Software Engineering Wikiclass | Main / Using WordPress to Build a School Website

Introduction: This lecture is about your Group Project Phase 2. Some demonstrations are conducted during class. The details and the screen shots are not recorded in this wiki page.

Notes: The due date for the Group Project Phase Two is 30-Mar-2008. After the due date, each group will have a meeting with me to demonstrate and explan your software prototype. I will select some good works and invite them to deliver a brief presentation to the class on 9-Apr-2008 and 16-Apr-2008.

Some initial preparation works

A computer to host and run the required software
Install a Web server software on the computer
Install other necessary server-side software
Install WordPress
Note: For prototype and experiment purpose, you can install them onto your PC.

How to install WordPress locally on Windows

Brief Steps to Install WordPress

Download the WordPress script from http://wordpress.org/latest.zip.
Extract the zip file and put the files into your Web server location.
Rename wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php.
Open wp-config.php and edit the database information. (Before that, you need to have a database created for WordPress. You need to know the database name, database user, database password.)
Open your web browser and point it to http://yourwebsite/yourwordpress/wp-admin/install.php

The basics of Web publishing with WordPress

Posts
Pages
Posts Categories
Comments
Blogroll (Links)
Themes

100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine

Plugins

WordPress Plugins Archives | WordPress.org

Users

Let's kick off the real work

Stage One - Static Content Pages at the Begineering

Build your school website with the most basic information about the school.
That information are static and deliver the basic school information to the general public.
Example Pages: Principal’s Welcome, Vision, Mission & Values, Approaches to Learning, Management Structure, Faculty, The Campus, Campus Facilities, Map, Video, Invest in The ISF Academy, School Anthem, Contact Us.
Find an appropriate WordPress theme (template files in PHP and CSS) to display the page information.

Stage Two - Dynamic Posts by Users about School Functions/Activities/News

YOu need to think a scheme to publish new contents to the school website
Example contents that can be added:
- News of Alumni
- Principal's Messages
- School Events
- Students' Achievements
- BooKs and Reading Sharing
Create different types of accounts for users
Determine various categories for posts
Refine the WordPress theme to display the posts.

Stage Three - Add Functionality to the School Website

To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of school functions and daily operations, you may want to add plugins to the WordPress engine.
Example functionality: Event calendar, Email to Parents for important school notices, Activities enrollment, etc.

Advanced Techniques to Tune Your Work

Basic Template Files

style.css - Style sheet file

index.php - Home page file (if home.php is present, it will be used instead of index.php)

single.php - single post file (index.php will be used if single.php is not present)

page.php - Single Page file

archive.php - Archive file (index.php will be used if archive.php is not present)

category.php - Category file (archive.php will be used if category.php is not present)

Some PHP Snippets for Templates

<?php the_content(); ?> - Content of the post

<?php the_title(); ?> - Title of the post

<?php the_author(); ?> - Author of the post

<?php the_time('m-d-y') ?> - The date of the post

For more information, please read: WordPress Help Sheet.
For more advanced techniques about WordPress, please read: Advanced WordPress Help Sheet.

Using WordPress to Build a School Website

Some initial preparation works

The basics of Web publishing with WordPress

Let's kick off the real work

Advanced Techniques to Tune Your Work

Useful Resources