Building Your Professional Online Presence Workshop Series
Start the Presses!:WordPress Website Builder
Instructor: Kelsey Bates, TA/GA ITD & Help Desk
Overview of WordPress Website Builder
1. Non-Blogging Possibilities of WordPress2. Content Management Systems3. Levels of WordPress’ Flexibility4. Fighting with the Interface
• Free WordPress sites• Freemium WordPress sites• Full Domain Management of a WordPress site
What Do You Want to Do With WordPress?
Non-Blogging Examples
Content Management Systems (CMSs)
• Manages pictures, video, audio, page layouts, etc. for easy collaboration with other users
• Uses PHP, MySQL, CSS, HTML, etc. without you having to know about them
• Other examples of CMSs:• Drupal• Omeka• Joomla!
Why choose WordPress as a CMS?
• Ease of Collaboration• Rich community of users
& documentation• Ease of setup• Flexible!• Commonly used by
employers• Stepping stone to more
a complex CMS
Why choose WordPress as a CMS?
• Ease of Collaboration• Rich community of users
& documentation• Ease of setup• Flexible!• Commonly used by
employers• Stepping stone to more
a complex CMS
• It can get complicated• It is limited
Publish Illinois
• www.publish.illinois.edu• Expires after graduating
Modifying Your Site
What you can do depends on where the site lives– WordPress.com (free)
– WordPress.com (paid)
– WordPress.org (free*with your own hosting space)
WordPress.com (free)
• Quick and Easy!– Never goes down– Always backed up– Potential for extra
traffic from tied-in WordPress community
• It gets you started!• No $$$ Commitment
WordPress.com (free)
• Quick and Easy!– Never goes down– Always backed up– Potential for extra
traffic from tied-in WordPress community
• It gets you started!• No $$$ Commitment
• No plug-ins• No PHP customization• No customized themes• Less professional web
addressyourblogname.wordpress.com
vsyourblogname.org or .com
WordPress.com (paid)• Quick and Easy!
– Never goes down– Always backed up– Potential for extra
traffic from tied-in WordPress community
• It gets you started!• CSS customization• Pro web address
WordPress.com (paid)• Quick and Easy!
– Never goes down– Always backed up– Potential for extra
traffic from tied-in WordPress community
• It gets you started!• CSS customization• Pro web address
• No plug-ins• No PHP customization
• Some customized themes• Moderate $$$ investment
WordPress.org (paid)
• Infinity customization• Fully customizable
themes• Fantastic for building
technical experience
WordPress.org (paid)
• Infinity customization• Fully customizable
themes• Fantastic for building
technical experience
• Infinity customization• $$$ investment for
managing your own domain
• No tech support• No automatic backups
Modifying Your Site
• Themes• Content• Menus & Pages• Widgets• Plug-ins• Mobile
Questions?
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