• Your a full time graphic designer who only designs the interface and does no coding at all
• Your a full time graphic designer who designs the interface and or images for the site, as well as codes the HTML and or CSS for the site.
• Your a full time Web developer who only does the actual coding of XHTML and CSS
• Your a full time Web developer who only does server side scripting
• And we could go on and on

So I wanted to see what you thought the first week by answering the following questions for me:

1. Have you ever done any type of server side programming before, and if so, what specifically.
2. What do you think of PHP so far (I know we only entered into if on a basic level so far)?
3. What was the most challenging part of last weeks assignments for you?
4. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being absolutely no interest), how interested are you in learning how to create dynamic Web pages and or designing for them?

Most of the time, we think about software or programs that we typically install as the traditional licensed product that we must pay for, obtain a license for and then are allowed to install that software on one computer per license. An example of this is Microsoft Windows operating system, or Microsoft Office. Those are developed by a company with the sole intent to sell and license it for use. This type of software also comes already compiled and ready to run or install off the CD and we do not have direct access to the code or other parts of the program.

Open source however can almost be thought of as the opposite of what we described above. The source code is included, normally along with the compiled version and allows for modification and customization by those who use it. Open source is often supported by a group of programmers who believe in the program and idea of open source.

In order to be classified as open source, the software criteria normally meets the following:

• The program must be freely distributed
• The source code must be included and available
• The software can be modified by anyone who wishes to do so
• If the software was modified, it can be redistributed
• The software must not require the sole exclusive use of other programs

WordPress started out in 2003 as a small application that would help writers but has since grown into the most popular self hosted (meaning you can install it anywhere) blogging tools in the world.

WordPress was and is developed by hundreds of people from all over the world and is available for free to anyone who wants to use it.

One of the great things about that is developers and designers have created all types of great plugins, themes, extensions and more that has helped make WordPress not only one of the most used blogging platforms, but has now turned into one of the most used Content Management Systems as well. WordPress is now running large scale sites not designed for blogging, but ecommerce sites, corporate websites, government agencies and more.

From a designers standpoint, it has opened up a lot of areas such as being a designer who specifically designs themes for customers, custom graphics, plugins and more. WordPress is used by lots of non technical people who need a good designer to help set it up and customize it when needed.

Activity:
Please add a new comment to this post regarding the following:

I want you to think about your experience with WordPress in this class as well as any other exposure you may have had with it and talk about the following three things:

1. How do you see open source software such as this contributing to the area of Web Design?
2. Discuss If you think you as a Web designer can see yourself using this platform in the future and in what ways specifically.
3. And talk about one of the plugins you installed that you felt would be most helpful to a Client with a Web site like your fictitious one you installed in your blog folder.