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Introduction to WordPress
- 2. A little bit about me
Rick Radko – R-Cubed Design Forge
Software, web and app designer/developer.
Creating custom web sites since 1996.
Co-organizer of: WordCamp Ottawa 2013.
Co-organizer of: The Ottawa WordPress Group.
If you have questions or need help, contact me
at: wpinfo@r3df.com.
Slides are posted at:
http://www.slideshare.net/r3df
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 3. Learning about WordPress
WordPress is BIG, lots of features
Take small bites!
and keep chewing…
Ask questions.
Everyone was new to WordPress at one time.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 4. Contents - Part 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
About WordPress
The dashboard
Posts and pages
The settings panel
Menus
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 5. Contents - Part 2
6. Widgets
7. Resources
8. Plugins
9. Themes
10. Maintenance & SPAM
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 7. What is WordPress?
WordPress:
Is a dynamic content management system. (CMS)
A tool to help you build a website.
Like Microsoft Word, Open Office or Pages help you
create documents.
Creates web pages (HTML) dynamically
For basic usage it requires minimal knowledge of
web programming or markup languages (HTML,
PHP, JavaScript etc.).
Allows users to create website content easily
WYSIWYG editor.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 8. WordPress is WYSIWYG
Looks similar to a lot of word processing applications.
This image shows the WordPress post editor with an
extended editor plugin added (TinyMCE Advanced)
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 9. What is WordPress continued…
WordPress:
The first version of WordPress was released May
27, 2003
Is currently the most popular CMS in use on the
Internet. - Runs millions of websites.
Needs a web server with PHP and MySQL to run.
Hosting service for public sites.
Local server to run it on your pc/laptop.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 12. Is it really free?
WordPress is free:
The core WordPress software is free:
As in open source.
Freedom to use it as you want, even to change it.
As in $$$.
But that does not necessarily mean a free website.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 13. WordPress versions
3 different WordPress’s:
WordPress.com
Often referred to as “.com” WordPress.
Note: This not at all related to using or not using
“.com” domains for your website.
WordPress.org (Self hosted)
Regular
Network or Multisite
Need to be aware of which one we are talking
about, reading about or using, there are
differences.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 14. WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a service (by Automattic)
They provide WordPress AND hosting
Free for basic site: somename.wordpress.com
Has limitations compared to self hosted:
Added costs for customizing
Limited ability to customize
Many things covered in this presentation you can’t do
on WordPress.com – like add plugins
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 15. WordPress.org
Home of the open source version of WordPress.
Free! – Just download it
Related things that may cost:
A web host (self-hosted)
A domain
Some WordPress / Web knowledge
Limitations:
None!
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 16. WordPress.org customizing
Can add plugins to make your site:
multilingual. - Numerous techniques & plugins.
a social site like Facebook. (BuddyPress)
Can add plugins to add:
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr connections.
a forum. (bbpress + others)
much, much, more. (1000’s of plugins available)
Add themes to change the look and sometimes
add function. (1000’s of themes available)
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 17. WordPress.org customizing
Caveat:
The more extensive the customization, the more
WordPress knowledge that is required.
Many free resources to help:
WordPress.org (we’ll talk about today)
Other online resources.
Some low cost resources:
This and other WordPress meet-ups.
WordCamps.
Books.
May need to hire a WordPress expert.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 18. WordPress.org networks or multisite
The third version of WordPress is multisite
(network).
Was once known as WPMU, a separate program.
Allows multiple websites on one install.
It need not be obvious to users that it is one install.
Limited version of what WordPress.com runs.
Needs some knowledge to set-up.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 20. Installing WordPress
WordPress needs to be installed on a web server
in order to use it:
Lots of install guides – not going to cover installing
here, it’s a whole session in itself.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress
This presentation is based on a .org install.
Some of what we do will work on wordpress.com
but many things may look/be different.
Things like installing plugins and themes will not
work.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 22. WordPress front-end
WordPress has 2 interfaces for users:
Front-end
The part of site
that your site
visitors typically
see.
