By utilising the latest version of WordPress and some great plug-ins, we were able to update this site with a contemporary look, while adding usability for site administrators.
WordPress has come along way from its blog roots. It now boasts a great selection of standard features and free plug-ins that turn this into a administrator-friendly content management system (CMS) platform. Which is why instead of reinventing the wheel, we took the existing WordPress site, upgraded it, and incorporated extra functionality.
The standard WordPress package is quite powerful and allows administrators to quickly add new pages or posts, edit existing ones and designate a custom template. Along with user administration, widget implementation, search engine optimisation (SEO) and host of other dynamic variables, WordPress offers a great deal for a freely available, open source CMS/blog.
But one of the best features of WordPress is its extendability through freely-available, custom-built plug-ins – and there are thousands and thousands of them. One we used on the Townsville Triathlon Club website was aptly called ‘Yet Another Featured Posts Plugin (YAFPP)‘. This plug-in allows the administrator to quickly add a post as a feature to any page they wish. Activation of YAFPP is simple. Install the plug-in and adding a line code to the page you want the feature to appear – done. To feature the post, click on the star next the post you wish to feature in the ‘Edit Post’ area, and your post is featured – incredibly simple. You can also specify how the feature looks by showing the title, excerpt (by number of words) or image along with an array of advanced variables. This excellent feature makes the site easy to update for any administrator, no matter their experience.
We also employed plug-ins to help searching within the site, for dynamic drop-down menus, to build on-line forms and to make custom SEO a breeze. Together they have turned this into a powerful CMS, that any administrator can use without hours of tutorials or prerequisite computer degree. Ultimately WordPress’s cleverest versatility is its ability to constantly update itself, giving developers uninterrupted views of future developments. See its use for yourself at www.wordpress.org or visit a WordPress site www.townsvilletriclub.com.au.