A Guide To WordPress Features

January 22, 2010 By Ken Magas Leave a Comment

WordPress is a wonderful content management system (CMS) for websites. It is quick to learn and there are thousands of templates, many of them are free, to get you started. The graphics in templates can be fully customized within the existing code structure. Also, many of the template parameters such as colors and fonts can easily be customized. WordPress offers many rich features that make it such an appealing platform:

  • Simplicity of WordPress – WordPress is so user friendly, it won’t take long before you learn enough to generate great looking fully operational websites.
  • The Cost of WordPress – The WordPress platform is free and many of the templates to get you started are free. So why not get started! The only cost will be setting up your hosting which can be a little as $84.00/year! Here’s the hosting company I use. They also include a FREE domain with hosting. and will walk you through the WordPress installation process. The hosting performance is spectacular.
  • WordPress Themes – There are thousands of themes to get you started. As a designer, you’re not limited to the graphics supplied in a theme. You can customize the graphics, fonts, colors, etc. to meet your needs. I’ve learned from experience that the premium WordPress themes (the one’s you pay for) as worth the small investment. They offer additional out of the box functionality and are SEO optimized. Purchase WordPress premium themes and you’ll be a many steps ahead out of the gate.
  • WordPress Plugins – WordPress developers have designed and endless number of plugins that automatically add functionality to websites.
  • WordPress Auto Ping – Automatically notifies other hubs that the site has been updated. This is a powerful promotional tool and will drive more traffic to the website.
Filed Under: WordPress

WordPress For Graphic Designers

January 15, 2010 By Ken Magas Leave a Comment

As a graphic designer, there is much opportunity for work designing websites. I started designing websites 10 years ago and quickly realized I loved the design aspect of creating a website,  however handling the code and others aspects of making it go live was a headache. I struggled through my first website working out the graphics and implementing code using Adobe GoLive (now Dreamweaver). I was frustrated with the limitation of code as it related to design. I gave up on creating turn key websites and started working with webmasters who took my layered photoshop files and created the sites for me. This worked for years, but then WordPress entered my life!

With the WordPress platform, I am easily able to create turn key, content managed sites independent of a webmaster. WordPress opened up a world of opportunity where I did not have to rely on code professionals to implement my designs. WordPress has been liberating!

I recommend that all designers with an interest in designing websites learn the WordPress platform. The basics are very easy to understand and with the help of templates to get you started, websites can be designed very quickly with custom graphics.

Filed Under: WordPress Tagged With: Website Design, WordPress