WordPress

WordPress has become the web standard for Content Management System (CMS) sites, especially for sites requiring blog capability. WordPress has become popular because WP users find it very easy to create and maintain their websites. WordPress is open source software, so it’s code base and features are continually evolving by web developers worldwide. Currently, of all new domain websites created, 22% are done with WordPress. Few websites are coded or designed anymore by one web person. In the same vein, the content (text, images, forms, links) of the website are usually contributed by multiple authors and editors; the so-called content providers. Websites are so complex nowadays, no web designer, web programmer, or content provider has the skill set to develop an entire Web 2.0 site alone. Website creation is a collaborative experience in the web 2.0 generation, with many different users doing different tasks for the final site experience.

WordPress is a content management system (CMS). The content of the website resides in a database. The webpages are created on-the-fly when a specific page or query is requested by the web browser. Keeping the website content in a database is much more efficient and expandable, than keeping static webpages on a web server directory.

The beauty of a WordPress site is that it is ever-evolving from many developers worldwide. There is the core WordPress code currently at version 3.3 and there are WordPress themes associated with each WordPress installation that control the design and style of the site. This site uses a slight modification of the “Genesis-Magazine” theme. There are also thousands of WordPress plugins that extend WordPress’ functionality beyond what the core WordPress installation offers. A WordPress site initially only requires a WP installation, selection of a desired theme, and activation of some WP plugins to gain extra site functionality. Thereafter, content providers start pouring in the site’s content; text, images, links, media, etc. The public can also contribute to the content and quality of the site in the form of submitted comments.

WordPress stores your website content in a database running from a web server. There is no software to buy or install on your computer. A WP site is created, viewed, and managed entirely from any web browser. There is a public side (like your homepage) and a private side to your WordPress site. The private admin pages are where the content provider(s) create and update your WP site. WordPress’ Dashboard is the password protected entrance to working on your website. The Dashboard is very adjustable and flexible to how content providers wish to work. WordPress’ new post/page editor can create new blog posts or new pages in a visual view (no coding) or the HTML coding view (coding shown). The WordPress Dashboard is also where you can periodically update your WordPress installation and WordPress plugins software when needed, not when your web guy gets around to doing it.

Internet content is now viewed by many internet-enabled devices; computers, tablets, and smartphones. By detecting these different internet devices, WordPress can channel its database content to the appropriate device theme; which will scaled and display your web content properly. WordPress sites can easily be viewed on smartphones (iOS/Blackberry/Android) and computer tablets like Apple’s iPad or HP’s TouchPad with only one version of the website.

The rest of this article describes various web technologies that any WordPress installation could have, starting with site navigation.

Site Navigation

Organizing your site’s menus is a drag and drop task. In the past, this required a web programmer and coding. No more, the content provider can easily create or adjust the site’s navigational structure visually with cursor-dragging of menu items. It is entirely possible to create multiple menus positioned in various page locations.

Widgets

Widgets generate smaller blocks of web content. Most WordPress themes have widget areas for assigning additional content (example; a sidebar column can have a calendar widget) related to the main page content area. By simply dragging and dropping selected widgets, the content provider can customize a sidebar column. Examples are sidebar calendars, Twitter (see right) or RSS feeds, or maybe a localized weather widget. This site uses the Google Translation widget in the sidebar area to provide translated views of the site’s text content.

Photo Gallery

I use the nextGen WP plugin to generate photo galleries. In the past, photo galleries required separate software that did not integrate well with the rest of the website. NextGen is a photo gallery plugin that was developed to work specifically with WordPress, no need for an external photo gallery with a different design and admin. Clients can easily upload, optimize, label, and organize their photo collections and embed these nextGen galleries anywhere into their posts or pages.

WordPress SEO

SEO we all want: Google #1, #2, #3

One sentence that sums up getting good search engine results: “Create awesome/unique content, write good headlines, use WordPress.” This is 90% true. You don’t need a SEO specialist to get good search engine optimization (SEO). By far the most difficult task is having good content. Most sites fail miserably with getting quality content and Google knows this. If your site content is interesting and you categorize and tag your WordPress posts per WordPress guidelines, then, you are well on your way to realizing good SEO results. There are number of WordPress SEO plugins that are necessary to help with the SEO process as well.