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Setting up WordPress for IndieWeb use

I spent some time this morning doing a dry run through setting up a suite of IndieWeb plugins on a fresh WordPress installation. Going off of a scant outline I talked for almost two hours describing IndieWeb functionality as I set it all up. Hopefully it will provide a useful guide to newcomers to the space until I can write up a more solid outline and take a more polished approach. Apologies in advance for the roughness of the audio, lack of quality, and even live mistakes. Hopefully folks won’t mind suffering through until we can come up with some better tutorials.

As prerequisites, I assume you’ve already got your own domain and have installed WordPress on a server or other host. I actually finish setting up the WordPress install as I start the video and then sign in for the first time as we begin.

While many of the core plugins are straightforward, there is a huge amount of leeway in how folks can choose (or not) to syndicate to sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others. Here I make the choice to use the Bridgy Publish plugin and only demonstrate it with Twitter. With one example shown, hopefully other silos can be set up with Brid.gy as well. The IndieWeb wiki details other options for those who want other methods.

At the end I walk through creating and syndicating a post to Twitter. Then I demonstrate commenting on that post using another CMS (WithKnown) from a separate domain.

I do my best to provide verbal descriptions and visual examples, but these can certainly be supplemented with further detail on the IndieWeb wiki. I hope to come back and add some diagrams at a later date, but this will have to suffice for now.​​​​​​​​​

For those who would like an audio only version of this talk, you can listen here (.mp3):

Published by

Chris Aldrich

I'm a biomedical and electrical engineer with interests in information theory, complexity, evolution, genetics, signal processing, IndieWeb, theoretical mathematics, and big history. I'm also a talent manager-producer-publisher in the entertainment industry with expertise in representation, distribution, finance, production, content delivery, and new media.

45 thoughts on “Setting up WordPress for IndieWeb use”

  1. Listened Setting up WordPress for IndieWeb use by Chris Aldrich Chris Aldrich from Chris Aldrich | BoffoSocko I spent some time this morning doing a dry run through setting up a suite of IndieWeb plugins on a fresh WordPress installation. Going off of a scant outline I talked for almost two hours describing IndieWeb functionality as I set it all up. Hopefully it will provide a useful guide to newcomers to t…
    A really clear guide to setting up your WordPress for IndieWeb use. Available as a screencast and audio file. I’ve listened to about half the audio so far. I would love to have had this when I started adding plugins in a random fashion. Like this:Like Loading…

  2. Listened Setting up WordPress for IndieWeb use by Chris Aldrich Chris Aldrich from Chris Aldrich | BoffoSocko I spent some time this morning doing a dry run through setting up a suite of IndieWeb plugins on a fresh WordPress installation. Going off of a scant outline I talked for almost two hours describing IndieWeb functionality as I set it all up. Hopefully it will provide a useful guide to newcomers to t…
    A really clear guide to setting up your WordPress for IndieWeb use. Available as a screencast and audio file. I’ve listened to about half the audio so far. I would love to have had this when I started adding plugins in a random fashion. Like this:Like Loading…

  3. This was a really helpful walk-through Chris. I agree with your point in the IndieWeb podcast that it could be compressed into half an hour, but I always thought that was the point of adjusting the playback speeds?
    I just had a few thoughts / questions while watching / listening:

    I never realised that I could add all my Rel=Me links within my profile, does that mean that I do not have to go through all the rigmarole of adding them to my ‘child theme’? That definitely makes it a lot easier to setup.

    I am really interested in modifying / developing a custom post kind, but what happens when David Shanske updates the plugin? How do I set up to allow for updates and customisation? Is this some sort of ‘child theme’?

    I wonder if it were possible (maybe in the IndieWeb multisite or something) to customise the ‘Welcome’ box when you first start WordPress? Imagine if the information that is detailed in the IndieWeb plugin area could be placed there, front and centre?

    1. Aaron, sorry I must have missed the notification for your comment, or was overwhelmed when it came in.

      Yes, you should be able to add all the rel=”me” links in your profile, though I prefer to do that by hand myself to get the exact display I want.

      If you created a custom post kind and added custom code, it will be overwritten on an update. I might recommend doing a pull request for it into the main plugin so that all the code is there for yourself and everyone else. In this case you’d like just need to change the false to true in the code to be able to easily activate it. If it’s something you’re experimenting with there typically isn’t much code to change so doing it manually after an update is easy enough. There’s also apparently some built-in filters and code that would allow you to create a mini-plugin so that it sits next to the main plugin without being overwritten, but that’s a tad above my pay grade at the moment.

      I like your idea of a Welcome box and there are multiple ways of doing that. Alas, many of them are beyond me at the moment. I suspect they’ll get there eventually.

  4. Setting up WordPress for IndieWeb use by Chris Aldrich (Chris Aldrich | BoffoSocko)

    I spent some time this morning doing a dry run through setting up a suite of IndieWeb plugins on a fresh WordPress installation.

    Thanks for such a detailed walkthrough! I watched the video version at 2x speed and find it still quite easy to follow. Being able to see the screen is useful, especially around filling out metadata for Post Kinds. I think this also serves well as a WordPress 101 for newbies like me. I popped out of the video a few times just to try what you’re showing.
    This reply is a test run of webmention. Hopefully it works! 🙂

    1. Danyao, I’m glad it all seemed to work out so well. Your webmention came through loud and clear, though apparently I missed the email notification I set up for them. Congratulations!

  5. By using WordPress on your own domain, you are already a part of the IndieWeb. Below are some suggestions to help you get started with upgrading your WordPress site to support additional IndieWeb philosophies and functionality.

  6. By using WordPress on your own domain, you are already a part of the IndieWeb. Below are some suggestions to help you get started with upgrading your WordPress site to support additional IndieWeb philosophies and functionality.

    Bookmarks

  • 🔖 Marty McGuire

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