Wordpress Lite – Wordpress on a diet.
Back when Wordpress was a little wee thing known as B2, it was easy to install and train users in the use thereof. Now Wordpress is a full featured blogging system (and very good it is too) but, for some it is overly complex. Here is a look at how to simplify the installation and use of Wordpress. Wordpress-Lite if you like.
[Note: since WordPress 2.0 has hits the stands, a lot of this article is moot. Wordpress 2.0 has a simpler set of permissions for users which give them simpler administration screens].
I’ve performed this surgery on a pre-release version of Wordpress 1.5 (from CVS on Feb 9, 2005 if you want to know) after a lot of thought about which version to base the project around. In a way, using 1.2 would have been better, as it’s fixed, doesn’t use themes (which I don’t need) and is in wide use. But I’ve chosen 1.5 because it is near completion, handles static Pages and will be in use for a long while. It is an important release for Wordpress.
This is being set up for a project where the user simply wants to enter news on the main page and maybe have an archive of articles. There is no need for comments, trackbacks, pingbacks, talkbacks or any-other-kind-of-backs. Nor is there a need for multiple users or user registration. Nor RSS feeds or themes. Phew!
So why use Wordpress at all? Well, as you will see, stripping it down is very simple to do, and what we are left with is a simple content management system that allows administration, use of Markdown if needed, other features can, if needed later, be added easily.
OK, here goes…
After installing WP, log in as admin and make a few changes (these get stored in the database and it is easier to do them here).
Options->General – no users can register
Options->Writing – no users can write articles
Options->Discussion – turn off trackbacks, pingbacks and user comments
The next step in simplifying the setup is to create our user with a low access level. If you want the user to have the ability to create and manage categories, then create him at a level of 4, otherwise at a level of 3. Make him level 5 to gain the ability to manage Pages.
This still leaves some unnecessary menu items, such as the Dashboard. Edit wp-admin/menu.php to make any further desired changes to the menu structure. I set the line referring to the Dashboard to read:
$menu[0] = array(__(‘Dashboard’),8,’index.php’);
I may want page creation and editing, in which case set the levels for ‘Write Page’ and ‘Pages’ down a bit.
Next is to modify some of the code so that I can get rid of most of the files. I could just delete them and trust that they will not be called at any time, but I’d rather track down the bits of code that call them and cut them. wp-blog-header.php is a file that is called at the start of every page and about line 103 and following, there is some code that sets the status to ‘doing rss’ or ‘doing trackback’. Force them to be set to false. From here on there is a lot of code that can be hacked out if needed, much of it deals with trackbacks
We’re ready to delete some of the files that won’t be needed. Files to go:
wp-atom.php
wp-commentsrss2.php
wp-comments-post.php
wp-feed.php
wp-mail.php
wp-rdf.php
wp-rss.php
wp-rss2.php
wp-trackback.php
xmlrpc.php
In wp-settings.php, comment out the require for feed-functions.php (about line 86).
In wp-login.php, remove all the actions statements except for ‘login’ and ‘logout’ (and ‘default’). Also, at the end of the file, remove the list that contains links to (e.g.) “Lost Your Password” etc. At line 40, change:
$redirect_to = ‘wp-admin/edit.php’;
In wp-includes/functions.php, about line 1296, in the function get_tempate_directory, modify the line that sets the template to read:
$template = ABSPATH;
From the wp-content/themes/default directory you will need (probably) to copy index.php, header.php, footer.php to the root of the site. Don’t forget to merge in the lines of the existing /index.php to the new /index.php file.
Finally, the themes and any unused plugins can be deleted (they are in wp-content).
The above should now give you a much simplified version of Wordpress with most of the bells and whistles removed. I’ve glossed over the details of the code changes, it should be pretty clear when you look at it.
