WordPress: So Easy a Congressman Can Do It

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform launched a new site on WordPress today. This is really cool for a few reasons. Rep. Darrell Issa tweeted about it this morning, saying WordPress is “rare” for government and said it was “to support fast improvements in response to your feedback.”

https://twitter.com/#!/DarrellIssa/status/180331770506518528

Government moves at a pace best described as glacially, so for them to recognize that WordPress can help them react quicker, that’s just huge. I’ve learned in D.C. that ease of use and speed of development are very rare things for .gov sites, even those built on open source. Not to mention cost-effectiveness in an age where federal government IT procurement is being upended. Look, they even created cheesy WordPress-in-government infomercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38PlJ9kMPKY

The video takes a shot at bad government websites, and while the new site isn’t the prettiest thing in the world, I like the point they’re getting across: Government can excel on the web using the same free publishing software as many of their constituents. It won’t be rare for long.

Related: Ben Balter’s post on WordPress and government from last week is making waves.

Bonus: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently gave their WordPress site a new coat of paint.

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Andrew Nacin

Lead developer of WordPress, living in Washington, D.C. Follow me on Twitter.

10 thoughts on “WordPress: So Easy a Congressman Can Do It”

  1. I used to use WordPress as the blogging platform for the .gov site I’m responsible for in my full-time gig. The thing that swayed me to ExpressionEngine when we did a site-wide redo was EE’s ease-of-use to set up multiple channels (custom post types for WP) and different types of form fields within those channels, plus the ability to create relationships between channels.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m a *huge* WordPress fan. My own site plus most of my client’s sites are WordPress. But that particular ease-of-use in EE was the major decision factor for me.

    Kudos to the Oversight Committee for doing this. Hopefully the agency that did the work will make inroads when the new class comes in next year.

    1. Brett, while I understand that EE maybe more advanced in WP in that particular area, nothing still beats WP overall. It’s the best CMS today and for years to come. Nothing comes close..Sorry, real WP fanatic out here.

  2. Yeah, well, looking at the prices wordpress.com charges for support (who I am sure are drooling at the prospect of charging the US Government millions of dollars for fixing word press), combined with the ability of untrained members of a Congressional staff to install plugins that are poorly written from a non-vetted public source, alarms me more than it comforts me, and I spend a good part of my time support word press sites.

    It would be nice for developers to come down to base their expectations a little more rationally. There is nothing free about open source, it involves lots of time, which can be very expensive. This reliance on Twitter and its limited method of communication might be good for prodding herds of consumers, sometimes in directions we don’t admire.

    Good luck with that theory, there are a number of word press sites out there, but not all of them are at the top of the list, and for good reasons. In other words what is good for the public, may not be good for a government administration who may benefit from a more controlled environment.

    Too many bugs associated with Word Press and too little quality control to really think or believe a Congressman should use WordPress for official purposes, and if they do, the costs will quickly escalate trying to get support than if they stuck with traditional or proprietary systems.

    No such thing as easy when it comes to web site design, it is a continuing effort to keep a web site up.

  3. 男士皮带是男士腰间的品位象征。

    现代都市生活,似乎让男人承受的压力越来越大。从男人腰间的皮带上,就能体会到其忙碌的状态。他们总是挂着或别着手机、钥匙包,甚至打火机,这很容易使人联想到古人腰带上携挂着的弓、剑、砾石、算盘等。挂弓、剑等在古代是高地位的象征,也必然会受到别人的羡慕。可是在今天,如果一个男人再在腰上挂一大串东西的话,那么就显得没有品味没有内涵了。现实生活中,大多数男人也都会不以为然地在腰间挂一些东西,甚至还美其名曰是体现自己的身份,殊不知这样做,在别人眼里,尤其是在一些有品位有见识的女性眼里,这些举止看起来是多么俗气和没有档次。

    一个成熟的男人是不会让自己的腰间挂满着细小东西的。他们会在腰间系上一条高雅的腰带,简单而干练,还能在一定程度上代表男人的身份、品味和个性。

    男人该如何选择适合自己又彰显品位的皮带呢?
    1.在皮带的选择上请千万保持低调。黑色、咖色或棕色的皮带配以钢质、金质或银质的皮带扣,既适合各种衣物和场合,又可以很好地表现职业男士的气质。不要轻易使用式样新奇的和配以巨大皮带扣的皮带。

    2.要考虑皮带的装饰性,不要挂过多的物品。因为简洁、干练是男人的特征。

    3.皮带的长度应介于第一和第二的裤扣之间,宽度应保持在3厘米。如果皮带太窄,会失去男性的阳刚之气;如果皮带太宽,则只适合于休闲、牛仔风格的装束。

    总之,在时尚潮流中,一个注意风度形象的男人,总会在腰间这一细节上多花心思,而不是随意对待,让一些小饰物挡住皮带的光芒。

  4. No doubt wordpress is one of the most powerful, most efficient and the most easiest way to blog, on just about anything. And anyone can do it.

  5. Love that Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is using WordPress, but please, somebody (with clout) tell them to update! They’re still on WP 3.3.1. :\

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