Wordpress Website 101    

Hi Everybody -

This is our Wordpress 101 agenda for the first Week (Jan 26 - Feb 1 2011)

1. Some of you already did this but if you haven't,

please provide self Introduction to the fellow course members @

http://p2pu.org/webcraft/node/14668/forums/25098

- A short introduction

- Link to the Project Site (if exists)

2. Our main goal for this week is to get acquainted with the wordpress platform.

Install wordpress, get to know dashboard, install themes, plugins, write our first blog entry, set up permalinks, user roles etc.

What is wordpress?

Introduction

http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging

Some reading about wordpress and other content management system

http://www.theopensourcery.com/keepopen/2010/best-open-cms-wordpress-vs-joomla-vs-drupal/

3. Most of you already have a wordpress site or even a static website, as far as I know.

If project site doesn't exist, please create one by installing a fresh wordpress copy.

If you need assistance setting up, please refer to the following info.

(1) Easy way - If your hosting company supports wordpress install

http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress/wordpress_installation.htm (Txt Tutorial)

http://wordpress.tv/2009/02/09/one-click-self-installation-of-wordpress-with-hostican/ (Video Tutorial)

(2) DIY way - If your hosting company doesn't support wordpress install or if you wanna do it on your own.

http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress/wordpress_manual_installation.htm (Txt Tutorial)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nse3Gdtvs4 (Excellent Video Tutorial)

(3) If you don't have a hosting service, find a free hosting service before you install wordpress.

I personally haven't tried any of the service the link below suggests but it might be worth trying, if you just wanna set up a free hosting service for now.

http://www.free-webhosts.com/free-domain-hosting.php

Some list of paid hosting service:

http://www.top-10-web-hosting.com/

3. Write our first blog (If you haven't)

http://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_Posts

4. Reading + Online Tutorials for the week 1

Quick look at Dashboard (Video Tutorial)

http://mindblazetech.com/2011/01/wordpress-3-tutorial-part-1-introduction-to-the-wordpress-dashboard/

Set up Permalinks (Create a Human friendly url)

http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks

http://www.themelab.com/2008/03/11/how-to-set-up-pretty-permalinks-in-wordpress/

User roles

http://codex.wordpress.org/Roles_and_Capabilities

http://en.support.wordpress.com/adding-users/ (Reading + Video Tutorial)

Themes

http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Themes

Different themes can offer different visual designs, page layout and basic function for the site.

There are a lot of freely available themes you can find online.

Where to find free themes:

http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/08/19/100-free-high-quality-wordpress-themes-for-2010/

Plugins

Plugin really extends what the wordpress site can offer. You can add a lot of useful functions to your site.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

http://codex.wordpress.org/Managing_Plugins

http://www.sitesketch101.com/15-incredible-wordpress-plugins-you-need

7. Office Hour

I'd like to organize an online office hour (tentatively Every Monday 6-9pm EST) either using Skype or chat service (http://p2pu.org/webcraft/node/14668/chat) (TBD) So I can answer your questions regarding weekly focus.

If possible, it will be great if you could post any specific question by Sunday night(Jan 30 10pm EST) on
“Weekly Wordpress Q&A” forum (http://p2pu.org/webcraft/node/14668/forums/25255) so I could do some research before we meet online or even I can answer on the forum.

Please feel free to ask and answer question.

Please let me know if the office hour doesn't work with your timezone. We can perhaps organize a secondary hour.

I'll try to add more links and reading to this list, if possible.

(I'm planning to give out weekly agenda every Wed-Thursday)

Thank you!