The public side
of your site.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 23. WordPress back-end, admin or “dashboard”
WordPress back-end or “dashboard”
Where you manage the site.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 24. Logging in
How do we get to the dashboard?
login at: your-domain/wp-login.php
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 25. Welcome message
After logging in you will arrive at the dashboard.
This is the dashboard on a brand new site.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 27. Screen options tab
Many pages have options for what is shown.
Click on the “screen options” tab (upper right).
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 28. Screen options
Select what you want to see, un-tick the rest.
In the case of the main Dashboard page, you can
even bring back the welcome screen here.
Look for screen options on each admin page:
Options change for each page.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 29. Help tab
Beside the screen options tab there is a “help” tab
on every page – again it is context sensitive.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 30. The help tab
The help tab items on the left side:
Have general WordPress help.
May have added help from plugins and/or themes.
Links to WordPress on the right.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 31. The tool bar
The admin tool bar:
Context sensitive menu at the top of the screen.
Drop down menus for some items.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 32. The tool bar
Front end tool bar
Very similar to admin tool bar
Only shows if you are logged in
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 33. Main navigation
On the left side of the admin screen is the main
navigation menu:
Access all your content.
Control WordPress settings.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 35. Posts and pages
Posts and pages are the basic content holders for
a WordPress site.
Posts:
Collection of static content blocks.
Associated with a date:
URL: your-domain/2008/11/30/post-title.
Only posts in RSS feed.
Posts have categories and tags.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 36. Posts
Can be displayed many ways (dynamic):
Usually listed in reverse chronological order.
Sticky posts. (show at the top, need theme support)
Archives, by date, by author.
Categories and tags.
Many different sidebar widgets can be used to
create lists and indices to posts.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 38. Single post display
Sidebar is
the same as
the listing
page, but it
could be
different.
Comments
are shown
with box to
add a new
comment
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 39. Pages
Pages:
Are individual static stand alone content blocks.
Good for things like an About page. (any web site
pages)
Usually in site menus.
Do not use tags or categories.
Not tied to date.
URL: domainname.com/page-title/
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 40. Page display
Only one way to
display the
page.
May have
sidebar.
No date, tags
or category
information on
page.
May have
comments
section.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 41. Creating a post (or a page) is really easy
From the dashboard -> select “Add New” from the
Posts menu item.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 42. Create a new post: 1, 2, 3!
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 44. Other post related items
We can also:
Add categories and tags to the posts.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 45. More post related items
We can also:
Change publishing options:
Published/Review/Draft
Visibility and passwords.
Publishing dates
and future publishing.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 46. Even more post related items (and pages too)
We can also:
Added images and other media including videos.
3.5 has a big Add Media button
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 47. Insert Media
New drag and drop media up-loader
Just drag a file on to the page.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 48. Image options
The image uploader has a few options and lets
you change title, alt text and add captions.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 49. Add a YouTube video
Go to YouTube:
Get share link.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 50. Add a YouTube video
Paste share link in your content
Update your post.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 51. A post with videos and images
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 52. HTML view
Use HTML view to:
Embed HTML code like YouTube snippets.
Change HTML directly, sometimes needed to get
things right.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 53. The kitchen sink
“kitchen sink” button shows second row for editor:
A few more editing options.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 54. Editor size
Editor Size - Used to be a Writing Setting
I usually find the default editor size is to small and
expand it.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 55. Pasting from Word/Excel
You can edit in MS Word or Excel and paste into
WordPress, but:
There can be issues with formatting – Word adds a
lot of junk to it’s HTML.
Use the paste from Word button.
May loose formatting, tables, lists etc – do final
layout/formatting in WordPress.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 57. The "All posts" or "All pages" list
Displays a list of your pages or posts.
Pages have hierarchy:
Important for URL structure. (permalinks)
Adds dropdown to menus.
Posts have category and tag columns.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 59. Site title and tagline
How do we change the site title or tagline?
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 60. WordPress - general settings
Change the tagline in the Settings -> General page
There are quite a few important options here.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 61. Permalinks
Permalink settings change the way the URL is
displayed.
