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WordPress for Government Websites

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Jase Wilson
Jase Wilson

As of release 3.0, WordPress is ready to serve small government websites. Communities could save thousands of dollars per year opting for WordPress over other choices for their site's content management system.

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WordPress for Government Websites?!
MCP @ MIT BA UPD @ UMKC Planning Tech @ UMKC Geek @ Luminopolis Jase Wilson
Whats this about? A. Managing small gov. websites B. Time & money
The Problem Govs. need more web services Info needs to be managed Dwindling Budgets
Options for maintaining small gov. websites No CMS* Hand code all content Can be useful for very small, simple sites Impractical @ 10+ pages *(content management system)
Options for maintaining small gov. websites One-off CMS AKA roll your own Custom CRUD (& possibly GUI) Made in-house or by contractor Useful in very unique situations Unwise for most: abundant simpler options
Options for maintaining small gov. websites Language Framework CMS Similar to one-off Begins with a broadly distributed skeleton system (Rails, Django, CakePHP, etc. etc.) Good choice for enormous entities / complex sites Impractical for all but largest gov. organizations
Options for maintaining small gov. websites Proprietary / Vendor CMS Already built, ready to tailor (Ektron, CivicPlus, etc.) Purchased or SaaS Can be extremely costly Sometimes slow innovation pace Risk of vendor lock-in
Options for maintaining small gov. websites Open Source CMS Already built, ready to tailor (Drupal, WordPress, etc.) Core is free Extensible (large communities of contributors) Increasingly wise choice for small & mid gov. orgs Of the people, by the people, for the people
Drupal de facto OS CMS for federal government (whitehouse.gov, SBA, many others) extremely competent powerful when used correctly Open Source CMS choices for government
WordPress? Started as blogging engine As of latest major release (Feb 23, 2011), Full blown CMS Open Source CMS choices for government
Joomla Textpattern Cushy Silverstripe Frog etc., etc... etc., etc... etc., etc... etc., etc... etc., etc... etc., etc... Open Source CMS choices for government
Open Source CMS choices for government Sometimes, you just need a kitten. vs.
By the numbers: market share
By the numbers: usable hooks* *hook = function endpoint for integrating extensions WordPress exposed hooks from v 1.2.1 to v 3.1 Drupal 7: 267 WordPress 3.1: 1469 http://adambrown.info/p/wp_hooks http://bit.ly/dIPaBFg Graph Source: http://adambrown.info/p/wp_hooks
By the numbers: installations Graph Source: Jen Lampton, Why WordPress is Better Than Drupal, Developers Take Note (July, 2010) http://slidesha.re/917HF0 (excludes WP.com)
By the numbers: registered extensions Graph Source: Jen Lampton, Why WordPress is Better Than Drupal, Developers Take Note (July, 2010) http://slidesha.re/917HF0
By the numbers: registered themes Graph Source: Jen Lampton, Why WordPress is Better Than Drupal, Developers Take Note (July, 2010) http://slidesha.re/917HF0
By the numbers: community size Graph Source: Jen Lampton, Why WordPress is Better Than Drupal, Developers Take Note (July, 2010) http://slidesha.re/917HF0 # of people in the community
Still a kitten?
More != Better Although there are some advantages to scale: More members = more knowledge & support More users = easier to hire maintainer More hooks = greater flexibility (in the long run) Its true:
Simpler setup & maintenance = less $ Big community = more managers in labor pool Less moving parts = less things that can go wrong Intuitive workflow = increased productivity Platform agnostic = runs anywhere (even IIS!) Tons of hooks = integration with other services Perhaps most significant of all... So, Why WP?
So, Why WP? Its made for communities!!! - powerful threaded commenting engine in core - multiuser, multisite out of the box - user levels, from superadmin to subscriber - dozens of forks & plugins for forums (bbPress, buddyPress, p2, etc.)
When WP? * Local gov. sites for populations < ~50,000 * Special neighborhood / community sites * Planning sites!
Resources Download core, plugins, themes http://wordpress.org Extend http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API Hooks database (by Adam Brown) http://adambrown.info/p/wp_hooks Help from advanced users http://wordpress.stackexchange.com
Thanks ? & ! [email_address] @luminopolis

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WordPress for Government Websites

  • 1. WordPress for Government Websites?!
  • 2. MCP @ MIT BA UPD @ UMKC Planning Tech @ UMKC Geek @ Luminopolis Jase Wilson
  • 3. Whats this about? A. Managing small gov. websites B. Time & money
  • 4. The Problem Govs. need more web services Info needs to be managed Dwindling Budgets
  • 5. Options for maintaining small gov. websites No CMS* Hand code all content Can be useful for very small, simple sites Impractical @ 10+ pages *(content management system)
  • 6. Options for maintaining small gov. websites One-off CMS AKA roll your own Custom CRUD (& possibly GUI) Made in-house or by contractor Useful in very unique situations Unwise for most: abundant simpler options
  • 7. Options for maintaining small gov. websites Language Framework CMS Similar to one-off Begins with a broadly distributed skeleton system (Rails, Django, CakePHP, etc. etc.) Good choice for enormous entities / complex sites Impractical for all but largest gov. organizations
  • 8. Options for maintaining small gov. websites Proprietary / Vendor CMS Already built, ready to tailor (Ektron, CivicPlus, etc.) Purchased or SaaS Can be extremely costly Sometimes slow innovation pace Risk of vendor lock-in
  • 9. Options for maintaining small gov. websites Open Source CMS Already built, ready to tailor (Drupal, WordPress, etc.) Core is free Extensible (large communities of contributors) Increasingly wise choice for small & mid gov. orgs Of the people, by the people, for the people
  • 10. Drupal de facto OS CMS for federal government (whitehouse.gov, SBA, many others) extremely competent powerful when used correctly Open Source CMS choices for government
  • 11. WordPress? Started as blogging engine As of latest major release (Feb 23, 2011), Full blown CMS Open Source CMS choices for government
  • 12. Joomla Textpattern Cushy Silverstripe Frog etc., etc... etc., etc... etc., etc... etc., etc... etc., etc... etc., etc... Open Source CMS choices for government
  • 13. Open Source CMS choices for government Sometimes, you just need a kitten. vs.
  • 14. By the numbers: market share
  • 15. By the numbers: usable hooks* *hook = function endpoint for integrating extensions WordPress exposed hooks from v 1.2.1 to v 3.1 Drupal 7: 267 WordPress 3.1: 1469 http://adambrown.info/p/wp_hooks http://bit.ly/dIPaBFg Graph Source: http://adambrown.info/p/wp_hooks
  • 16. By the numbers: installations Graph Source: Jen Lampton, Why WordPress is Better Than Drupal, Developers Take Note (July, 2010) http://slidesha.re/917HF0 (excludes WP.com)
  • 17. By the numbers: registered extensions Graph Source: Jen Lampton, Why WordPress is Better Than Drupal, Developers Take Note (July, 2010) http://slidesha.re/917HF0
  • 18. By the numbers: registered themes Graph Source: Jen Lampton, Why WordPress is Better Than Drupal, Developers Take Note (July, 2010) http://slidesha.re/917HF0
  • 19. By the numbers: community size Graph Source: Jen Lampton, Why WordPress is Better Than Drupal, Developers Take Note (July, 2010) http://slidesha.re/917HF0 # of people in the community
  • 21. More != Better Although there are some advantages to scale: More members = more knowledge & support More users = easier to hire maintainer More hooks = greater flexibility (in the long run) Its true:
  • 22. Simpler setup & maintenance = less $ Big community = more managers in labor pool Less moving parts = less things that can go wrong Intuitive workflow = increased productivity Platform agnostic = runs anywhere (even IIS!) Tons of hooks = integration with other services Perhaps most significant of all... So, Why WP?
  • 23. So, Why WP? Its made for communities!!! - powerful threaded commenting engine in core - multiuser, multisite out of the box - user levels, from superadmin to subscriber - dozens of forks & plugins for forums (bbPress, buddyPress, p2, etc.)
  • 24. When WP? * Local gov. sites for populations < ~50,000 * Special neighborhood / community sites * Planning sites!
  • 25. Resources Download core, plugins, themes http://wordpress.org Extend http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API Hooks database (by Adam Brown) http://adambrown.info/p/wp_hooks Help from advanced users http://wordpress.stackexchange.com
  • 26. Thanks ? & ! [email_address] @luminopolis