WordPress is an open-source, content management system (CMS) platform that you can use create a blog or a website.
When to use WordPress
- WordPress is a great general-purpose web-publishing tool: as of 2022, at least 65% of websites built with CMS a and 43% of all websites were built with WordPress. Thousands of WordPress plug-ins, themes, tutorials, and learning materials are created and maintained by a rich ecosystem of WordPress developers.
- WordPress was designed for blogging, as well as web page development, and is a good choice for sites that need blog features such as "posts," author attribution, collaborative authoring and editing, and reader comments.
- Note that there are two ways to get a WordPress site at Bryn Mawr:
- Install WordPress on your digital.brynmawr.edu domain if you want complete flexibility to install themes and plugins AND are willing to assume the risks of and responsibility for updating, securing and backing up the website yourself.
- Create a site on the LITS-managed WordPress multisite, blogs.brynmawr.edu, if you need a simple blog or website that doesn't require special themes or plugins and will be maintained for a long period of time or can be easily passed on to other people in the college community.
Build a WordPress site
Before you start, you will need access to the following:
The process of building a WordPress site is very similar on digital.brynmawr.edu and blogs.brynmawr.edu, but there are two key differences:
- You log in differently. For a site on Domain of One's Own you can log in through digital.brynmawr.edu or directly using the login credentials you created for your site. See Domain of One's Own: Log into and manage applications.
- Logging in brings you to the WordPress Dashboard, click on the side menu options to:
- Create and manage Posts, Media and Pages (See WordPress: Basics and WordPress: Embedding videos and other media content in blogs)
- Moderate Comments (See WordPress: Moderating comments (and spam) in WordPress)
- Change your site's Appearance (See WordPress: Working with WordPress themes)
- Configure Settings (See WordPress: Privacy settings for your blog)
- Add and manage Users (See WordPress: Adding users to your blog and WordPress: User roles for blogs)
- Install and activate Tools and Plugins.
Prefer video? See WordPress's Getting to know the WordPress dashboard tutorial and others in the Getting Started series.
- You can install and activate additional themes and plugins:
- Click Appearance and choose Themes to view and activate currently installed themes; click Add New to install others from the WordPress theme repository. See WordPress's guide on Choosing and Installing Themes for more information.
- Click Plugins to view and activate/deactivate currently installed plugins; click Add New to install others from the WordPress plugins repository. See WordPress's guide on Choosing and Installing Plugins for more information.
Warning: As with any software, themes and plugins need to be kept up-to-date to continue working and remain secure against hacking. If you want long-term stability with minimum maintenance, stick with themes and plugins that are widely used and have a history of being well-maintained. If you want to experiment with newer and less tested themes and plugins, be prepared to routinely monitor your site and find new solutions if something stops working. Always delete themes and plugins you aren't using to reduce your site's security vulnerabilities.
Questions?
If you have any additional questions or problems, don't hesitate to reach out to the Help Desk!
Phone: 610-526-7440 | Library and Help Desk hours
Email: help@brynmawr.edu | Service catalog
Location: Canaday Library 1st floor
