How the Wordpress CMS Really Works

HandsOnWP.com @nick_batik@sandi_batik
How the
WordPress CMS
Really Works
January 16, 2017
Presented by Sandi & Nick Batik

How the WordPress
CMS Really WorksTonight’s WordPress Beginner’s
class is devoted to learning the
vocabulary and structure of
WordPress Content Management
System.
The goal of this class is to help our
community of WordPress Beginners
really understand how WordPress
handles content and displays it in a
web browser.

WordPress is a
Content
Management
System
A Content Management System
gives
non-technical folks the ability to
publish
their content on the Web

How the WordPress
CMS WORKS
Clicking the “Publish” button in your
WordPress Dashboard isn’t JUST
changing words from private to
public.
It’s putting those words into one or
more “boxes” of organizational
structure within the WordPress
database.

What does WordPress
Consider Content
Content is more than text on a
screen
Content also includes:
Images
Audio
Video

Some Content
Management System
Basics
A Content Management System (CMS)
is a
Database-driven software application
The CMS runs on a computer (server)
connected to the web
Website content is stored in the
database
The software queries (Asks) the
database for the content to present on

Some Content
Management System
Basics
The WordPress program
communicates with the
MySQL database to retrieve
and display your content in a
web browser

How Does It Retrieve?
Your WordPress theme
A theme is a collection of templates
Each template contains the
programming code to get specific
content from the database
e.g. display the 5 most recent posts

Content vs.
Appearance
WordPress separates the content
(database) from how it appears (theme)
WordPress holds ALL Content in the
Database
How that Information is Presented on the
Web is the Job of the Theme
With WordPress You can Change the
Theme without Affecting The Content

The WordPress
Theme
The Theme you choose determines the
look of your site.
The Theme consists of PHP files with
HTML, CSS, and Javascript all working
together to display your site in a unique
way
You can change your Theme without
effecting the content of your site.

Benefits of the
WordPress CMSQuick and easy page management – Any
approved user can quickly and easily publish
online without complicated software or
programming.
Design is separate from content – You can
manipulate content without fear of
accidentally changing the design.
Consistent site branding and navigation –
Design templates provide a consistent
branding and standard navigation across
your websites.

Benefits of the
WordPress CMSDatabase-driven – You only need to change
data once for it to be updated throughout
your site.
Shared resources – Website managers will
have access to shared resources, such as
modules, images, audio and video files, etc.
Approval systems – You can give different
levels of access to different users, and the
CMS has mechanisms to ensure content is
approved before going live.

Benefits of the
WordPress CMS
Mobile ready – The WordPress CMS
helps to scale your site’s content to fit
tablets, mobile devices and smaller
browser windows.
Archive capabilities –display a list of
historic or related content.

Benefits of the
WordPress CMSSearch engine-friendly – The
WordPress CMS helps to optimize
your website so that search engine
users can easily find your
information.
Revisions – You can track who has
made changes to your page and
archive previous versions of your
page.

Some Content
Management System
Basics
Your WordPress Site’s
Dashboard is how you control
the Words and Media (Content)
that are part of your site

Understanding the
WordPress
“Dashboard”There are Two Parts To WordPress:
The Public Part, and
The Private Part
This is similar to the public area and
back office of any business
The front end of the site is what the site visitor
sees in their Browser the private part is your
Dashboard

How Content Gets
Into Your Site so
WordPress Can
“Manage” It

Who Gets To Do What—
CMS Roles and
Responsibilities
The CMS allows users of various skill
levels to be involved in managing a
WordPress website.
How you use the CMS will depend on
your role

ContributorsContributors can create, post and
update content, including Text and
images.
Contributors can only add or update
their own content, but can’t publish the
results.
Multiple people in organization can be
designated Contributors, allowing
subject matter experts to create and
update content in their own areas within
the organization.

Editors
Editors have the ability to create, post and
update content, including text and images.
Editors also can approve content to be
published on WordPress sites they are
assigned to manage.
As Editors have the ability and the authority
to review and publish content―making it
visible to the public―this role should be
limited to individual responsible for the site’s
content.

Site Administrators
Site Administrators are most closely aligned
with the traditional role of webmaster.
In addition to the ability to create, approve and
publish content, they are responsible for the
overall design and functionality of the site.
Site Administrators can build and integrate
modules, modify administrative features,
authorize and set up user profiles for
Contributors, Editors and peer Site
Administrators.

WordPress CMS
Structure
PagesWordPress pages are called ‘Static
Pages’
Static does NOT mean the Page can
never change…but are less time-
dependent than Posts
Pages display content that isn’t time-
sensitive, like the Home page, About
Us, Services etc.

WordPress CMS
Structure
PagesPages are used to populate the site
navigation (Menu) bar
Many WordPress sites skip the
blogging option and chose to have
only static pages
Pages do not normally allow
comments

WordPress CMS
Structure
Pages
Pages can be organized in a
hierarchical fashion— arranged in
order of rank
Hierarchical Pages can act as a
“Parent” to “Child” pages
If your theme supports drop-down
menus then the “Child” page will
appear under the “Parent” page in
the navigation bar

WordPress CMS
Structure
PagesPages can also be used to present a
selected archive collection of blog posts
Page Templates apply only to pages to
change their look and feel
A page template can be applied to a single
page, a page section, or a class of page
Think of Parent pages and Child pages as a
site’s Tables of Contents

WordPress CMS
Structure
PostsWordPress was originally created for
blogging, the writing and publishing
chronological “Posts”
Posts are time-sensitive articles
normally listed on your Blog page
Posts usually appear in reverse
chronological order

Sticky Posts
Sticky Posts – sometimes called
Featured Posts — override the
reverse chronological order of the
blog page and stay at the top of the
blog

Post Comments
Posts allow comments
Posts allow you to close or
disable comments on individual
posts

WordPress CMS
Structure
PostsPosts have categories
You setup your post categories in the
Posts > Categories menu
If you create a post — but don’t assign a
category, it automatically gets assigned
to the ― “Uncategorized” category
Post categories can show up on your
sidebar

Categories
Categories tend to be pre-defined and
broad ranging
Like pages, categories are hierarchical
A post can be added to more than one
category.
Try to keep categories “big picture” and to
not have a category with less than 3 posts
in it (unless your blog is brand new of
course).

Tags
Tags are similar to Categories in that
they’re also a “Taxonomy” — a system of
classification — a way to group things
together
(https://codex.wordpress.org/Taxonomies)
Tags are non-hierarchical — like posts,
there are no parent and child tags, and you
can have as many as is appropriate for
your subject matter.

How to Use
Categories and Tags
Live Demonstration:
Creating Categories
Creating Tags
Editing and Managing Categories
and Tags

Review—The
Difference Between
Pages and Posts
When you’re writing a regular blog entry, you are
writing a “POST”
In the default WordPress set-up a POST will appear
in reverse chronological order on your blog’s home
page.
PAGES are for content such as “About,” “Contact,”
etc.
PAGES are outside of the blog chronological
structure, and are used to present timeless
information about your site — information that is
always applicable.
PAGES can be used to organize and manage any
content.

Creating Content
Live Demo
Work in Progress, or ready to
publish? Saving and publishing
Pages and Posts
Changing the display order of pages
Using the publish date of Posts –
publication schedules and building
history

Other Ways to
Extend Content —
Custom Post Types
Custom Post Types
A Custom Post Type (CPT) can be
page-like or post-like in its usage
CPT can be used solely for bundling
content in a theme or plugin — not
actually displayed individually on the
front-end

Other Ways to
Extend Content —
Custom Post Types
Use Custom Post Types to separate types of
content
product listings
real estate listings
movie/music database
testimonials
or portfolio items

Other Ways to
Extend Content —
Custom Post TypesCustom Post Type Plugins
There are several CPT creator/manager Plugins
that help you efficiently many-to-many
connections between posts, pages, custom post
types —
A slider plugin may create its own post type.
A directory or classifieds plugin will most likely
create its own post type.
Themes can include their own custom post
types

Other Ways to
Extend Content —
Custom Taxonomies
Review —Taxonomies are a way to
group things together
Custom taxonomies are great for
organizing custom post types.
Custom post types are great for
publishing similar items

Other Ways to
Extend Content —
Custom FieldsCustom Fields are neither Post Types nor
Taxonomies
Custom Fields contain data about a Post, which is
why they’re called “post meta” or “metadata” (i.e.
data about data).
A Custom Field for a WordPress / WooCommerce
site post could be serial number, price, or
warranty length.
Unlike custom post types and custom
taxonomies, WordPress, by default, provides a
way to add custom fields and insert values for
existing fields

Other Ways to
Extend Content —
Widgets
Widgets
Widgets appear under the
Appearance tab in the admin sidebar.
The Developer writes the code to
create the widget areas so the user
can drag and drop widgets.

Extending Content
Dynamically Created
PagesWordPress displays similar posts together in
dynamically-generated pages.
These pages are called Archives or Archive
Pages or Archive Indexes
Dynamically generating pages with like-kind
content is one of the main benefits of using any
content management system.
Author pages are actually archives just like
category and tag archives

Extending Content
Dynamically Created
PagesWordPress has a lot of ways to display
content dynamically.
Some WordPress themes have distinct
styling for every scenario, like category
archives looking substantially different
from tag archives, for whatever reason
The archive for categories and tags
would look the same but display different
content.

Review – Other
Sources
of ContentContent isn’t just text –
The WordPress Media Library for:
Images
Video
Audio and more

Media — Another
Source
of Content
Live Demonstration of the Media Library

Looking Under The
Hood of a
WordPress

What Exactly is a
MySQL Database?
MySQL is The Database That Works With WordPress
Functionally a database is way to organize information so
you can find it when you need it
It also connects related Information such as:
Pictures with Captions
Pictures with their Posts or Pages
Related Posts or Pages
People with Activities

What Exactly is a
MySQL Database?
All this Information can be Gathered Together
and Formatted Into Reports

Presenter
Sandi Batik
WordPress evangelist, consultant, trainer,
curricula developer, author, unapologetic
geek, unrepentant capitalist, lucky enough
to do what I love everyday. I’ve served as
Austin WordPress Meetup co-organizer
since 2010. With my husband Nick Batik,
co-founded Pleiades Publishing Services
in 1992 and Hands-On WordPress
Training in 2010.
Follow me @sandi_batik / @WPATX
Contact me at: handsonwp.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsandrachevali
erbatik

Presenter
Nick Batik
Started in web development in 1994 and
have been a WordPress consultant, and
web developer since 2007. A WordPress
evangelist, I’ve served as Austin
WordPress Meetup co-organizer since
2010. With my partner, co-founded
Pleiades Publishing Services in 1992 and
Hands-On WordPress Training in 2010.
Follow me @nick_batik / @WPATX
Contact me at: handsonwp.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasbatik

How the Wordpress CMS Really Works

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