23/opensource-intellectual-property

They requested the US Trade Representative consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil and India for its "Special 301 watchlist" because they use open source software.



• An open source blog tool and publishing platform

• Used as a content management system

• Uses a (cloud) dashboard to administer the site

• Users can re-arrange widgets without editing PHP or HTML code

• Third-party plugins (like apps.) to extend functionality

• Layout and style can be changed with the use of “Themes”

• 1000s of themes are available free and paid for

What is WordPress?



• It was first released on May 27, 2003, by Matt Mullenweg

• As of September 2009, used by 62.8 million website in the US and 202 million websites worldwide

• Version 3.0 had been downloaded over 32.5 million times

• Each version is named after a jazz musician - 3.2 Gershwin

• Used by New York Times, Wall Street Journal and CNN

• Has a large online community through forums

• WordPress is used by 14.9% of all websites and 54% of CMShttp://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all

Info on WordPress


Different versions of WordPress

•Hosted and managed service

•No need to download software, pay for hosting or manage a

web server.

• “Branded” URL like “tim.wordpress.com”

•Limited functionality

•Limited customisation of themes

•Restricted use of CSS

•Can’t use or upload plugins

WordPress.com



WordPress.com



•Self-hosted - need to purchase domain name and register

with a web host (charge)

•Free to download to you computer

•Full functionality

•Access to thousands of third-party themes and plugins

•Full customisation of themes

•Complete control to change the source code

•Requires more technical knowledge to set up and run

than .com

WordPress.org



WordPress.org


WordPress as a Content Management Systems (CMS)

A CMS is a collection of procedures used to manage workflow ina collaborative environment.

The procedures are designed to:

• Allow for a large number of people to contribute to and share

stored data

• Control access to data, based on user roles.

User roles define what information each user can view or edit

• Aid in easy storage and retrieval of data

• Reduce repetitive duplicate input

• Improve the ease of report writing

• Improve communication between users


Data can be defined as almost anything - documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers, scientific data, etcData stored on a database using (open source):

Database Code Server



Data requested and retrieved




Some links:Smashing magazine: http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/2011/07/05/free-wordpress-themes-2011-edition/

WordPress themes: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

WordPress plugins: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

Best WordPress plugins: http://thebestwordpressplugins.com/



Let’s get started!

introduction to wordpress

Education

wordpress wordpress

wordpress free

wordpress computer software

opensource software

open source software

forums wordpress

wordpress affordability

bazaar tim riley