Description
WordPress is a content
management and blogging tool that is hosted on the user’s own
server using a MySQL database, allowing the user to create and update
webpages in a fundamentally simple manner, whether for business or
personal use. Once WordPress has been installed, and the
recommended set up procedures followed, the user can then use the
features of the software in whatever manner is most appropriate to
their needs.
As the concentration of this assignment is on content management, the
focus should be on the webpage structuring aspects of
WordPress. However, the blogging and page design functions
are somewhat bound together in terms of functionality and operate in a
similar manner.
Once the user has logged in, he or she finds themselves at the
“dashboard”, which essentially provides the option
of creating and / or editing posts or pages within WordPress, as well
as selecting a design theme through a series of tabs.
Clicking on any of the tabs takes the user to the interface for that
particular tab’s function.
Evaluation
Creating webpages in WordPress is reasonably simple. The user simply logs in (at an administrative level sufficient to be able to create new pages / posts), finds themselves at the “dashboard”, goes to the “write” tab, and selects “pages”. Diagrams 3.1and 3.2 show the varying screens involved in this process.
Diagram 3.1: WordPress dashboard
(click image to enlarge, 140 kB png)
As can be seen in the Diagram 3.1, WordPress operates on a WYSIWYG (What
you see is what you get) principle. The user simply chooses
from a simple range of tabs in order to use the software. A
local navigation bar is provided with options to write, manage, design
or comment.
Diagram 3.2: WordPress write page screen
(click image to enlarge, 72 kB png)
As Diagram 3.2 shows the "write page"screen contains a range
of formatting elements are provided for the text, an option to select
and add media to the page is provided at the mid right above the
formatting bar, and the publication status of the page can be found at
the far right. Tabs have also been included on the top right
of the formatting bar, allowing the user the choice of viewing the page
as it would appear, or in HTML form. Once a page has been
completed to the user’s satisfaction, all that he or she has
to do is click on the “publish” button.
To change the content of a page, the user goes into
“Manage” tab in the local navigation bar at the top
of the page, selects the page that needs altering, alters the page, and
hits the “save” button. The changes will
automatically (and immediately) take effect.
There are some issues with webpage creation and management
however. Reading through the documentation (Pages, n.d) it
appears that pages created in WordPress cannot be assigned category
tags in the same manner that blog posts can. And the
recommendation by the folk at WordPress is that WordPress be used as a
basic content management system. Given the versatile nature
of the software and the support set up that it has, as well as glowing
recommendations from IT savvy reviewers, it could well become a much
more powerful content management tool.
As a functional content management tool for a website, WordPress seems
user-friendly, with an interface that is simple and effective,
particularly for those who are new to the concept. The
clearly labelled “write” and
“manage” tabs are both effective and intuitive, and
allow the user to directly get to the function that they
need. Depending upon the scale and scope of a particular
project, WordPress could definitely be useful to information architects.
Page 1 Page 2