Objective

Develop an understanding of website content management systems from both a practitioner and client perspective.

Description

Build a WordPress website based on a topic of your interest and choosing or for a real-world client. The topic should be legal, ethical, and moral. If you have questions about the appropriateness of the topic of your website, please ask before you start.

Websites for family members, organizations with which a family member is associated or musicians, bands, or other music entertainment-related businesses are not allowed. (A musical instrument store would be okay.) These two types of clients prove to be unreliable, and your project will be a failure – and you may get a failing grade as a result.

Requirements

• At least 10 pages of content. This may include product information, general articles, etc. No more than three may be blog posts.
• Each “page” should consist of at least a paragraph of information or something similar. “Lorem Ipsum” or similar placeholder content is not acceptable. Do not take content from other websites unless you wrote that content yourself, or unless it’s content for your company, your client, or a site you’re redesigning in some way, and you have permission to use the content. Do not use generative AI to create content (see the Syllabus for more information about AI and the use of copyrighted material.)
• Images. You do not have to have images on every page, but you should demonstrate that you understand how to insert images into posts and pages on your website.
• A blog with up to three posts. (You may add more posts, but they will not count toward the website page count.) This is part of WordPress’s core functionality and should not be too hard. By default, your blog is located on the home page of the website, but this is not required. You may move the blog to another area of the site (labeled appropriately) and make something else on the home page.
• A menu is visible and accessible on each page of the site. The menu may be styled however you choose, with or without dropdowns. You may include more than one menu if you wish.
• Theme appropriate to website audience and business purpose (You may develop a custom theme.)
  • Main menu
  • Header Image
  • CSS if needed
• Plugins (See Required Plugins at the end of this page.)
• At least two sidebar widgets

Deliverables

Project Topic – 25 points

Upload a Microsoft Word doc (Apple Pages and Adobe PDFs will not be accepted) to the appropriate Dropbox in D2L with a paragraph describing the website topic or a description of the client.

CMS Project Brief – 100 points

Include the following items in your Project Brief.

• Title page with the project name, document name, client name, your name and contact information, and submission date.
• Client Description
• Objective
• Needs Analysis
• Comparative Research
• Audience Analysis
• Goals
• Design Approach
• Content Elements
• Functional Elements

Use and modify this Project Brief template.

Upload a Microsoft Word doc (Apple Pages and Adobe PDFs will not be accepted) to the appropriate Dropbox in D2L.

Information Architecture diagram – 75 points

Upload a Microsoft Word doc (Apple Pages and Adobe PDFs will not be accepted) to the appropriate Dropbox in D2L with a link to the FigJam file.

CMS Implementation document – 100 points

Create a document that explains why you implemented the project in the manner that you did. (Hint: some of this will come from your Project brief.) Include why your choices were most appropriate for your (or your client’s) audience. You should include an explanation of the following.

• WordPress Configuration
  • Does your website include blog functionality, and why or why not?
  • Do you allow comments on posts or pages?
• Theme choice
  • What is the name of the theme?
  • Is it a free or paid theme?
  • Why did you choose it?
  • How does each page serve your site’s objectives?
  • Does it enable any special features that are appropriate for your content, such as a portfolio template or e-commerce integration, etc.?
• Navigation structure
  • What is your navigation structure in terms of main pages and sub-pages
  • How did you arrive at this structure?
  • How does it serve your site’s objectives?
• Content created
  • What pages did you create?
  • What type of content is on each such as text, images, video, audio, etc.?
  • How does each page serve your site’s objectives?
• Functional aspects (plugins and widgets)
  • What are the names of the plugins you use?
    • Was the plugin free or paid?
    • Why did you select it?
    • What is the plugin’s purpose?
    • How does it support your website objectives?
  • Did you use widgets on any pages?
    • If so, which ones?
    • Was the widget free or paid?
    • Was it included in your theme, or was it part of a plugin?
    • Why did you use it?
    • What is the plugin’s purpose?
    • How did you use the widget? On every page or on selected pages only?
    • How does it support your website objectives?

The document must have a title page with the project name, document name, client name (if any), your name and contact information, and submission date.

Upload a Microsoft Word doc (Apple Pages and Adobe PDFs will not be accepted) to the appropriate Dropbox in D2L.

CMS-based Website – 200 points

Upload a Microsoft Word doc (Apple Pages and Adobe PDFs will not be accepted) to the appropriate Dropbox in D2L with links to both the completed website and the WordPress Dashboard. Include the following information.

• Your name.
• The URL for the front end of the website.
• Create a unique Admin-level account for the Instructor for evaluation purposes.
• Your site must be online and available through Sunday, December 17, or when you receive your grade, whichever comes first. After that, you may make any additional changes to your site that you wish (like swapping out themes, adding/removing functionality, etc.)

Due Dates

• SEE Course Schedule

Each deliverable must be posted to your website by 11:59 p.m. on the due date.

Evaluation:

• Topic – 25 points
• Project Brief – 100 points
• Information architecture diagram – 75 points
• CMS Implementation document – 100 points
• CMS-based website – 200 points

Points are awarded on the following criteria:

• Completeness of each deliverable
• Following assignment directions (The simplest way to get the most points is to follow ALL the directions.)

Total points available: 500 points

Plugin Requirements and Options

Portions of this assignment were adapted from Harvard DGMD E-25 Introduction to Web Content Management Systems Site Development by Jen Kramer.