Introduction to WordPress

Course Number: CEDA 150

Instructor:	Kevin McMillan
Number of Sessions	4
Day and Time	Sunday / 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Start Date	February 29, 2016
Room	121

Course Description

An introduction to web design using the WordPress platform, this four-day course offers an in-depth look at the technology and skills needed to develop a web site. Through the production of your own site, you will learn how to install WordPress and make posts, pages, and galleries. In addition, you will learn how to use WordPress templates, plugins, widgets, comment forms, and more. The course will demonstrate a variety of approaches that outline the easiest and most effective ways of designing and managing your personal WordPress site.

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES + OBJECTIVES

Students will learn how to set up and maintain their own website using WordPress on their own domain.

SCHEDULE OF INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY

Note: like anything in life, this schedule is subject to occasional change.

Day One:
WP.com vs WP.org vs Static Websites
Initial Site Setup
Users
Posts, Pages
Categories, Tags
Bulk Edits
Images, Galleries
YouTube, Google Maps
Feature Images
Menus
Day Two:
Comments ( and Comment spam )
Themes From WP Repository & Elsewhere
WP Security Pt 1
Widgets
Plugins
Backing Up WP
Day Three
Some Exemplary Themes: Parabola, Verbosa, Fluida, Ryo, Hatch, Gridly, Graphene, & others
WordPress Security 2 & Performance
Custom CSS
Domains & Hosting
Setting Up A Testing Environment: MAMP
Day Four:
Introduction to Child Theming
Working on your own sites
Course Evaluation

Assignments

Week One: Make A Website

delete the posts and pages we have now
delete the images
make at least five posts
add images to posts
make an image gallery
add two youtube videos to a post
make a beautiful banner
add a Vimeo video to a post
make one image in a post link to another web site
organize your content into categories
make at least one menu
Widget / Media Embedding Task: Spotify
Get a WordPress.com account.
We will use it next day with two or three plugins or services.

Week Two: Theme Testing

Test at least three themes from the theme directory
Get a WordPress.com
Set up a gmail account for backup

Week Three: Work On Your Own Site

Get your own Domain (optional)
Enter Content
Decide on a Theme

After the Course

Keep tweaking your site

Resources

If you have a Lynda.com account, the WordPress videos by Morten Rand-Hendriksen are excellent. If you don’t have a Lynda.com account, it’s $25 – $35 per month really well spent.

If you are a Langara student, or an ECUAD regular studies student, you can access Lynda.com for free via institutional login. Another option, if you have a Vancouver Public Library card, is via the link below:

https://www.vpl.ca/extDB/login.remoteDB_Ly?LyndaDotCom

Start with WordPress Essential Training, then move on to one of the many others, depending on your particular interests.

Rand-Hendrickson’s videos are highly recommended: he has expert knowledge of the subject, which he delivers in a very concise and well-organized manner. He also updates his content for each significant upgrade of the program.

For a good overview of most of the WordPress basics, consult this excellent article from the online repository of WordPress wisdom known as the Codex.

https://codex.wordpress.org/First_Steps_With_WordPress

If you don’t have a way to access Lynda.com but still want a video review of the stuff we do in class, check out the free WPTuts Beginner’s Guide to WordPress series of videos.

Keep in mind, however, that because WordPress is updated on a very regular basis, content in some of the videos might appear different from how it appears in the software. That’s the price of progress, but most of the video content will still be applicable.

Discussion of Popular Plugins

https://wpmu.org/top-100-wordpress-plugins/

Local Testing And Theme Development

How to Set Up A Local WordPress Install for Testing (MAMP)

Links

Anatomy of a WordPress Theme Development

Tons of WordPress Links
Tons More WordPress Links

Themes

Parabola
Hatch
Ryo
Max Magazine
Custom Community
Gridly
Dzonia
Imbalance 2

Plugins

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)
Contact Form 7
TubePress
Quotes Collection
WP-Polls
WP-Typography
Akismet
JetPack
W3 Total Cache
Regenerate Thumbnails
Ultimate Maintenance Mode
Galleria
Simple Custom CSS
Google Analytics
WordPress SEO by Yoast
Soliloquy

WordPress Exercise Series 1