We've been working with Wordpress for some time as a way of providing a
low-cost integrated cataloguing and website tool for community archives and
small museums or heritage groups.
The turning-point was Wordpress 3.0 when it became possible within the core
code to create 'custom post types' (i.e. a page with a pre-defined set of
fields as used in a catalogue) that could sit alongside the more free-form
Wordpress posts and pages.
There's a lot of trimming down and user-testing to do to make it as simple
for users as our proprietary software, but Wordpress' core 'media library'
(which means you can take an image out of the catalogue and put it into an
interpretative web page very easily) made it a better choice for us than
Drupal. And, having done a fair amount of developing with Omeka as well,
which has a less developed support community, there's a lot to be said for
the vast scale of the Wordpress support community...
Have signed up for the WP hack day and look forward to it!
Jack
Jack Latimer
Creative Director
communitysites
Landline: 0845 6801542
Mobile: 07977 445709
www.communitysites.co.uk
Award-winning websites and cataloguing software for community archives and
local history groups
Winners, Best Small Museum Site and Best Community Site, Museums and the Web
2008
85 Chester Terrace
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 6GD
Reg address: 1a Bedford Place, Brighton, East Sussex.
Company no: 5697476.
VAT no: 992 3233 09
I guess to some extent the right content management solution depends on the
size of the museum. For example a smaller venue could use Wordpress, but if
it was a multiple site local authority museum service I think Wordpress
would buckle under the pressure and it wouldn't be the right solution.
One size can't fit all, can it?
The Wordpress Hackday sounds like a fantastic idea.
Jim
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