Elephants, Ants, and Crabs: Digital Objects as Sources for Learning and Discovery from Baynard on Vimeo.

WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform… -WordPress.org

Well, OK.  But what is it really?  The simplest and most common answer is: “WordPress is for blogging.” This is true and not true.  Here’s how.

You’re probably most familiar with WordPress.com, a site where anyone can come and make a free blog.  Just sign up and start writing.  Your web address will look something like this: example.wordpress.com WordPress.com is convenient and a good starting place for people new to blogging or the Web in general.  Don’t like the WordPress style? WordPress.com has a lot of worthy competitors.  Blogger, TypePad, Livejournal, Tumblr, etc, etc, etc.  Different blogging sites are popping up everyday, and they’re all different.  Choosing one comes down to what you want to do and what you like.

Anyhow, what you probably don’t know is that WordPress.com is powered by free, open-source software also called WordPress, which is available for download at WordPress.org.  This means anyone can take their website—with an address like http://www.example.com—and harness the functionality of WordPress.  For free.  And at this point, we’re not just talking about your average blog.

What makes WordPress special?

Wordpress divides a website’s content into “posts” and “pages.” Posts are like the posts of any old blog.  Pages are like the static web pages of a traditional website.  Both can be edited using WordPress’s easy-to-use interface that mimics the user friendliness of a word processor like Microsoft Word.  This means you don’t have to know any code to edit or update your website.

As we said, WordPress is also open-source.  Anyone can change the WordPress software or add onto it, and plenty of people have.  These modifications are available for free as “plugins” and they can help you deal with content like pictures, videos, calendars, or really anything you can think of.

So?  Why is this a good thing?

With WordPress’s flexibility, you can essentially get a “Content Management System” or “CMS” for free.  A CMS is good for people who don’t have the time or the will to learn how to code a website.  It streamlines the whole web process.  There are plenty of Content Management Systems out there.  For instance, this Media Cloisters website uses one called Expression Engine.  Like the aforementioned blogging tools, there’s a lot of variety in the CMS world, and a lot of your choice will come down to preference.  WordPress is unique in that all of its functions are free.  It lacks professional support, but there’s a large body of community support that usually can help.

All this web/WordPress/CMS stuff sounds good.  But where do I go from here?

Web projects vary a lot.  Best thing to do: figure out what you want first.  Then come in to the Media Cloisters, and let’s talk it out so that you can find the best solution.

Intro to CSS & HTML – Web Training for Media Cloisters Students from Baynard on Vimeo.

This tutorial was created by Andrea Listenberger ‘09, Web Design Consultant at the Media Cloisters.

This tutorial references several files, which you can find as follows:

Page1

Header

StyleA

If you’d like to view the quicktime file rather than use flash, please download it here: WebTraining-Css

While the Cloisters computers are all equipped with Adobe Acrobat, which provides not only combination, by a myriad of other functions for PDF documents, Combine PDFs is a great solution for someone who wants the capability on their personal Mac and doesn’t need the additional functionality.

Note: It does ONLY work for Macs, but similar software is available for Windows.

Here’s the link to the free download.

http://w3schools.com/

Watch Winston’s tutorial and learn the basics of InDesign:

InDesign Tutorial from Baynard on Vimeo.

Practice text can be found on lipsum.com. If you want to use the same images Winston uses, you can find practice images here.

When complete, export the file as a .pdf, upload it to vspace.

Bittbox is full of useful tips and freebies, best of all free photoshop and illustrator brushes and textures.

Web Designer Wall offers both design tutorials and web tips.

Best Web Gallery run by the owner of WDW Nick La, is a collection of good-looking sites. For inspiration.

I Love Typogrpahy showcases beautiful type in any medium.

Bookmark ‘em. Enjoy!