WordPress (WP) is a modern and easy to use platform (CMS) for developing interactive Web sites and blogs. It allows anyone to publish and update his own website without the need for technological expertise. As a standard functionality WP includes user registration, comments, ratings, RSS feeds. There are many ready-made themes that add unique look of the site and are easily customizable. WP site can be expanded with additional components (plugins), which add functionality:
- spam filtering
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- internationalization forums and galleries
- feedback forms and recording
- improved navigation and links to social networks
The course teaches practical skills for:
- initial installation and setup of the WordPress platform
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managing content – pages, posts, photos, tags and categories, comments and other
- selecting and installing useful plugins and themes
- Search Engine Optimization – SEO plugin (All In One Seo Pack, WordPress SEO by Yoast, SEO Smart Links, SEO Friendly Images), sitemap, setting permanent links and pretty URLs, page-level optimization
- speed optimization of the site – WP Super Cache/W3 Total Cache
- WordPress Social – adding Google +/Facebook Like Box and buttons for sharing social media content, social plugins
The second part of the course introduces basic web standards and technologies for developing web pages – HTML 5, CSS 3, JavaScript, which allow you to create your own themes and to adapt ready themes. jQuery and Twitter Bootstrap libraries for rapid development of websites using templates and ready JavaScript components are considered. Participants can add:
- buttons and menus
- galleries and sliders with advertisements
- multicolumn layout
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dialog and tab panels
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badges and multimedia objects
Bootstrap listed components provide a ready opportunity to adapt functionality of the site according to the type of device and screen resolution (responsive design).