This article is also on my FAQ page – but posting it here as a lot of people check out my blog for WordPress info.
WordPress.COM & WordPress.ORG
WordPress made its name as a blogging software. But WordPress has morphed into much more than that and along the way it has created some confusion as to what sort of features it offers and which WordPress is for the casual user and which WordPress is for the web developer. Hopefully this article will help explain the differences between these two WordPress options.
With WordPress, you can just have a blog, or a web site, or, you have a WEB SITE with a BLOG on it, like my site does.
Since I don’t have all day to go into the difference betwixt a blog and a web site, go to these sites for further illumination if you desire:
True fact: a blog IS a web site – as it is a site on the web, see? But a blog is usually set up so the owner can update the content themselves on a frequent basis.
Having a blog on your web site will help keep the content fresh – notice how I post new info on mine every week or so? And Search Engines like seeing fresh content and will give your web site higher placement if you keep your blog updated, which will make it easier to find you on the internet.
It’s a custom WordPress site that Donaleen will be able to update herself. Isn’t it beautiful?
Donaleen has a lot of videos on her site and to get the videos on the site, Donaleen created a YouTube account, then uploaded a variety of videos she had. YouTube compressed them for the web, then I went and grabbed the “embed” code (which is so handily generated by YouTube), placed them on her site and Wa-La! Media page completed! Easy peasy.
And the other cool thing about Donaleen having a YouTube account is that since Google purchased YouTube in 2006 it’s been making videos easier to find and makes having videos on your site more “relevant”. Have you noticed more videos popping up in search engine results? That’s why. So having videos on her site, makes her more “visible” on the web and gives her better ranking possibilities.
This completes the Boyd, Lisa, Two Tone Studio trinity
Pam did the Splash page fader in javascript and the sliders are CSS with the main images in iframes.
Boyd, Lisa and Two Tone all have distinct individual graphic layouts, but similar structural features. Pam & I put together a “package” with artists in mind to be able to showcase their work. Basically, there are 5 rotating images on the Splash/Opening page, then a Portfolio section that is broken down into 3 sub-sections with 10 images in each section. The text pages are Bio, Galleries, Calendar and Contact. The client can update the text pages themselves, but we edit the slide shows. Of course, we’ll modify the basic “package” to suit individual needs.
Everyone has been really happy with the results and it’s nice to have a bit of a formula to offer our clients.
Last week we launched the web site for Seattle glass artist, Lisa Zerkowitz, www.lisazerkowitz.com
Lisa’s portfolio section has slide shows of her beautiful work, there are also Gallery, About, and Calendar sections.
Pam custom coded the site and the sliders are CSS with the main images in iframes.
Ritama Design also created the web site for the production studio Lisa and her husband Boyd own, Two Tone Studios, and we currently finishing up the solo site for Boyd.
Lisa & Boyd have a lovely sense of uncluttered design in their creations and all of their web sites reflect that. They are also a gigantic pleasure to work with.
The pictures the iPhone takes are pretty amazing, I just wish there was a flash!
The phone takes a printable 7 x 5 high-res image – not bad when you remember those first smeary pics a phone would take.
My friend Tom gave me some Turkish hazelnuts fresh off his tree (he is in Clear Lake, WA, not in Turkey!) and these things reminded me of tribbles (remember the tribbles from Star Trek – the original? The Trouble with Tribbles? Of course you do..)
Anyhoo, these hazelnuts are gorgeous before they are harvested. They look dangerous, but the spikes are soft. I took a pic of them from about a foot away and it was, as expected, clear:
Then I got about an inch away for a detail, thinking the image would get fuzzy, but no! It’s completely in focus:
I’m impressed. Are you impressed? I’m impressed.
And those hazelnuts were yummy.
Ask a Google engineer
This is your chance to interview us! Feel free to ask anything from “How many cafeterias are there?” to “How would you sort 1 million 32-bit integers in 2MB of RAM?”
Chris Pirillo – and not just because he told us about the Bebot app for my iPhone!
Jane Wells - Jane works with the WordPress core development team, I liked her happy attitude and general joie de vivre – she loves her job and it shows.
Ian Lurie – good ideas on web page set up for better SEO
George Plumley – I really enjoyed Georges talk on videos for your web site.
I especially like George’s site http://seehowtwo.com/
Its a FANTASTIC RESOURCE for WordPress Tutorials – absolutely check it out.
George is publishing a book that should be coming out in November, a guide for our CLIENTS on how to update just the basic features for their WP web site.
There are books out there – like WordPress for Dummies – but there is too much info in there for the casual user. So I am looking forward to this book as something I can give my clients when we finish their WordPress site. Sign up for his newsletter to get updated on the launch date.
Scott Porad – Saw Scott at WordCamp San Francisco, he’s an engaging and thoughtful speaker. Lots of info and and insights on how his company tests out different web sites to see what flies and what doesn’t. Great for modeling. http://icanhascheezburger.com/ and the other sites in the LOL umbrella attract millions of visitors and participants a day. They duin’ it rite!
Ignite:
Fast paced and great info – funny too!
Participants had 5 minutes to share a slide presentation (15 seconds per slide) about what they are doing with WordPress.
Next WordCamp? I’d love to go to one in Spain, or Brazil, or Australia…Thailand….
