WordPress: Class 11. Introduction
2. Prezi
3. Class expectations - after this course, you will be able to:
4. What is WordPress?
5. What is the difference between a WEBSITE and a BLOG? |
|
|
WEBSITE
|
BLOG
|
6. Key terms/concepts
- Background tool - allows the user to change the background image and color of a site
- Blog - (short for web-log) is a chronological list of journal entries or articles, called “posts,” published on a web page. On WordPress.com, we often use “blog” as shorthand for a blogger’s entire website, even though a blog may contain more than just posts
- CMS - content management system
- Comments - responses to posts and pages on your site, from you and your readers, which appear at the bottom of those posts and pages. Comments allow your readers to share their thoughts, and let you respond
- Dashboard - the complete administrative tools for your site, found by clicking on My Sites in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. You can change settings, select themes, write or manage content, add or remove users, add images, buy upgrades, and more
- Domain - web address that identifies your website (think of it like a street address for your house or business)
- Header - the image or at the the top of your blog that displays your blog’s title
- Images - non-text content that you can add to your blog, in the form of .jpg/.jpeg, .gif, or .png files
- Insights - a section of your site’s statistics that helps you see how often you post, your site’s most popular days and times, and who your site’s followers are
- Menus - makes it easy to define the navigation buttons that are typically present near the top of a site's pages
- PHP - Hypertext Preprocessor is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML
- Plugin - a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. they are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. In the WordPress community, there is a saying that goes around: “there’s a plugin for that”. They makes it easy for users to add features to their website without knowing a single line of code.
- Toolbar - the collection of icons at the top of a blog that allow you to perform different actions: access your blog’s dashboard, create a new post, visit the reader, review your notifications, and more. You only see the toolbar while you’re signed in to WordPress.com
- URL - the abbreviation for “uniform resource locator.” This is also known as a web address, or the characters that you see in your web’s address bar
- Widget - “Widget” is a fancy word for “doodad,” which is itself a fancy word for “small tools that you can add to your blog that add a variety of functions and content” Widgets do many different things, like letting readers see which of your posts is most popular or automatically displaying your Instagram photos
7. How to create a WordPress site
- Step 1: Decide what you want your site to be about and will it be a blog or a website?
- Step 2: Visit www.wordpress.com
- Step 3: Choose the option to create a website
- Step 4: Categorize your site
- Step 5: What do you want it to look like
- Step 6: Choose a theme
- Step 7: Find a domain
- Step 8: Pick a plan that's right for you
- Step 9: Choose a username and password
- Step 10: Start customizing your site by adding content!
8. In-class exercise
- Handout Website Creation Worksheet
9. Homework
- Gather digital photos for your site
- Prepare content for your site
- Use Drive, Dropbox, or simply a flash drive to save your files for next week