Default sample page permalink:
http://your-domain/?page_id=2
Default child page permalink:
http:// your-domain/?page_id=36
Default post permalink:
http:// your-domain/?p=4
Not very “pretty” or readable, Google does not like
them either! No hierarchy for child page.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 62. Settings - permalinks
Several options:
For the example: month and name is set.
There is also a custom box where you can edit the
permalink if you need something unusual.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 63. The URL’s with permalinks
The sample page is now:
http://your-domain/sample-page
The child page is now:
http://your-domain/sample-page/sample-childpage
It shows the hierarchy
Our post is now:
http://your-domain/2012/05/hello-wpottawa
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 64. Permalink also shows in editor
You can override permalinks – use edit
If you change your title, you need to update the
permalink.
Note: if you change the permalink, you may want
to add a
redirect for
the old url.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 67. Menus
The menus on the test site right now are created
from the page list.
WordPress takes hierarchy and order from the
page list, with home added at the start.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 70. Ordering menus
Changing the menu order requires numerically
ordering the pages at each level.
To change hierarchy, you change the page parent.
You can edit these settings in the page editor.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 71. Quick editor
But, the quick editor is faster for reorganizing
pages.
The quick editor is an option on the page or post
listing.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 72. Quick editor
Note that you can change many of the page (and
posts) settings here.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 73. The nav menu system
Under Appearance there is a Menus tab
Need admin privileges.
Need a theme the supports nav menus.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 74. Create a new nav menu
Create a new menu
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 78. Setting the theme location
Some themes may have many locations for
placing menus
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 79. The new menu
A completely new menu, independent of the page
order and hierarchy.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 81. Widgets
Widgets are tools or content items that you can
add, arrange, and remove from the widgetized
areas of your theme.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 82. Widgets can be anywhere a theme defines them
Originally widgets were only in sidebars, but now
themes can have many areas for them including
headers, footers, sidebars and special front page
spaces.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 84. Managing widgets
Drag and drop widgets into or out of the Widget
areas.
Lets add a calendar.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 87. A twitter widget
A twitter widget added to the sidebar.
A plugin was added to get this widget.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 89. WordPress.org
WordPress.org, the official source for all things
WordPress. (http://wordpress.org)
Theme repository – get free and commercial
themes.
Plugin repository – get plugins.
The “codex”. (documentation)
Support forums – get help.
Also WordPress TV: WordCamp and other videos
http://wordpress.tv/
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 91. WordPress.org – theme repository
Search for themes.
1000’s of themes available.
Themes are reviewed before release.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 92. WordPress.org – plugin repository
Search for plugins.
1000’s of plugins.
Currently plugins are not reviewed.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 94. WordPress.org – forums
The “support” forums.
Can seek help with WordPress issues, including
themes and plugins from the repositories.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 95. Other help
Google WordPress + some topic
Caution, many articles are out of date and may no
longer be relevant.
Books:
Lots of books, make sure it’s current
Digging into WordPress is a great book, covers
WordPress in depth, but may not be for absolute
beginners. Lots of articles on their blog.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 96. Other help
WordCamps:
“WordCamp is a conference that focuses on
everything WordPress.” – WordCamp Central
Montreal: June 29/30.
Toronto: In the fall, announcement on Sat.
All sorts of WordCamps world wide:
http://central.wordcamp.org/
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 98. Adding and managing plugins
Cannot add plugins on WordPress.com.
You can enable/disable which ones you are using,
and change settings.
Go to Plugins in the main nav menu.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 99. Updating plugins
ALWAYS BACKUP FIRST!!!
Updates are easy, just click the link.
Updates can break your site, back-ups make it
easy to undo.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 101. Update plugins in the WordPress updater
Can also update plugins using the WordPress
updater – BACKUP FIRST!
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 102. Adding plugins
Add plugins from the Add New item under the
Plugins menu item.
Search for the plugin.
Can search for plugins based on keywords, or
name.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 103. Add plugins listing
The search results:
Several similar plugins shown.
Descriptions, ratings and version are shown.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 105. Install status
A screen similar to the update page, showing the
install status.
