A STUDY ON USING WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN UNIVERSITY SPORTS CLUB PJAEE, 17 (7) (2020)

A STUDY ON USING WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN

UNIVERSITY SPORTS CLUB

Jayeseri Vasuthaven1*,Palvinderjit Kaur2

1*
Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation.
2
Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation.
1*
[email protected],[email protected]

Jayeseri Vasuthaven, Palvinderjit Kaur.A Study on Using Web Content Management

Systems in University Sports Club-- Palarch’s Journal of Archaeology of
Egypt/Egyptology 17(7), 5248-5257. ISSN 1567-214x

Keywords: Web Content Management System, Sports Club, WordPress.

ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this paper is to present and elaborate the benefits of using Web Content
Management Systems in university sports club. Sports clubs are those associations that lack
the resources required to create and sustain a web presence. Unfortunately, many non-IT
students currently lack the technical skills to create their own web application. Content
Management Systems can avoid these issues by eliminating the need to teach PHP,HTML,
SQL, etc., and allowing non-IT students to concentrate on content management that is
important for university sports clubs. Web Content Management Systems are clarified,
preceded by a concise WordPress overview. Examples are provided, together with university
experiences.

INTRODUCTION
Computer desktop apps, smartphone applications or online applications give
users many ways to handle all sorts of information as time passes and
technology advances. Getting a website is a very important part of the
marketing today.Moreover, if users with little or no IT experience (non-IT
students) have no comprehensive exposure to HTML, PHP, SQL etc., it is
difficult to handle a website framework. Web application will enhance
communication process and enable the club to interactively conduct certain
administrative tasks online. This is the reason why the WordPress, Web
Content Management System was introduced into Sports Clubs web
application system at the Asia Pacific University.

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CONTENTMANAGEMENTSYSTEMS
Content Management Systems (CMSs) are World Wide Web platform
software developed by web development communities to create a website and
allow the management of web content such as animations, video text, audio
and image [1]. A CMS is a forum to manage a standardized web interface for
the related workers without the need for technological skills [2].

There are currently several types of Content Management Systems, such as

Business CMS, Product CMS etc., but this paper will only cover Web CMS.
In short, a Web Content Management System is a CMS designed to simplify
web content publication on websites, enabling content creators to submit
content without requiring technical knowledge of HTML (hypertext markup
language) or file upload. [1].

A CMS is a modern way of handling online information compared to the

traditional techniques. The business processes and required resources are
considerably simplified as many of the members of the technical team are no
longer needed for updating online information on a regular basis.

Table 1. With a CMS vs. Without a CMS [3]

With a CMS Without a CMS
A new page section is designed depending on a A new page section is a replication
predefined default.All navigation links are instinctive of an existing one. The site map as
modified, and there is a complete audit trail. well as links to the backdrop
navigation must be modified by
hand in an adhoc manner, and
standards must be followed.
Layout are segregated from page content, with Layout and content are intrinsically
consistency strictly kept across the web. The CMS linked together, making changes
enforces continuity in display. site-wide hard to update. The
programmers determine the
accuracy of displays.
Workflows are structured to replicate the specified Workflows are typically done in an
business requirements as such. The CMS workflow ad-hoc manner via email. Emails
engine reports an analysis of each change, with will be sent to various members of
comments. Content material is automatically released the company and published online
online upon final approval. manually after corresponding
approvals.
If the requisite approvals have Content will be published
been made, content is released at once. whenever the web editor has time
available that may require many
days to reconfigure and cause
errors.
The system implements compliance which keeps track Compliance has been must be done
of content changes and content publishing. by team members. Contentchanges
must be manually backed up and a
record held when publishing the
content.

To allow non-IT students to create websites, the deliver this information will
require a tremendous deal of effort and time. When a more complex website is
desired, information of multiple programming languages like Java, PHP, SQL
to manage database, etc. will be required. CMS can minimize time

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consumption and effort-creating a robust and efficient website is simple

without knowing HTML, CSS, PHP, SQL etc. [1].

Today, the most popular open source Web Content Management System such
as Joomla, Drupal and WordPress are used. There are many free and
commercial Web Content Management Systems. WordPress, Joomla and
Drupal are the very top open source CMSs that control the market today [4].
WordPress and Drupal are frequently contrasted plusthey equally have a big
army of followers. WordPress is possibly the simplest and most efficient
website content management and blogging system (or CMS) in existence
today. It can also be used effectively to build simple websites, in
addition.Development on WordPress is simple, and one can see changes in
real time as changes are made on their website [5]. For this reason, authors
chose WordPress to be the best way forusage in tertiary schooling.

WORDPRESS- HISTORY AND FEATURES

WordPress is an open source Web CMS that uses PHP and MySQL and is
usually used with the MySQL or MariaDB database servers but can also use
SQLite database engine. It is published under the GNU Public General
License. WordPress is the website management system with the most common
usage [5].In WordPress, the term Word refers to the words used to write posts.
Posts are the main elementcontent of a blog.

