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Learn More About WordPress

It’s no secret we’re big fans of WordPress. And yet every time we write about it here we get the inevitable question from readers: What is WordPress? Given that over 25% of all websites are built with WordPress, the question is always a little surprising (unless you’re in the other 75%, I suppose).

At any rate, our sister site WP Apprentice is the best place to learn more about WordPress. The free Quick Start course is probably the best place to start. Truth be told, many of you will learn all you need to know form the free course.

If you still want more, WP Apprentice offers several paid courses, all designed to help non-technical business users to build and manage their website.

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WP Apprentice Coupon Code

A quick post today to tell you about a special discount on WordPress Training videos for AltTags readers. Save 25% on the WordPress Essentials video training series, just use the discount code alttags25 on the checkout page.

The WP Essentials video series includes over 50 in-depth training videos. Plus, they’ve just added a bonus one hour training session on WordPress themes. This is really one of the best WordPress courses for beginners.

Update: This code is now good for the WordPress Website Blueprint too.

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WordPress Training Videos

It’s been awfully quite around this site lately. That’s mostly because I’ve been busy working on a never-ending stream of client projects. An increasing number of those projects involve using WordPress in some context.

After coaching numerous clients on the intricacies of WordPress, I started to wonder if there might not be a better way to approach training. Eventually, I decided that training videos might be the solution. My new site, WP Apprentice, includes a WordPress tutorial for just about every challenge you can imagine. It’s designed to be a beginner-friendly learning environment for all things WordPress.

My hope is that the site will appeal to both novices and experienced WordPress users. Whether you’re looking for a comprehensive overview of the entire WordPress system or simple insight into a single administrative page, WPApprentice.com should help you get the most out of your WordPress blog.

I’ll be adding new videos as time allows, and, of course, updating the videos as new versions of WordPress are released.

The current collection of videos focuses on what I refer to as Core WordPress training — a detailed overview of the various blogging features and administrative options.

I look forward to receiving constructive feedback from the community. If there are specific topics you’d like to see covered in future videos, drop me a note, or leave a comment below.

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AJAX Hall of Shame: MarketWatch Reinvents The Blink Tag

A few weeks ago I happened to make the mistake of catching up on some financial news before finishing my first cup of coffee. I followed a link to a story on MarketWatch.com that immediately made me begin to feel queasy. As I stared at the page in my partially caffeinated state it appeared that multiple elements of text in the story were blinking at me in different colors, and numbers seemed to be changing before my eyes. Eventually I began to grasp what I was seeing. MarketWatch has jumped on the AJAX bandwagon and taken real-time stock quotes to a new level in the process.

The MarketWatch quotes display with either a minty green or pale pink background depending on whether the current quote has risen or fallen since the previous quote. Every few seconds the numbers blink as a stocks price changes. For stocks that are trading up and down throughout the day, readers are treated to alternating flashes of pink and green. The numbers include the current price, the daily price change, and the percentage change – so it’s a fairly long string of numbers that changes with each update. A story with a half dozen quotes embedded in it can be a truly a mind numbing experience.

This amazing innovation got me thinking – why stop at real-time quotes? Why not have whole sentences and paragraphs change in real-time as well? After all, the real-time quotes could change in a way that might fundamentally alter the nature of a story. Wouldn’t it be better to have writers create alternate scenarios that could be swapped into the story as the corresponding stock prices change? Talk about stickiness. Readers could spend an entire day just trying to get through one story;)

All sarcasm aside, I like the Web 2.0 thing as much as the next guy, but every once in a while I run across a DHTML or AJAX widget that just makes me scratch my head and wonder, “what could they have possibly been thinking”. Just because something is technologically possible doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. It’s all too easy to get carried away with the coolness factor of some new technique and lose sight of the user and the message you’re trying to convey.

In all fairness, I think the MarketWatch feature could work with a little tweaking. The real-time updates need to be removed from the article copy and placed in a quote box beside the article. The flashing and blinking would still be distracting, but at least the readers wouldn’t see numbers changing mid-sentence. Better yet, the updates could be moved to the real-time graph box that only displays when a user mouses over a ticker symbol. That would eliminate all distraction and give users the choice of viewing real-time numbers at will.

Note, I haven’t even begun to address the accessibility issues related to the MarketWatch real-time quotes. I’m guessing Jaws and other screen readers might actually explode if they were to encounter one of these pages.

Do you have other nominations for an AJAX Hall of Shame? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Content Migration: Making It Successful

I’d like to talk for a moment about what I call the Content Migration Fantasy. In this fantasy, an experienced team lead by a tough-yet-wise project manager ports legacy content to a new system. This being a fantasy, the work is done quickly and efficiently, due, in no small part, to a brilliantly executed content inventory and information architecture. In this fantasy, not only do the items that should be moved end up in the right place, but the items that shouldn’t be moved stay right where they are.

And, of course, the migration phase of the project comes in on time and under budget. No, better, it’s done early and under budget. The content migration team is celebrating at the local pub while other teams are sweating deadlines.

In the real world, we all go into content migrations with high hopes and solid plans. Depending on the size of the site and the culture of the organization, you can expect delays, misunderstandings, and more than one last-minute “uh oh”. There is a lot of good advice relating to managing the migration portion of a CMS project, and I’ve linked to some favorites below. In the meantime, here’s my short strategic plan:

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