November 20th, 2010 by Mike

What is a Plugin. Well in the simplest of terms, in relationship to WordPress, it is some feature set that we ‘plugin’ to WordPress to make it better. For example, the basic WordPress Installation does not have a way to backup your contnet. However, you an install a backup plugin in Wordrpess that provides you that feature. Its like adding new appliances to your home, adding a bigger closet, or security system. It becomes part of your WordPress environment.
Once again, there are both FREE and pay-for plugins. In the many years I have been dealing with WordPress I have not bought a single plugin. So, if there is a feature you need or want, most likely it is out there.
Adding plugins to WordPress simply makes things easier, as any of these features you could program yourself if you knew how. But since most of us don’t, or better put, CAN’T, we rely on others that can. And I say that, as many of the plugins may ask for donation. Fee free to help them out as it is there hard work and effort that is making your site easier. And it is your support that keeps them on top of things and keeps the plugins updated.
There is a old adage, that deals having the right tools. The plugins are the tools and having the right tools is half the battle to a great site.

November 8th, 2010 by Mike

The first part of building a WordPress site, once the framework (or program is installed) is to do one of three things. First and the simplest is to browse the thousands of WordPress Themes. As stated, the theme define how your site looks. Is it one-column, or two? Is it red or blue? Where are the buttons? On the top, down the right or left side. Once we decide on how it looks we simply tell WP to use the theme and literally in seconds, the site transforms. And this transformation is only the design… it does not effect the content of the site. So, for example, a few months down the pike you decide you like a different theme, well in just a few clicks you can transform your site from one to another. Just think what that would have cost you to have a web person do? So, now you have a fully operational blog site. And as long as you are happy with how it looks, you are set. Now all you have to do is add the content.
However, what we might find is a Theme we really like, but we don’t like the colors. Or we want to use our own graphics. Well, that adds a few degrees of difficulty and we must learn how to customize our theme. Now, as many themes are FREE, there are themes that one can buy. And usually the difference between them is the feature set, or bells and whistles. A Free theme is kinda like set in stone unless you know how HTML code or PHP. Whereas, many of the themes you buy are designed to allow you to make changes to the theme. Changing colors, pictures, headers, footers etc.
The next step after that, which encompasses the remaining two options is to learn how to customize the site on your own. This requires learning HTML and CSS and maybe a little PHP. And the more you learn, the more you will be able to be in control. So, the remaining two options would be to take the default theme that comes with WordPress, or an existing Theme and make it yours through customization.

November 1st, 2010 by Mike

First off, what is WordPress? WordPress is a open source, content management, website framework designed for ‘blogging’. Looking at these components, one at a time. First is open source. That means that the ‘source’ code is open. Open in that is NOT propriety in that one must purchase it or a license to use it. The WordPress source is open, visable and there for others to use. And with this, many other people or often called 3rd Parties have developed features that can be added to WordPress to make it better. But more on that in a later post.
Secondly, is content management. That basically means that the content, the meat and potatoes of your site is easily maintained by the owner, an employee or a web guy without the need of special software or tools. And for the most part, now ‘web’ training is necessary. However, I will say now, and explain further in a later post, that the more you learn about how a web page works and WordPress operates, the better your site will be.
Lastly, a website framework designed for blogging. The quickest analogy that I can give you is that think of these as the framework of a house and the type of house. There are many types of homes, one-story, 5-bedroom, duplex etc. Thus the WordPress framework is build around the ‘blogging’ features. And as I stated, it is only the framework. How you make it look, depends on what are called Themes, which are basically developed by the user, or 3rd Parties and made available to you. The Themes basically define the way the site looks and feels. Much like that of home where the theme would define where the walls go, and the interior design.
Because of these features, WordPress has become a very large community. There a millions of people who use, there are tons of 3rd Party folks who have created custom Themes and Plugins to enhance the product. And with that, there becomes a great support community. There are untold number of books, but the best support comes from the web itself.