WordPress launched in the year 2003. Mainly because their main developers
halted the production of an already successful blogging app b2/cafelog.
WordPress's second major version, as well as the first version, was released on
January 3, 2004, named after a jazz musician, Miles Davis [6]. WordPress also
included new Admin GUI, new templates, and layouts that comply with
XHTML 1.1 developed in this update.WordPress version 1.2 was released in
May 2004 with a plugin function that allows application developers and users
to expand WordPress features through composing their own plugins and share
it with the general community[5]. WordPress version 1.5 launched in February
2005 featuring Blogs, comment management tools, Kubrick 's new default
theme, and a brand-new Theme System [7].

WordPress 2.0 was released with new WordPress dashboard in December

2005, plus editing of WYSIWYG, user roles, and customization of headers
[5]. AJAX was injected into the WordPress admin panel's roots, making
actions much faster than ever before, so now that user removes a comment or
post tag, it will gently fade away without reloading the page, saving time and
bandwidth as a result. WordPress 3.0 was released on 17 June 2010. This was
a big step for WordPress as a CMS. This update introduced many features
such as having new APIs from the theme developers-enabling items like
custom backgrounds, headers, short links, menus, etc.

In the year 2011, a redesigned and updated WordPress UI was launched in

version 3.2. The UI has changed considerably, completely updated and at the
same time holding the CSS light so that the screen can be opened even more
easily. In 2013, WordPress 3.7 came up with a new auto updater function that
enabled WordPress to update the program automatically for minor releases on

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the site[5]. The auto updater function is very close to what the Google Chrome
browser does. Through this time WordPress became the most popular CMS in
the world.

Throughout the entire year more refinements were made to the core of
WordPress with subsequent releases of WordPress 4.0 and WordPress 4.1. In
2015, the release of WordPress 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4 centred on enhancing venue,
emoji support, theme customizer, and setting up WordPress REST API
infrastructure. WordPress.org announced it is fully promoting HTTPs by the
end of the year. In 2017, they released WordPress 4.8 and 4.9. These releases
brought the introduction of audio, video, images, gallery, rich text, and HTML
to many new default widgets. These releases also laid the foundations for a
new block editor for WordPress. WordPress 5.0 was released in 2018, with a
brand-new experience in editing. WordPress rapidly evolved into one of the
most common open source content management systems.

WordPress is used for a few purposes: from the creation of simple personal
websites to complex websites such as application management and portals
focused on the community. Compared to other CMS that can be highly
sophisticated, WordPress is possibly the simplest to configure of all CMS
available today, enabling users with modest technological ability to leverage
its power [3]. This is exactly why WordPress was used to offer non-IT
students at APU in sports clubs, which will be explained further in the
following paragraph.

WORDPRESS IN PRACTICE
Any preinstalled templates/ comes with a standard WordPress installation.
Those models and their related files include the website's visual "look and
sound," which are kept separate from the content of the website. Beginners
can select this choice to show previously prepared samples, try to modify them
and then add new content. The frontend page of WordPress is shown in Figure
1.

Figure 1. WordPress Frontend

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When installed, the dashboard (Super Administrator who controls all elements
of the panel of a WordPress website administrator) will log in to the backend
administration asper in Figure 2, Besides that, it authors new content, handles
visitors, configures site options and performs routine maintenance work.
Basically, it handles complete frontend of the website by click-through
theinterface.

Figure 2.WordPress Backend

Upon creation of the content, a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
editor enables editor to edit without the knowledge in HTML[8]. It allows
users to add a post title, insert images, change the size, and more. A screenshot
of editing a content object on a website is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Adding Content in a Web Site

WordPress provides an option of letting others sign up on the web and sharing
their content. This function can be deactivated at any time. Users' functions

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and skills can be controlled in dashboard as shown in Figure 4. This just offers
more or less privileges for providing the material to certain logged in users.

Figure 4.WordPress Manage User's Roles and Capability

Some of the plugin architecture in WordPress allows users to expand a

website's features and functions. There are various free and commercial
plugins, developed by non-official developers. WordPress.org has 55,158
plugins available since August 2019, each of which provides custom functions
and functionality that allow users to customize their sites to their unique needs
[9].

A powerful Sports Club website can be built with the use of suitable plugins
(e.g. adding unique colours for each team, creating competition, match, team
or events etc.), much more than simple personal or hobby websites. Around 25
per cent of internet websites are working on the internet on Sports. Now a
sports website will have scoreboards mostly in sidebar, a results board that
displays the top 10 teams as in sidebar, a floating bar that gives the specifics of
the match. With the support of WordPress Sports Pluginsall these features are
made available to us [10]. WordPress websites can be easily updated with
different additions to sports clubs, such as previously mentioned increasing
competition for example.

