WordPress, Innovation, and Tools

Ok, from the title alone, you can guess that this topic is specifically about technology. You are correct. I have talked about motivation, goals, and relationships a little, but today I want to talk about WordPress. I have been working on WordPress for over 3 years now and I continue to get more and more impressed with what you can do with it. There are new plugins, new themes, and a whole lot of opinions about what it is and what it isn't. So allow me to contribute to that wonderful banter... WordPress simply put is a ... framework, tool, platform, cms, blogging system, photo gallery, development studio.... ok, not so simply put is it? I do believe the original intent of the system was a simple (5 minute install) install blogging platform. However, people got creative, that is what happens when code is shared. It has become SOOO much more. According to one stat, over !6% of the top 1 million sites are using WordPress. WOW. Nice Work Matt, we all thank you.

That being said, you can do some amazing things with it, from setting up photographer web sites susiem.com to a simple blog site like this one. You can also do professional sites like: Queensryche. Needless to say, you can do a lot with it. However, the most common concern people have is, how do you get started?

Well, that answer can be VERY simple - go to WordPress.com setup an account and start blogging. That is a WordPress.com hosted site. Of course, you can move that content later to your own domain. However, that is all you need, login, go to the dashboard and write a post. TADA!

Now, if you are hosting your own domain, then you are the next level by having the 5 minute install from your hosting provider. It really is that easy. Don't forget to setup your mysql database first. It will handle the rest for you.

The final step is those developers out there wondering how they can write PHP code and plugins and tweak themes, child themes, etc... I would recommend NetBeans if you are doing PHP work. Why? Because it is easy to install specifically for PHP, and it is free. For the more graphic designer person, I would suggest doing Dreamweaver, which is easy to install, but not even close to free. It is nice with its remote server sync and some of the intellisense you get, BUT, you can get all of that in NetBeans too, did I mention it was FREE.

I know I could go on and on about Aptana Studio, or Eclipse, or Notepad++, or even VI for you true diehard terminal window people. But it is a Tuesday night, I need to take a break, and I just wanted to write a little today. I needed a break from my day job.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to ask questions if you need help getting started with WP.