Delivery instructions

• Create a folder in the final/ folder titled lastname_firstname (your last and first name).
• Zip up your entire WordPress directory (right-click > Archive). Place it in your folder
• Export your WordPress database, place the .sql file inside of your folder

Deploying WordPress fresh on NearlyFreeSpeech:

See: http://randomwindowstips.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/installing-wordpress-on-nearlyfreespeechnet/ for instructions on installing WordPress on NearlyFreeSpeech.

Alternate instructions: deploying what you have on your local environment

Here’s an outline for deploying your local site to NearlyFreeSpeech (advanced):

• Charge up NearlyFreeSpeech with some cash
  • Accounts > click on your account number
  • Click Actions: Deposit funds (in sidebar)
• Set up the Database
  • Create MySQL process
    • Actions: Create a New MySQL Process
  • Click on process
    • Actions: Create Database
  • Export local database
  • Import database
  • Edit wp_options url
• Upload files via FTP
  • Launch your FTP editor (Fetch)
  • Log in to NearlyFreeSpeech
  • Upload the contents of your wordpress/ folder
• Edit wp-config.php
  • Edit database host
  • Edit web urls

This is a pass/fail assignment. In other words, you must do it. If you do, you pass. If you don’t you fail.

The development will consist of a first implementation round (this one), followed by a critique and review, followed by a second round of revisions and then deployment. The grade for your final will be a combination of the grades for each round.

The expectation is that you will be making constant progress throughout the coming weeks (e.g. don’t push this off until the last few days, it’s a large assignment).

Deadline for round 1 May 5.

Event Details

What: Presentation by ShiftControl Studios
When: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Where: Arts 194 (click on map below)

Read detailed instructions here, or follow along in class.

Installing Themes

Download the Learn theme for WordPress: go to http://github.com/gordonbrander/learn and click “Download Source” toward the top-right of the page.

Take the theme folder (learn/) and put it into your wp-content/themes/ directory.

About Themes

Learn is an ultra-simple theme for learning WordPress theming, with lots of comments throughout.

The simplest possible theme looks like this:

• my-theme/
  • index.php
  • style.css

The folder contains all of the theme files and can be named anything you want (avoid spaces and special characters, though). I’ve used my-theme as an example. index.php does pretty much what you would expect—it’s the default page that is loaded. style.css contains styles, but also a special CSS comment that tells WordPress about your theme.

• Stepping into Template Tags. “Template Tags” are just a fancy WordPress name for function.
• Template Hierarchy

These readings will be crucial to your being able to build your portfolio, so read them carefully.

Download hello-world.zip. Open it in TextWrangler (or whatever text editor you prefer) and read through it.

Be ready to answer the following question next class:

• What is the Client?
• What is the Server?
• What is a Server-side Language?
• What is a variable in PHP? What is the syntax for a variable?
• What is a function? How do you define a function?
• What does a PHP tag look like?
• Any other question related to the reading I care to ask…

Using MAMP

MAMP is a Server-in-a-box. Basically, it turns your computer into a local web server. To use MAMP:

1. Launch MAMP.
2. Start the Servers. Wait until the dots are green.
3. Visit http://localhost:8888/ in your browser. This is your web root. It can only be viewed on your computer.
4. Place PHP programs in Applications/MAMP/htdocs/.

Comic of the day

Download and tinker with the code examples in chapter5.html. Open it in your browser. What effect does the type attribute have on the markup? Can you change the form styling to customize your form?

Forms are how we send information to the server. What is a server? When you go to a website, what you’re actually doing is talking to another computer out in the world somewhere. The website’s URL is like an address for that computer. In developer-speak your computer is called the Client, and the computer whose address you are visiting is called the Server. Our client can send information to the server. The server can then do things with that information, like serving up a custom page.

Be ready to answer the following questions during Q/A next week

• The <input /> element is used to create a form field that lets the user pass data to the server. What is the effect of the type attribute on input elements?
• What are some of the benefits of using the <label> tag in a form?
• What is the HTML tag for grouping a set of form fields?

Beware: There is a typo in the code example on pg 64. The code reads <divlabel for.... It should read <div><label for....