WordPress

WordPress is a "state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability."

It is a slick, open source publishing platform that student news organizations like the Miami Hurricane, NYU Local, Whitman Pioneer, and many others are using to inform their communities. WordPress is PHP-based and is known for its easy customization.

Read CoPress blog posts about WordPress or WordPress updates from the community

Contents

Why open source matters with WordPress

Open source is an approach and philosophy to developing the code that runs any given piece of software. The main characteristics of open source software are:

  • Freedom of use - It can be used however the user wants to use it
  • Freedom of access - The user has free access to the source code
  • Freedom of distribution -The software can be freely redistributed
  • Freedom of improvement - Anyone can improve the software and release those improvements to the public

For WordPress, this means that developers across the world have developed thousands of plugins and themes that are free to use and improve upon. WordPress gives users flexibility of design and full control over features and functionality.

Sustainability

At a college newspaper, turnover rates are highest. WordPress' simplicity caters to this need to quickly train new staff.

The user interface is clean and intuitive for users of all skill levels -- meaning that passing the site on to the next generations of editors can be a simple transition.

There are numerous resources your staff can turn to if they need WordPress help. The WordPress Codex is full of documentation and the support forums allow for conversation among all WordPress users worldwide.

Examples of student news organizations using WordPress


More student news organizations using WordPress

Workflow

WordPress' simple interface makes it easier to switch from an e-mail based workflow to a WordPress-based workflow, meaning reporters can post their articles directly into the system.

Loras College TV's web editor Daniel Randolph says:

Our reporters focus on doing their video stories and once those are complete we have them repackage them for the web with links and extra content and then upload them with a still frame from the video along with the video, which we host on YouTube. We use WordPress for all of this and rely on custom fields for our front page. That makes for a little extra work, but the results are worth it. At this time reporters do not post their own stories, they email them to me to be edited and posted. Also, if there is a breaking news we will go straight to the web without video if needed.

WordPress isn't perfect yet, though. A conversation has been churning at CoPress about how to improve WordPress' admin end for the editorial workflow. A few ideas that have arisen:

  • Offering custom status so that newsrooms can better define their own workflow
  • A sidebar note system, along with additional metadata relevant to a publishing environment (who's responsible for editing, comments, etc.)
  • Ability to "pitch" assignments, have editors approve the assignment, and visualize all of this information on a dashboard

These discussions have been synthesized in the Edit Flow Project which is currently in progressive stages of development

More resources

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