Week 12: Building Websites with Content Management Systems

Now that you have finalized your Unit #4 memorandum of understanding, you should be making steady progress on your client site every week for the rest of the semester. I’ve scheduled several checkpoint assignments to help you stay on track, but you and your teammates will need to keep each other accountable, too. Perhaps most importantly, you’ll need to stay in regular contact with your client (at least once a week!) to prevent any unpleasant surprises at the conclusion of the project.

Here’s a brief overview of how we’ll spend our time during Week 12:

• Sometime this weekend (no later than Sunday night), you should email me a one-paragraph proposal for your Best Practices Article. (If you want to submit two ideas, that’s fine — I’ll try to help you select the best one.) In class on Monday, we will explore the pros and cons of using content management systems to power your client sites, so please read the following articles before you come to class: “Why Do I Need a Content Management System?” and “Designing for Content Management Systems.” In addition, we’ll be installing some CMSes on your Reclaim Hosting sites, so please be sure to have your login credentials with you.
• On Wednesday, your team should submit at least two wireframes for your Client Project at the beginning of class. During class, we will wrap up our discussion of The Elements of User Experience, so please read Chapters 7–8 (pp. 130-63) before you come to class. We will spend the rest of class in a WordPress workshop, learning how to evaluate and modify themes and plugins. After our workshop on Monday, will have an installation of WordPress running on your personal site, so spend some time familiarizing yourself with the WordPress dashboard, the difference between posts and pages, and the process of switching themes and activating plugins. If you run into problems or find yourself confused, I recommend watching the “WordPress Essential Training” on Lynda.com or visiting the WordPress Codex and WordPress Forums. (Bookmark these sites! They will be your best friends if your team decides to use WordPress for Unit #4.)

If I can do anything to help your team make progress on the Client Project, please email me or come to see me during office hours (T 1–4, W 9-12).