February 15th, 2005 at 20:00 pm
Linklog WordPress
“WordPress as your personal information manager” é um artigo/tutorial em 4 partes, escrito com base na experiência do seu autor de implementar e modificar a sua instalação (local) do WordPress para armazenar/organizar poemas e outros textos. É,…
September 8th, 2006 at 3:43 am
Love how you’ve simplified the install process. I have multiple blogs and spend too much time doing installs at the moment. Thanks.
September 30th, 2006 at 10:59 am
The easiest way to offer files for downloading on your website is to simply create the necessary archives (using WinZip or another program) on your own computer, and uploading the archives. But in some cases this isn’t enough, for instance when you want to generate a unique archive for each person who downloads the archive. This means you’ll have to create ZIP and TAR archives on the fly with PHP.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Hi
I’ve developed a plugin that doesn’t truly strip Wordpress’s features, but does a good job at hiding them. The motivation was to allow Wordpress to be used as a CMS for less advanced users, so that they can enjoy an interface that is simpler and less-intimidating to use.
WPlite: http://mahalkita.nanogeex.com/wplite/
Tell me what you think
March 5th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I haven’t tried it, but it’s a neat idea to make it a plugin. When I get time, I’ll give it a test run.
cheers
March 6th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Thanks
June 14th, 2008 at 5:06 am
well, I thought this was a diet but anyways I read it and liked it, I got some knowledge of wordpress I didnt knew. Thanks buddy..
August 3rd, 2008 at 22:39 pm
Simple n easy installation processes for wordpress I must say !
August 15th, 2008 at 3:56 am
I take your point about stripping away the bells and whistles from Wordpress. As someone who doesn’t particularly like the technical side of the whole website blog thing it would be great to my mind if the back office of Wordpress was much simpler. However the trouble is that surely the whole idea of a blog is to encourage constructive participation by others in ones endeavours. By getting rid of many of those bells and whistles – the complicated stuff – aren’t you in effect putting Wordpress on a “starvation diet”? In such a “diet” mode it is my opinion that your site would be adversely impacted where SEO is concerned when trying to get good search engine rankings for relevant words. Peronally I would want surfers to leave comments and write articles etc…. To my mind this is how a Wordpress blog thrives on the web…. To stretch your diet analogy even further – these things – the bells and whistles – are in effect website “healthy eating” – the nutrients for a blog which will enable it to grow big and strong for the future…..
August 21st, 2008 at 0:29 am
Hi,
Good post, want to gain more insight in your next post. Keep posting
September 11th, 2008 at 5:03 am
I also use Wordpress and I’d have to agree with you that it is a great system for blogging!
October 4th, 2008 at 9:49 am
While K2 hasn’t been made available directly from WordPress.com yet, you can get a K2 look-alike blog via the K2 Lite skin for Sandbox. Granted, one will have to get the CSS Upgrade from WordPress.com, but It is recommended think $15 for basically a year of blog hosting, and being able to edit the CSS.. well, that’s one hell of a deal.
selleys
seo
October 5th, 2008 at 22:16 pm
top wordpress themes…
Is there any advantage to blog with big blogging-platforms, which offer a blog for free? I personally like more to have my own domain, but I am not sure about this… any advantages?…
October 7th, 2008 at 15:53 pm
The fact of the matter is that Wordpress is open source. I mean Matt Mullenweg recently got 30 million in venture capital just to go around the world, conduct keynote speeches @ various Wordpress “camps” (really 1 day advanced training seminars) and talks about the latest version of his baby and what new features to expect. Knowing that, it’s a fair assumption to embrace some of the plug-ins and it’s features rather than trying to strip it down to it’s core. Of course one may be able to swap out what he does or doesn’t want inevitably, but in the end this is literally the future of multiple platforms (blogs, websites, etc.)
October 8th, 2008 at 16:35 pm
I really want to convert my blogger blog into wordpress but have no knowledga on how to get it started…..could someone plz help on that ?
October 17th, 2008 at 5:16 am
radio publicity…
I found your site on faves.com bookmarking site.. I like it ..gave it a fave for you..ill be checking back later…