Using WordPress at CSE
WordPress is open-source blogging
software that is deployed at CSE for research, instructional,
and administrative applications. As such, it offers:
- Web content creation using a web browser. A
simple WYSIWYG editor is used to create posts (time-stamped stories)
and pages (permanent static content) that are richly formatted and
may contain images and other multimedia. Content can also be added
using email submission.
- A role-based permission system. You may use
either thee internal or an external auth scheme to identify
users. Users may have permission to (for example) create content, to
enter comments, or to approve content created by others.
- Content offered via RSS. Users are offered the
option to subscribe to the content of the site in their choice of
feed-based formats.
- Expandability. A vast array of third-party
themes and plugins allow the look and functionality of the site to
be customized to suit needs.
WordPress Concepts
- post
- A post is the primary unit of information in WordPress. It has a subject,
an author, a timestamp, and a (possibly compound) body.
- The default reader interface to WordPress presents a scroll of the
ten most recent posts in reverse cronlogical order.
- page
- A page is a much like a post, but doesn't appear in the scroll. It
has a URL ("permalink" in blogging parlance) and can be linked from
static elements of the site design (or anywhere else).
- category
- Every post has at least one "category." Categories are simple
words or phrases, possibly hierarchical, that put a post into a
grouping. For example, "news," "screed," or "news:research." Each
WordPress site has a set of defined categories and a default
category, typically the (useless) value "uncategorized."
- Categories have utility in filtering posts. For example, a user may
choose to view only posts in a particular category.
- tag
- Tags are similar to categories, but are more free-form. There is no
hierarchy nor predefined namespace.
Local Instances
Below, a sample of existing WordPress installs at CSE, each
described with the mission and key configuration details.
This site is intended to replace the static HTML
CSE News page. A small number of CSE faculty and staff are
administrators or editors of the site, which uses
the subscribe2 plugin.
At this mid-November 2008 writing, it has not yet been deployed.
Contact: Kay Beck-Benton.
This site offers time-sensitive material to CSE Undergrads. Read
access is unrestricted, though.
Contact: Raven Avery.
This site is a list of jobs suitable for undergrads. Read
access is restricted (via CSEcookie) to CSE account holders.
Contact: Kay Beck-Benton.
Popular Plugins
- subscribe2
- Subscribe2 offers email notification of new posts (and,
optionally, pages) to the site. Unregistered users receive notifications
with default characteristics, which registered users may set a number
of preferences in their WordPress profile.
- http-authentication
- http-authentication allows the use of an external auth scheme in
favour of the built-in auth. Such a scheme could be— for
example— basic auth, CSEcookie,
or pubcookie.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008, at 09:32AM PST]
webmaint at cs.washington.edu