Local deployment of WordPress became most realistic for educational

activities. WordPress is installed locally on every device in this configuration.
As this will not require the need of an internet connection.WordPress has
several framework specifications for efficient installation and use: PHP,
MySQL, and Apache. Both above must be allowed to be able to use
WordPress for local testing [11]. The hardest way is for each component to be
installed separately and configured to work together. There are various
packages for the different operating systems that meet these specifications,
like the XAMP and WAMP (Windows / Apache / MySQL / PHP) for
example. XAMP is a bundle of webservers for different operating systems.
XAMPP is an easy-to-use than WAMP. XAMPP is much more powerful[12].

EXPERIENCES FROM THE UNIVERSITY

Currently in Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU), there
is no existing system that stores enough quantity of data or information which
is collected from the sports club (such as Badminton Club, Football Club,
Karate Club etc.).In APU, however, the aim is to nurture and foster innovation

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through programs such as software engineering, computer science,

information technology etc. Students learned how to build and maintain a
WordPress driven website during the laboratory exercises [13].

Figure 5. XAMPP Control Panel

XAMPP version 3.2.3 has a control panel from which to start and stop the
individual components like MySQL and Apache as shown in Figure 5.
XAMPP uses more energy than WAMP due to large loads of internal part
applications like FileZilla FTP server, Tomcat and etc.XAMPP supports SSL,
as well.All the necessary components can be installed with just one installation
file of around 110 MB in size, allowing users to install WordPress and use it at
home. XAMPP is free, open-source software, backed up by a large community
of support. Students can also learn to build and maintain a website effectively
using the XAMPP free of charge.

The functional part of the Sports Club was organized using simple HTML,
WYSIWYG editor, content management systems using WordPress and
XAMPP Server installation. The website theme and the dashboard templates
can be picked.

In addition, along with some simple WordPress functionality, the site can also
be accessed from the frontend and backend. For instance, adding content,
deleting content, adding images via Media Manager, adding links to menus,
adding widgets to the sidebar. The site's Dashboard / Administration will
appear at the front page. The platform has a user role management system,
where new users can be introduced, accessed, and updated with various
authorization rates. Plug-ins must be downloaded and enabled. For eg,
WordPress plugin MSP (MultiSport& eSport), SportsPress Pro (Best in
WordPress Sports Plugins), Sports Bench (Sports WordPress Plugin),
JoomSport (Free in WordPress Sports Plugins) and so on.

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Figure 6. SPORTY Theme for Sport Clubs Preview [14]

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Figure 6 shows the SPORTY theme preview home page using WordPress
website. These websites are at first glance aesthetically like other technical
websites.

A questionnaire was circulated among students at the end of the semester to

explore their views and opinions about the sports in that they have just took
part. Over 85 per cent of students reflected on WordPress 's usability as a
device. Most of students had absolutely no difficulty to getting use to the
friendly GUI. At first, some of them found it difficult to understand the
website as a set of content but not as a set of specific web pages, and yet the
students got to know the idea quickly. 93 percent of respondents think the
implementation of a more professional Sports Club web content management
system would allow the club to run successfully on a daily basis and distribute
the information to its members at the same time.

There have been some site disadvantages though is its stability. Since it is an
open source platform, it relies heavily on plugins and themes created by
various people and companies, and because there is nobody to track them. It
can easily have glitches or lines of malicious code. As a matter of fact,
WordPress is the most hacked CMS platform worldwide according to a Sucuri
report [15]. This problem is somewhat eased by deleting the malware-infected
file, installing a new version of WordPress and restoring the website from a
backup.

Some of the students' state that they find it very easy to use this tool to build a
successful website as there is no programming ability needed. Not only that,
participants also find this tool is easy and quick to use, but it is imaginative
enough to allow users to express their ideas.

CONCLUSIONS
In summary, it is important for students to understand how a website operates,
how it is planned, developed and maintained for delivery in sports club at
APU. Given the complexities of the subject (including HTML, PHP, CSS,
SQL, etc.), the definition of a website of the Sports Club can be hard to grasp
for students who are not well proficient in IT. As they are simple and user
friendly, CMS has showed to be a reliable solution to a problem. CMS enables
users with no IT proficiency to build and manage Sports Club websites that
are accessible and aesthetically appealing.

WordPressand XAMPP server are used for student’s involvement in APU

sports. There are several templates and plugins included to the overall
usability of the CMS used, which increase students' involvement in sports.
Since the students were working off-line, a host server and its administration
were not needed, that effectivelycut the expenses associated with delivering.

Overall, both students and lecturers agreed that using WordPress helped the
students to better understand sport club site concepts. That argument is
strongly supported by the answers and data from the student questionnaires.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the four anonymous reviewers for their helpful
improvement suggestions and Mrs. Palvinderjit for revising the paper's text.

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