Some plugins will auto-activate, most you need to
activate.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 107. TinyMCE settings
The Settings area
A new menu item has been created for the
settings page for TinyMCE advanced.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 108. Plugin Settings
Plugins usually (and are supposed to) create
option pages under the Settings menu item.
Some plugins create menu items in almost any
other section.
Tools, Dashboard, and sometimes Plugins are
common spots for hiding settings pages.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 109. Finding/Choosing plugins
Choose plugins with:
good download volume.
recent updates.
responses in the forums.
high ratings.
good compatibility ratings.
Where do you find this information?
Some of it was on the plugin search listing.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 112. Finding/Choosing plugins
All of it is on the
plugin repository.
Look at the last
updated date.
Check
compatibility.
Is it popular?
(downloads)
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 113. A plugin with issues
Signs there may be problems
No support – 5 weeks no
answer.
There will always be some
broken reports, but more
broken than works is not
good.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 114. Google Analytics
One of the top rated
Google analytics
plugins.
Note there are still
issues…
Look at over-all, not
absolutes when
evaluating.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 115. Google analytics plugin
Using a Google Analytics plugin is highly
recommended:
Get features like excluding admin traffic from
stats.
Some have dashboard stats summaries.
Some add advanced tracking and tagging
features.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 116. Beware of unknown plugins
There are many plugins not on the WordPress.org
repository.
Many of those plugins are very good – most good
plugins not on the repository are commercial. (not
allowed on the repository)
Many are not good, and may even contain
malware.
http://blog.sucuri.net/2012/02/new-wordpresstoolspack-plugin.html
*plugins on the repository are not guaranteed to be
clean, but malware is usually spotted quickly by users
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 117. Plugin final notes
Remove unused plugins, they can be a security
issue.
The Timthumb vulnerability did not need to have the
plugin be active in order to be exploited
Keep plugins, even inactive ones up to date!
Install a backup plugin AND USE IT!!!
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 119. Themes
A theme defines the look and feel of your site.
Sets the graphics, colors.
Sets the widget locations.
Defines column layout.
Can be changed relatively easily.
Beware lock-in.
Cannot add themes on WordPress.com.
You can enable which one you want to use, and you
can change settings.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 120. Twentyten
One of the themes that comes used to come with
WordPress:
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 125. Page layouts
Some themes:
have layout options.
have templates for layouts.
You should use a child theme to modify layouts.
Not too hard to do, but does require some coding.
DO NOT ALTER THEME FILES!!!
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 135. Theme repository
As with plugins:
you get more detail on WordPress.org.
but less info than for plugins.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 136. Adding/managing themes
Choosing themes is less clear than plugins.
You need it:
to look good for you.
have the features you want.
have support:
check the forums.
check the last update date.
be good/reliable:
check the ratings.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 138. The new theme
Note that the
while the site
looks different,
the content and
widgets are the
same.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 139. Theme driven front page
Some themes have
very sophisticated
home pages, which
may have no
“content”.
Neither posts or
pages are shown.
All content is in
options for the
theme.
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- 140. Final notes for themes
Beware free themes not from WordPress.org
Google “Free WordPress Themes” and you are
guaranteed to find yourself some malware.
Many good commercial themes not on
WordPress.org.
iThemes
WooThemes
Studiopress
Elegant Themes
and more
Freelance themes on Theme Forest
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 141. Final notes for themes
Test on a trial site
Local install or
Subdomain on hosting
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 143. Maintenance
Keep your site up to date
WordPress, Plugins and Themes
All have bug updates, security patches and new
feature releases.
Not keeping up to date increases the risk of hacking
substantially.
Before you update anything – make a backup!
Can’t emphasize this enough.
Often neglected.
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 144. REAL Examples - comment SPAM - SEO
How did he find it if it was so hard?
Unsolicited third party recommendation?
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 146. Mobile SPAM - email
Not a fact at all!
Ha! Your profits or theirs?
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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- 148. Contact
Rick Radko
email: wpinfo@r3df.com
twitter: @r3designforge
Slides at:
www.slideshare.net/r3df
© 2012 Rick Radko, r3df.com
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