Your Online Presence > Managing Content, Designing A Site

Using Wordpress for developing voluntary sector websites

By Mark Walker

This articles looks at why Wordpress has been chosen by SCIP as the tool for showing groups how to develop their own website.

The background

I've been helping people build websites since the day after I created my first webpage.  It was back in 1997 and a colleague and I had spent a couple of days working out html, ftp and domains to create a page about SCIP.   The next day we ran a session in the local library, sharing what we'd learned with people from local charities and community groups.  Since then SCIP has delivered web design training to hundreds of people, including a run of about five years offering free Dreamweaver (proprietary website creation software) workshops.

We stopped teaching DreamWeaver a few years ago, not least because many other organisations now offer it, including local Further Education colleges, community-based learning organisations and UK Online centres.  We were also very sceptical that teaching DreamWeaver actually led to the creation of community websites.

We noticed that many learners saw the training as a stepping stone to a better job and a life as a web designer – which is fair enough but our goal is better websites for local community groups.  Too many people failed to complete the courses, or created test sites but never created a real site.  Or they created a site which remained largely empty, slowly deteriorating, along with their skills. 

We also found that few did any work between sessions and even fewer had the authority to build a site on behalf of their organisation, or the support needed for other staff or volunteers to keep it up to date.  Finally the cost of DreamWeaver was prohibitive for some, especially if they were trying to do this work at home.

Blogging first, website second

About seven years ago I created my own blog, using Blogger, and quickly realised that it offered a new kind of stepping stone towards running a sustainable website.

Gone was the need to learn about ftp, html or php.  Gone was the need to learn about frames, tables and site structures.  Now I could concentrate on the lifeblood of any good website: the content.

Because it's easy to add words, pictures and videos I quickly had a bunch of stories about what I was doing, and links to people doing similar stuff.  I also started to get in the flow of thinking of my website as part of my work, rather than an advertisement.  I could use it to offer updates on progress, announce activities and provide feedback.

Even as the first flush of my enthusiasm receded I still maintained an average of one new story a week.  I tinkered monthly or so to tweak the navigation and add features, such as email subscriptions, but unlike previous sites I created in DreamWeaver I spent most of my time with the story editor open, rather than wading through reams of code to try to move a picture a few pixels to the left.

And so to Wordpress

The main reason I moved on from Blogger because I wanted to be able to add pages to my site.  The simplicity of adding stories in chronological order is great, but I wanted extra pages to say more about who I am, what I am doing and specific aspects of my work.

The first thing to say is that WordPress is not the only option.  Lots of similar tools have been launched in the past few years, including Weebly, Typepad and lots more.  WordPress appeared on many people's recommended lists around the same time.  I've stuck with it for the past 18 months or so and now run a couple of sites using it.  SCIP is also using it for the web design training we have now resurrected.

It has several key features which I think work well for the people we're teaching.  Firstly, wordpress.com offers a free website, hosted at a sub domain the wordpress site which is easy to sign up to. For example http://watfordgap.wordpress.com/. All our learners create their sites within an hour of starting our course and spend the rest of their time thinking about content and tweaking the look and feel.

This hosted version has several limitations, some of which can be frustrating, but it is an ideal place to start building your skills in owning and managing a site.  It allows you to create pages, add video, pictures and links very easily, and become familiar with a simple but powerful dashboard with which to control your site.  You can pay for extras, including adding your own domain name and access to CSS code, but the costs are low and easy to use.

This is not the the end of the story however, as the software which drives it is open source and available for download from a sister site at www.wordpress.org  See Wordpress - Where to Start for more information.

Having installed wordpress.org on your own hosted space you open up a much bigger range of themes, plug-ins and other extras which add functionality.  Many hosts have a one-click wordpress.org setup, which removes some of the more intimidating aspects of the process for a non-techie learner and the dashboard remains the same even as you add plug-ins and other extras.

Looking ahead

Many new sites are being developed using wordpress.org and there is a vibrant and well-managed open source support community.  There are great online resources for people using it, as well a Dummies Guide and other more mainstream documentation.  We can see SCIP using wordpress.com and wordpress.org to deliver training and web design services, from beginner level through to sophisticated sites such the ICT Champions website. We will also continue to mention options such as Weebly, CMSimple and Typepad, as well as Joomla, Drupal, Plone and the other variations of more advanced options which may be suitable.

For more details about how we’re using Wordpress see http://www.scipdiy.wordpress.com/

Why choose WordPress for people who want to learn web design?

Pros

• wordpress.com offers free hosting
• WordPress sites are easy to set up and use
• WordPress is open source and can be used to host your own site
  active well-managed support community
• good progression routes for learners

Cons

• Limitations with embedding some content on wordpress.com
• Use of themes means that without the skill to alter the look of these sites can look quite similar

Go to www.wordpress.com to set up a free, hosted website

Download and install your own copy of the WordPress software from www.wordpress.com

Example wordpress sites:

London ICT Champion Blog
ICT Champion's website –
UK Riders