You might not think of WordPress as content management system software, but it does indeed function as one (at WordPress.org). For non-technical online business people, this is a great option. Known primarily as a weblog program (at WordPress.com), it now offers much more in the way of content management.
Not only can you write and edit posts easily, you can also write, edit and easily add static pages. This means you can choose the design or look and feel of your site and continue to add as many web pages as needed, when you need them. No more pleading with clients to REALLY think about each section they need before you start designing, if they forget something you can add it in later with little or no problems. Also, contrary to popular belief you don’t have to have the blog posts on the front of your WordPress website – the fact is you can set any static page as your home page and have your blog “inside” the main site.
Standout features include:
- Professional hosting or self-hosting.
- 5-minute installation and easy upgrades.
- Completely customizable – as simple or as complicated as your skill level dictates.
- Easy importing from Movable Type, Textpattern, Greymatter, Blogger and b2.
WordPress.org has quite a bit of built-in applications: blog, link management, dashboard, search engine, content syndication and user contributions. These all function smoothly as expected, though many of the best applications are free plugins.
Since this system is an Open Source program it has been developed by a community of people who are genuinely interested in creating good quality, free applications. Plugins are small applications that add extra and in some cases priceless functionality to your site. To find out more about the available plugins go to - www.codex.wordpress.org/plugins.
There are many helpful online articles to be found about people using WordPress for its content management system software. Here is a sampling of what you can do with WP as your CMS:
- News Site or Magazine - Feature articles can be kept on the front page with latest news listed chronologically on another part of the page. You could also set up different category pages such as Culture or Entertainment.
- Gallery - Display images, allow commenting (no problem for WP) and even rating of individual items or lists of top rated items. This sort of application can be put together using WP with the WPG2 plugin - www.wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wpg2/ which allows random, recent, daily, weekly, popular images, and albums to be displayed as image blocks in the sidebar of your WP site.
- Portfolio Site - Similar to a gallery, a portfolio site can consist of one or more pages of thumbnails which when clicked allow the visitor to see a larger size of the work. You could add on the WPG2 plugin to allow rating, or add the NextGen plugin which will save oodles of time from the old way of resizing thumbs individually and then linking them up.
- E-Commerce Site - This type of site is generally made up of a product page with descriptions and thumbnails. Integration with some type of payment service is available (PayPal, iTransact, etc.). There is a plugin available called “WP E-commerce” at www.instinct.co.nz.
- Look to the WP theme called Semiologic which has been designed to behave as a content management system. It’s a series of wizards and set up features you can activate without any coding knowledge. There are a lot of layout variations you can choose from (1 column, 2 column, 3 column) and you can choose the width of your website as well, there are a few built-in skins as well. A little bit of CSS knowledge can go a long way here. Using widgets you can drag and drop what you have in the sidebar (if you want one).
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