Websites With WordpressBuilding A Quality Product

Agenda

• Who is this for• What is WordPress• What is a Theme• What is a Plugin• Theme Frameworks & Child Themes• Must Have Plugins• Other Resources

Who is this for

• Virtual Assistants who wish to create Websites for their clients

• Virtual Assistants who wish to support and maintain client websites...

• Anyone who is interested in using Wordpress as a website

What Is Wordpress

• Wordpress is a Content Management System

• Using Themes & Plugins, a designer controls the look and feel of the site

• Using the built in editing function, non Technical people can enter and update content without breaking the design.

What is WordPress

• All content (text, links to images etc) are stored in the database

• The physical files for images, documents etc are stored on the web server or Content Delivery Network

What Is A Theme

• A Theme controls the “look & feel” of the site

• Similar to a Word Document Template• Controls

– Font styling– Look of images– Colours– Number of Columns– Heading Styling– How “widgets” look

What Is A Plugin

• A Plugin adds functionality to a website• Similar to a Macro Function in Word or

Excel (like Save As PDF)• For example:

– Duplicating Posts and Pages– Contact Forms– Shopping Carts– Video Player– Audio Player

Themes & Plugins

• There can be cross over between Themes & Plugins

• Themes can include ‘plug in’ like functionality

• Plugins can provide ‘template’ functions

Theme Frameworks

• A ‘drop-in’ code library that is used in Theme development

OR• A stand-alone base/starter Theme that is

used to create another Theme, or used as a Parent Theme template

• Both provide pre-defined functions that developers can use....

Why Choose A Premium Theme

• Support! Woo Themes and StudioPress have awesome Community Support Forums

• Documentation• Updated regularly• Reduced support time for you...

Child Themes

• The professional way to modify WordPress themes.

• A child theme can use all of the functions, CSS and design features from a parent theme. The child themes only needs to contain modifications for the changes.

Why Use A Child Theme?

• The Parent Theme can easily be updated and the customizations not lost

• Adding functions and styling is much easier

My FAVE theme frameworks

• WooThemes Canvas– AskCharlyLeetham.com/recommends/woothemes– Provides an awesome menu system to allow you to

customize your theme– Uses WooThemes Actions & Filters (Woo Framework)

My FAVE theme frameworks

• StudioPress Genesis– AskCharlyLeetham.com/recommends/studiopress

– Already provide a number of Child Themes for you to work with

– Create Your Own look...

Must Have Premium Plugins

• Backup Buddy– Backup and Restore– Full or Database only backups– Excellent for developing & migrating websites– Offsite Storage of backups (S3, DropBox, FTP)– AskCharlyLeetham.com/recommends/backupbuddy

Must Have Premium Plugins

• Gravity Forms– Contact Form builder on Steroids– Records entries in Database– Use for Surveys, Questionnaires... More– AskCharlyLeetham.com/recommends/gravityforms

• Video User Manuals– Reduce ongoing support costs– Video training in Wordpress dashboard– AskCharlyLeetham.com/recommends/videousermanuals

Must Have Premium Plugins

• Easy Custom Content Types– Add Custom Post Types– Custom Metaboxes– Custom Taxonomies– EASILY– AskCharlyLeetham.com/recommends/ecpt

Must Have Free Plugins

• Duplicate Post– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/duplicate-post/

• Post Type Converter– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/post-type-converter/

• Media Elements JS– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/media-element-html5-video-and-audio-player/

• Blubrry PowerPress– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/powerpress/

• Username Changer– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/username-changer/

Must Have Plugins For SEO

• Wordpress SEO by Yoast– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-seo/

• cbNet Ping Optimizer– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/cbnet-ping-optimizer/

• Google XML Sitemaps– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/

• Robots Meta– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/robots-meta/

• Analytics360– wordpress.org/extend/plugins/analytics360/

Too Many Plugins...

• You CAN have too many plugins– Impact on the memory allocation (particularly

on shared servers)– May slow performance– Time to maintain– Interoperability issues

Summary

• Use a Premium Theme & Child Themes to cut development & Support Time

• Some Crossover between Themes & Plugins• Premium Plugins save time & support costs• Video User Manuals reduce your support costs• Too many plugins can affect site performance

Connect With Me

@charlyjl

askcharlyleetham