ISUtv Website

WordPress is best known as a blogging software and provider, with websites at WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Users can make both posts and pages, and they have the ability to organize them and add them as they please. WordPress also provides plenty of documentation for altering site templates and manipulating the software to customize a personal blog. With such flexibility, it’s been very tempting to use the WordPress software as a content management system, or a software system that makes updating and maintaining a website very easy.

I decided to go with a CMS for the ISUtv website because I knew I’d only be around for a couple more years, and if we had a sustainable CMS operating the website, it would simply be a matter of passing along the password to the next webmaster of the organization. Also, WordPress has great features, including plugins that are developed by people across the world, and an RSS feed option.

I customized the basic template, using PHP to display only posts with certain categories and certain tags on the main page. I also used the jQuery UI library to make the rotating carousel on the front page. In fact, anything marked with the tag ‘front’ will appear in the carousel. The tagging option is available when writing a post.

Use of WordPress on the ISUtv website was split between pages and posts: the posts acted as the “news” items and shows that I wanted to appear in the website’s feed. Pages served as more of an informative look into the station and things pertaining to more static information. Another benefit of using pages is that there is a built-in commenting system, where users can speak their mind on a particular post.

After a bit of CSS, JavaScript, and PHP work, the site is running. While there is still quite a bit of development yet to be done, I think it has served the organization well as a new medium for broadcasting its content.

I live in a dorm room. During the freshman year of my Spring semester at ISU I became quite bored and decided I’d launch an endeavor to learn a little bit more about technology. I decided to purchase a cheap (but new) desktop computer from BestBuy, specifically and e-Machine. I then attained a copy of Windows Server 2003 through the ISU Computer Science department (they offer software to students enrolled in ComSci classes). I then went through the process of installing the server software connecting to the network. All went well, and I purchased the jplhomer.org domain name from GoDaddy.com.

Next, I configured the web server. Of course, I’ve been using IIS for the duration of this site’s existence, and I’d like to port over to Apache as soon as possible. It sounds like I’d get a better appreciation for the file system and structure of a server using the Apache software.
Either way, all went well, again.

I designed a rough draft of a website, using PHP and MySQL. I played around with a blog using AJAX and a back-end administration interface, but found that to be too much work. Early this semester, I discovered the magic of WordPress. I was browsing the Internet for fancy CSS designs when I ran across http://www.webdesignerwall.com and learned that they ran their site completely with WordPress. I hope to do the same.

I plan to publish my resume and written works on other pages of this site. Hopefully, I’ll continue to publish blog entries pertaining to my opinions and other matters of public dispute for which I insist I have a voice. That’s all for now!