7. BLOG VS. WEB SITE
TYPE Content Tone Interactivity Format
Blog Dynamic Informal Highly interactive Posts
Website Static Formal/professional One-way Pages
8. BLOG VS. WEB SITE
EXAMPLES: blog or website?
Medieval Selfies
Museums in the Park
History of Love
Betzwood
You don’t need years of training and experience in order to build a website. WordPress makes building a website fairly easy. You don’t need to know CSS, HTML, or even PHP. That’s why WordPress is used for almost half the websites out there. WordPress is designed to make your content look good. This is why we chose it for your projects—so you can focus on your research and its presentation, not the technology.
Using WordPress is no more difficult than using a word processing program. Experience using the Internet will help.
Training guides are available in print and video (on Lynda.com & YouTube). Once you master WordPress, it will be easier for you to learn other content management systems.
There are plenty of themes provided by WordPress for free!
If you created your website from scratch, it would require you to learn html as in the assignment for today.
In this slide show I will give you a little background on WordPress and show you some sample WordPress sites. I will explain the differences between a blog and a web site.
WordPress
WordPress is a free open source blogging tool and Content Management System (CMS).
Features include a template system and plugin architecture.
It was first released in 2003 by its founders, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little.
As of August 2013, WordPress was used by more than 23% of the top 10 million websites.
It is the most popular blogging system on the web with more than 60 million sites.
There are two versions of WordPress: WordPress.org and WordPress.com
WordPress.org is the version we will be using in this course.
WordPress.org requires a web host and server
the software costs money and requires backups and maintenance.
WordPress.org sites would only be accessible through the host/server (so when you leave UNR, you will lose access.)
If you want to retain access, you can copy your site and transfer it to WordPress.com
WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a web hosting service provider powered by WordPress. It provides free blog hosting for registered users.
Registration is required to own, or post in a webblog., but not to read or comment on others’ blogs.
All the basic features are free, but paid upgrades are available fore additional options.
WordPress.com sites are yours forever
WordPress is Theme driven. Themes allow you to change the look and functionality of a WordPress site without altering its content or basic structure. Thousands of WordPress themes exist, some free, and some not. Your instructor has installed a number of themes on our WordPress installation.
Plugins
WordPress’s plugin architecture allows users to extend its features. Many are response or communication tools geared more for blogs. Your instructor has installed plugins for Footnotes and CSS.
WordPress is used for many different kinds of purposes:
News
Magazines
Photos/art
Museums & nonprofits
Specialized sites
Here are some sample WordPress sites.
WordPress started as just a blogging platform, but it has evolved into a full content management system. It can and has been used to develop web sites. What is the difference?
TYPE
Content Tone Interactivity Format
Blog Dynamic Informal Highly interactive Posts
Website Static Formal/professional One-way Pages
Removing all references to comments, time and date, author, modified, posted by, posted in, or whatever else it is that makes it look like a blog
WordPress started as just a blogging platform, but it has evolved into a full content management system. It can and has been used to develop web sites. What is the difference?
Content
Structure and Navigation
Visual Design
Functionality
Interactivity
Overall Experience
Content
Content is the information provided on the site. It is not just text, but music, sound, animation, or video – anything that communicates a site’s body of knowledge. Good content should be engaging, relevant, and appropriate for the audience; you can tell it’s been developed for the Web because it’s clear and concise and it works in the medium. Good content takes a stand. It has a voice and a point of view.
Structure and Navigation
Structure and navigation refers to the framework of a site, the organization of content, the prioritization of information, and the method in which you move through the site. Sites with good structure and navigation are consistent, intuitive, and transparent. They allow you to form a mental model of the information provided: where to find things and what to expect when you click. Good navigation gets you where you want to go quickly and offers easy access to the breadth and depth of the site’s content.
Visual Design
Visual design is the appearance of the site. It’s more than just a pretty homepage, and it doesn’t have to be cutting edge or trendy. Good visual design is high quality, appropriate, and relevant for the audience and the message it is supporting. It communicates a visual experience and may even take your breath away.
Functionality
Functionality is the use of technology on the site. Good functionality means the site works well. It loads quickly, has live links, and any new technology used is functional and relevant for the intended audience. The site should work cross-platform and be browser independent. Highly functional sites anticipate the diversity of user requirements from file size and format to download speed. The most functional sites also take into consideration those with special access needs. Good functionality makes the experience center stage and the technology invisible.
Interactivity
Interactivity is the way that a site allows you to perform an action. Good interactivity is more than a rollover or choosing what to click on next; it allows you, as a user, to give and receive. This includes searches, chat rooms, e-commerce, gaming or notification agents, peer-to-peer applications, and real-time feedback. Interactive elements are what separates the Web from other media. Their inclusion should make it clear that you aren’t reading a magazine or watching TV anymore. It insists that you participate, not spectate.
Overall Experience
Demonstrating that sites are frequently more or less than the sum of their parts, the overall experience encompasses content, visual design, functionality, interactivity, and structure and navigation, but it also includes the intangibles that make one stay or leave. One has probably had a good overall experience if (s)he comes back regularly, places a bookmark, signs up for a newsletter, participates, emails the site to a friend, or is intrigued enough to stay for a while.
