How to... How to...
scotland April 2011
What is Open Source 1 A website designer on Open Source
15
Open Data 18
Get the best from Open Source: a beginners’ guide technical level. This isn’t so much “passing the buck”, but a much more conscience decision to allow specialists to perform a division of labour to achieve the best possible results. Specifically, my designs are completed in Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator formats with the confidence that the developer can then take the baton.
Open Innovation “I thought that WordPress was just for blogs. Can I use it for my organisation’s website?”
20 Links
Most defnitely! 21
About the authors 22
WordPress was originally an easy target for, in my opinion, skills-protective developers to brand as “just a blogging tool”. The very nature of Open Source has meant it has far outstripped any con-straints. Primarily, I don’t feel I have any design restrictions when using WordPress as a CMS - and I’ve had experience in both off-the-shelf templates and totally bespoke sites. Most importantly, I can say I’ve encountered no drawbacks to WordPress’ functionality and ease of use for the end client.
What you have to ask yourself is: do you want an easily manageable website that you and all of your staff can be trained to update at a fraction of the cost of a bespoke site and CMS?
“What is the future of Open Source?” I see Open Source as a reflection of the human appetite for learning. While some protect their knowledge and hesitate to share (mostly stimulated by intellectual property) others see the dynamic future benefits of enabling those straggling behind to gets the bits and pieces of informa-tion essential to global progress.
Jaco Justice Freelance graphic designer and illustrator. http://www.go-reborn.co.uk - WordPress template purchased for £40. Site updates were achieved with web developer’s assistance to introduce shopping cart and subtle design changes.
How to... Open Source
Author: Hannah Rudman, Marcus Wilson, Jaco Justice
17