wordpress case study: john ritter research program
DESCRIPTION
This is the original presentation I gave at the WordPress Houston Meetup on 2/21/2011 about a WordPress Case Study.TRANSCRIPT
WORDPRESS CASE STUDYjohnritterresearchprogram.orgbit.ly/ritterrules
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
GoalsLessons Learned
Key FeaturesImplementation
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WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
Designer/Developer for Office of Communications at
The UT Medical School at Houston... a non-profit, full-service creative resource
in the Texas Medical Center.
Office of Communications:
facebook.com/utooc
This presentation: slidesha.re/estfxq
HOWDY!
Eric Raschericrasch.com
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
GOALSProvide platform for different types
of content + interactivity
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WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
PURPLEand a bit of burnt orange
GOALSProvide platform for different types
of content + interactivity
Carry design themes over from supporting organizations.
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WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
2WEEKSall within
GOALSProvide platform for different types
of content + interactivity
Carry design themes over from supporting organizations.
Launch before book tour
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WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
GOALSProvide platform for different types
of content + interactivity
Carry design themes over from supporting organizations.
Launch before book tour
Stay within budget
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DUH!
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
GOALSProvide platform for different types
of content + interactivity
Carry design themes over from supporting organizations.
Launch before book tour
Stay within budget
Client wants it 'easy-to-update'!
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THANK YOU
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
GOALSProvide platform for different types
of content + interactivity
Carry design themes over from supporting organizations.
Launch before book tour
Stay within budget
Client wants it 'easy-to-update'!
Developer wants it easy-to-update... code... design... extend... upgrade...
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THANK YOU
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
Footer linksDynamically displayed from central repository.
Pop-up FormsUsed for reporting website errors, etc. (jQuery + Gravity Forms).
PluginsLet’s take a look under the hood...
KEY FEATURES
Homepage Featured PostThrough Categories (vs. Sticky Posts).
Regular pages are... PagesNo need to complicate things.
News & Blog pagesAgain, Posts controlled through Categories.
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WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
Footer linksDynamically displayed from central repository.
Pop-up FormsUsed for reporting website errors, etc. (jQuery + Gravity Forms).
PluginsLet’s take a look under the hood...
KEY FEATURES
Homepage Featured PostThrough Categories (vs. Sticky Posts).
Regular pages are... PagesNo need to complicate things.
News & Blog pagesAgain, Posts controlled through Categories.
2
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
Footer linksDynamically displayed from central repository.
Pop-up FormsUsed for reporting website errors, etc. (jQuery + Gravity Forms).
PluginsLet’s take a look under the hood...
KEY FEATURES
Homepage Featured PostThrough Categories (vs. Sticky Posts).
Regular pages are... PagesNo need to complicate things.
News & Blog pagesAgain, Posts controlled through Categories.
2
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
Footer linksDynamically displayed from central repository.
Pop-up FormsUsed for reporting website errors, etc. (jQuery + Gravity Forms).
PluginsLet’s take a look under the hood...
KEY FEATURES
Homepage Featured PostThrough Categories (vs. Sticky Posts).
Regular pages are... PagesNo need to complicate things.
News & Blog pagesAgain, Posts controlled through Categories.
2
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
Footer linksDynamically displayed from central repository.
Pop-up FormsUsed for reporting website errors, etc. (jQuery + Gravity Forms).
PluginsLet’s take a look under the hood...
KEY FEATURES
Homepage Featured PostThrough Categories (vs. Sticky Posts).
Regular pages are... PagesNo need to complicate things.
News & Blog pagesAgain, Posts controlled through Categories.
2
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
KEY FEATURES2
Gravity FormsMailChimp add-onBroken Link CheckerW3 Total CacheGoogle Analytics [Yoast’s]
Analytics 360SEO UltimateCustom SidebarsWP No Category Base
Don’t forget...SecurityExploits Anti-spamBackup
(Plugins in-use)
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WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
Have content ready before anything else
Make sure the system is easy to teach someone else.
Client hasn't caught on to News vs. Blog
(remove/simplify confusing features)
Educate your client on modern web design practices
(the click 'here' issue)
Have a game-plan on the who/what/how regarding
content & features.
Be prepared to react when news events & opportunities
mirror your mission.
Don't wait on management to make decisions.
(unless you'll get fired for it)
The project push doesn’t end when the website launches.
LESSONS LEARNED3
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
IMPLEMENTATION4
!"#$%&'()*+
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
IMPLEMENTATION4
!"#$%&'()*+
Content Management(a CMS? Gasp!)
Coding Framework
Layout Framework
Cool Stuff Framework
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
“[Choosing jQuery] is like choosing
the guitar. If you’re going to pick an
instrument to play, the guitar’s a cool
one to choose, because there’s so much
information about it out there. There’s
a lot more [Google] results for guitar tabs and jQuery tutorials than there are
for banjo tabs and MooTools tutorials.”
Chris Coyiercss-tricks.com
WHY?
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
Results...
WHY?Flexible platforms
for coding/design/hosting
Updated often
Easy to update/upgrade
Easy to understand
Trusted & Proven
Tutorials galore
Strong communities
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
Results...
Built 9 Days90+ contacts7 submissions170+ signups80% spikes0 downtime
WHY?Flexible platforms
for coding/design/hosting
Updated often
Easy to update/upgrade
Easy to understand
Trusted & Proven
Tutorials galore
Strong communities
WORDPRESS CASE STUDY by ERIC RASCHWORDPRESS HOUSTON MEETUP on FEBRUARY 21, 2011
THANK YOU!John Ritter
Research Program @EricRasch @TheOOC
at work 8
everywhere else8
http://ericrasch.com/ http://med.uth.tmc.edu/comm/http://bit.ly/ritterrules
Check it out!8
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qr Codes 88