WordPress for Higher Ed Websites

Who is iFactory?•Based in Boston•Interactive design and development company with over 20

years experience•A division of RDW Group, a full-service agency•Designers, strategic consultants, information architects,

usability experts•Higher ed profiles include:

colleges & universities | public & private

large & small | ivy league to community colleges

undergraduate & graduate | Massachusetts to California

Where to find uswww.ifactory.com

blog: interactivity.ifactory.com

Find us as iFactoryBoston:

What you’ll learn today:

• How PSU determined WordPress was theright solution

• The potential issues and limitations you might encounter with WordPress

• Why the WordPress implementation for PSU was ultimately a success

Your presenters

Zachary Tirrell Director of Management Information

Systems for Plymouth State University

Lisa Sawin Solutions Architect for iFactory

Plymouth State University: case study

About PSU

Located in Plymouth, a small town in

Northern New Hampshire (pop. ~6,600)

• ~4,300 undergraduates / ~1,500 graduates• Small class sizes• Tight knit, collaborative community

Before WordPress

Selected commercial CMS product in 2006• Never fully deployed• Frustrating cycle of regular re-training• Not flexible• No social integration• Poor embedded code handling (JavaScript/PHP)• Poor image management• Small user community

Why WordPress

WordPress was already in use…• Personal student/faculty/alumni blogs

• Internal sites• Library

• Staff had experience• Excitement and interest• Massive user community

WordPress as CMS

• Pilot with College of Graduate Studies in April 2009• Hesitant Project Endorsement

• Deployment Timeline:• Began rollout in June 2009• First plan: slow transition• Revised plan Summer 2010 — full transition• Completed June 2011

Visual Changes

• Initially: none• College of Graduate Studies redesign• Site redesign phase 1• Site redesign phase 2

Things To Be Aware Of

• Live vs. static rendering• Regular maintenance• No workflow

Project Issues

• Hesitant project endorsement• Partial deployment

• Pound and Varnish (saviors)

• Employee turnover

WordPress Issues

• Development to production• Installation and maintenance• CMS or blog?• Must learn it (WordCamp)

The Good!

• Easy for content• Diverse available plugins• Regularly updated• Extremely flexible

Open Source

• LAMP• Good to see code, debug• Core mods = BAD!• Plugins, themes, and widgets

Up Next…

• Just launched site phase 2• Development / production split• Better authorization management / auditing

Thank you www.ifactory.com

info@ifactory.com

617.426.8600

Find us as iFactoryBoston: