Warning: This is an archived course website that is part of my teaching portfolio, so some links may no longer work. Please contact me with any questions about this site.
I use Pinboard to bookmark interesting websites related to ENGL 5074, but I will add the most important resources to this page as the semester progresses. If you’d like me to add a link to this page, just let me know.
To register a domain name, I recommend using one of these four companies:
All three of those companies also offer web hosting, but I recommend separating your domain registrar from your hosting company, just in case you need to change hosting companies at some point in the future.
There are hundreds of web hosting companies out there, and each one has a slightly different plan and slightly different fees. Before you settle on a hosting company, carefully investigate the company’s reputation (i.e., Google them, search for them on Twitter) and make sure that the plan you are signing up for offers the resources you’ll need for your site (e.g., MySQL databases, WordPress support, unlimited subdomains).
For hosting, I have been very happy with MediaTemple for several years, and I recommend the company to most of my clients. However, MediaTemple’s plans start at $20/month, which is more than some students (or their clients) want to pay. I hesitate to endorse other hosting companies without having used them myself, but I have students and trusted friends who have used all of the following companies with success:
The best way to get started with WordPress is to set up a site and start experimenting with it. When you get stuck, these sites can be helpful starting points for solving problems and finding answers to common questions:
Given WordPress’s incredibly large community of users and developers, chances are pretty good that any problem you encounter has been solved — and written about! — by another WordPress user. As a result, a simple Google/Bing/Yahoo search using plain language (e.g., “How do I hide the search bar in the header of my WordPress site?”) will often be the most effective way to find an answer to your question.
All WordPress themes can be customized, but some are much easier to modify than others. If you are new to web design and looking for a theme that can be customized in the WordPress dashboard, the following themes have fairly robust WYSIWYG editors:
Plugins add functionality to your WordPress site. You’ll find an endless supply of plugins on the WordPress site, but you might want to start with a few of the following plugins: