webnet presentation
TRANSCRIPT
Creating a CMS Websitewith WordPress
or how to make a department website without pulling too much hair outourenvironment.berkeley.edu
BY TRISH ROQUE, WEB & COMMUNICATIONS [email protected], @trishroque,
http://www.linkedin.com/in/trishroque
ABOUT ME
• Formal training in visual arts
• Been at UCB since 2001 (w/ a break b/w 2008-2011)
• Private industry, freelance web design, focus on WP
• Been designing websites for ~6 years
• Been working with WP for ~5 years, and exclusively w/ Genesis Theme
Framework for ~2 yrs
• Front-end developer; not really a programmer (but not afraid to take
other people’s code to make it work for my projects)
Why WordPress? SHORT ANSWER: I don't know Drupal. I know WordPress.
THE PROBLEMS (Design, Technical)
• ~200 Graduate Students, ~70 Faculty & Specialists = CMS component
• Chair wanted a visually appealing website (total rebranding of the dept)
• Had to complete before the beginning of Fall semester
• Use minimal plugins (decrease dependencies on other devs)
MY SOLUTIONS
Custom Post-Types, Custom Taxonomies, Custom Child Theme, Key Plugins
IT'S JUST CUSTOM CONTENT!! (Should really be called Custom Content Type!)
-or how to allow your users to enter information without confusing them by the use of custom fields & custom metaboxes
<?phpregister_post_type( $post_type, $args );?> WP Codex Page
Example: ESPM Member Page
RED = Custom Fields
BLUE = Custom Taxonomies
What users see on the backend
(uses custom metaboxes)
Power of WP Custom Taxonomies is unleashed with Custom Post Types
Taxonomy = a way of grouping things together
<?php register_taxonomy($taxonomy, $object_type, $args); ?>WP Codex Page
Example: Custom Taxonomy of People Type(hierarchical)
3 WordPress default taxonomies:Category, Tag, Link Category
More Examples
Non-hieararchical• Research Tags / Keywords• By Alphabet
What's a Child Theme?
• A way of creating a theme where customizations are preserved whenever WP or the
parent theme is upgraded.
• Customizations are made in the stylesheet and functions file
• Inherits all functionalities of the parent theme
It needs a Parent theme
• Must be from a trusted source
• Assumption is that these themes will be compatible w/ WP upgrades
• I work with the Genesis theme framework (a robust theme that extends WP
functionalities)
How to make WordPress useful as a Content Management System(or how to make your job easier by not having to maintain ~300 personal pages)
Role Scoper:Excellent plugin! (but a little confusing to set up)• assign various
permissions/restrictions to individuals
• assign individuals to role groups
• assign various permissions/restrictions to groups
Adminimize:Buggy - but seems to work for my purposes• minimizes the admin
interface that users see when they log in
• workaround for bugginess: pre-set up screen options
What admin seesWhat typical users see
Peter's Login Redirect: Redirects users to a specific URL after login.
Before plugin, first thing users see after logging in is WP built-in Profile section causing confusion.
With plugin, users are redirected to click on their member's page.
