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Customizing WordPress

Customizing WordPress. Kathy E Gill. What Is WordPress ?. A content management system Can be used for a blog or a basic website without a blog. Today. General Settings Categories Design Considerations Widgets. 1. General Settings.

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Customizing WordPress

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  1. Customizing WordPress Kathy E Gill

  2. What Is WordPress? A content management system Can be used for a blog or a basic website without a blog

  3. Today General Settings Categories Design Considerations Widgets

  4. 1. General Settings • Modify the tag line and set time zone to Pacific • Dashboard -> Settings -> General • Change the home page • Dashboard -> Settings -> Reading • Requires that you have created a new home page and a placeholder for the blog, if you are going to have one

  5. 2. Categories and Tags • What are they • Where are they • How to edit/delete • Should never have “uncategorized” posts • Tutorial; categories sub-panel; tags sub-panel

  6. 3. Design Considerations Dark on light is easier to read San Serif fonts are easier to read on screen than Serif Fixed versus variable widths: impact on readability

  7. 4. What Are Widgets? A “configurable code snippet" that makes it possible to modify function and appearance

  8. 4a. Widgets & WordPress Themes Not all themes are widget-capable Themes vary in widget options, location

  9. Single Widget Area

  10. Multiple Widget Areas

  11. 4b. Where Are Widgets? Access the widgets page from the Appearance Menu in your Dashboard.

  12. Default Appearance - Single

  13. Default Appearance - Multi

  14. Monotone: No Widgets Supported

  15. 4c. Editing Widgets Note: once you edit a widget area, the default widgets disappear Recommendation: before editing, take a screenshot of your theme Tip: if you don’t want anything to show up in a widget area, try adding a blank text widget.

  16. Adding Widgets Single widget area; image from WP.com To add a widget, drag from the Available or Inactive Widgets area on the left onto the Sidebar area on the right. When you see a dashed line appear, you can drop the widget into place.

  17. Multiple Widget Locations

  18. Configuring Widgets Each widget has configuration options.Click on the triangle on the right side of the widget to configure. You’ll need to save only if you edit.

  19. Ordering, Deleting Widgets Change the order of the widgets by dragging and dropping them in the sidebar area. Delete by dragging to the left or clicking the “delete” link on the configuration box. Note: design change is immediate – no “save” required

  20. Screencast

  21. 4d. Important Widgets (1/5) ArchivesNavigation. Provides access to old posts; a key characteristic of blog as a genre CategoriesNavigation. Provides access to posts by topic; a key characteristic of blog as a genre

  22. 4d. Important Widgets (2/5) LinksAs Blogroll, Background. Provides insight into blog content, author; a key characteristic of blog as a genre Tag CloudNavigation, Background. Provides access to posts by keyword; requires reasonably large corpus to be useful.

  23. 4d. Important Widgets (3/5) PagesNavigation. Provides access to pages; essential if sidebar is primary navigation. Category CloudNavigation, Background. Provides alternative access to posts by category; requires reasonably large corpus to be useful.

  24. 4d. Important Widgets (4/5) Recent PostsBackground. Highlights most recent posts; useful when “more” tag not employed. Recent CommentsBackground. Highlights most recent comments; requires reasonably large corpus/frequent comments to be meaningful.

  25. 4d. Important Widgets (5/5) TextMay be the most important widget; can hold text or HTML but no javascript. RSS LinksProvides access to post and comment RSS feed using orange button. Essential if there is no other RSS subscription link in the design.

  26. 4e. Interesting Widgets (1/3) TwitterBackground. Displays tweets by handle. FlickrBackground. Displays photos from Flickr based on an RSS feed. DeliciousBackground. Display Delicious links by handle.

  27. 4e. Interesting Widgets (2/3) Box.netFunctionality. Share files with your readers. MeeboFunctionality. Enables private IM chat. SocialVibeFunctionality. Support a charity.

  28. 4e. Interesting Widgets (3/3) Blog SubscriptionFunctionality. Enables email alert when there are new posts. SocialVibeFunctionality. Support a charity.

  29. WordPress Widgets List and descriptions at WP.com: http://en.support.wordpress.com/topic/widgets-sidebars/ Even more widgets available for self-hosted WP accounts: http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Widgets

  30. Widgets Are Not Plug-ins • WP.com has no user-configurable plug-ins • Widgets = content (more or less) • Plug-Ins = functionality (usually are back-end, such as Akismet, statistics or Google analytics, but may provide short-code functionality or easy content sharing)

  31. Credits Kathy E Gill, @kegill Creative Commons: share-and-share alike, non-commercial, attribution Permanent home: http://wiredpen.com/resources/presentations/wordpress-using-widgets-to-customize-your-theme/

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