WordPress as a Blogging ToolLester Chan

WordPress Plugin Developer

Agenda

• About Myself• Introduction to WordPress• Why use WordPress• WordPress.org vs WordPress.com• WordPress Demo

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 2 ]

About Myself

• WordPress Plugins developer– Developed 17 WordPress Plugins– Ranked top 3

• Undergraduate in NUS– Majoring in Computing (Information Systems)– Graduating end of this year

• lesterchan.net– My WordPress Plugins– Blog

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 3 ]

Introduction to WordPress

• WordPress is an open source blog publishing application – Started by Matt Mullenweg in 2003

• 3.9 million downloads– As of 2007

• WordPress powered blog sites– Eg: Sony, NASA, CNN, Yahoo, Coca Cola, Ford – yesterday.sg

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 4 ]

Why Use WordPress

• For Starters– Installation is simple– Sufficient out of the box features• Media library, link management, clean permalink

structure, search engine friendly URLs, nested/multiple categories, multiple authors, tags• Example of clean permalink:

– http://domain.com/2009/01/01/happy-new-year/

– WordPress is secured– User friendly graphical user interface (GUI)

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 5 ]

Why Use WordPress

• For Mid-Level Users– WordPress is infinitely extensible• Plugins

– 4,200+ plugins available» Eg: Caching, Podcast, Twitter, Polls, Anti-Spam, Statistics

• Themes– 620+ themes available

» Eg: 2/3 Columns, left/right Sidebars, fluid/fixed width

– Customizing plugins and themes• Source code is available

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 6 ]

Why Use WordPress

• For Advanced Users– Rich plugin architecture• Filters

– Modify almost every output given by WordPress

• Hooks– Execute function calls at specific locations

– Fully customizable themes• Easy to understand template tags

– <?php the_title(); ?>

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 7 ]

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

• 2 flavors of WordPress– WordPress.org aka WordPress• Self installation software• Requires own hosting (PHP + MYSQL)

– Domain: SGD$16/year– Hosting: SGD$10/month

• Requires some knowledge– PHP– HTML/CSS

• Fully customizable and extensible

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 8 ]

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

• 2 flavors of WordPress– WordPress.com• Think of Blogspot using WordPress• No installation needed• Does not require hosting aka free

– Hosted on WordPress.com

• Limitations– Ads, 3GB storage, 35 authors

• Not totally customizable and extensible– Plugins or themes depends on WordPress.com

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 9 ]

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

WordPress.org WordPress.com

Installation of WP Yes No

Fees SGD$136/year Free/paid upgrades

Require Hosting Yes No

Requires Knowledge PHP/HTML/CSS HTML

URL http://yoursite.com http://yoursite.wordpress.com

Limitations N/A Ads, 3GB storage, 35 authors

Plugins/Themes Fully Customizable & extensible

Depends on WordPress.com

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 10 ]

WordPress Demo

• WordPress Demo

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 11 ]

Summary

• Introduction to WordPress– Blogging software started by Matt in 2003

• Why use WordPress– Starters• Simple, sufficient core features, friendly GUI

– Mid-Level Users• Tons of plugins and themes

– Advanced Users• Rich plugin architecture and fully customizable themes

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 12 ]

Summary

• WordPress– Requires hosting

• SGD$136/year– No limitation– Requires minimal knowledge on PHP

• WordPress.com– Does not require hosting

• Free• Paid upgrades

– Limitations– Requires no knowledge of PHP

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 13 ]

Useful Links

• WordPress– http://wordpress.org– http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/– http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

• WordPress.com– http://wordpress.com– http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

• http://lesterchan.net– http://lesterchan.net/portfolio/programming/php/

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 14 ]

Thank You

Questions & Answers

WordPress as a Blogging Tool [ 15 ]