Wordpress

[divz2]

Hi,

 

I am new to CMS/Wordpress and would like some help please. I have started programming quite few websites (all of them manually - page by page). Now I am doing much bigger websites and hand coding each page is getting more and more difficult.

After reading your CMS forums, I downloaded Wordpress and installed it correctly. It is working now.

I am still very confused as to how this template format can be used for websites?

I am looking to develop websites similar to my http://www.independentsunsupport.com/ and wanted some guidance as to how Wordpress can be used.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

[jstern]

i've never used wordpress myself, but my understanding is, it is used to create blog type websites

[Andrea]

I've used Wordpress for my site (see signature) and also recently for a client - mom shou secleaning.com - just a couple small-scale examples. If you look at Susie's site - http://auxanocreative.com/portfolio/ - and check her portfolio, you'll find a lot more - she uses it quite a bit.

[Susie]

I use WordPress as a CMS all the time. As Andrea mentioned, I have a few in my portfolio. Also, my own website is powered by WP.

 

WordPress isn't just for blogs anymore. I'm reworking some of my pages and this will be included as a way of explaining using WP as a CMS.

 

A WordPress CMS site is basically a website that is built using WordPress so it is easy for you to use and update yourself. It has the same look and feel of a traditional website with navigation menus, multiple pages and lots of other goodies! It offers a professional look that your viewers will love!

 

Though WordPress is often considered a blogging system, a WordPress CMS site is not a “blog”. Its pages are static (not often updated like a regular blog). My website is an example of a WordPress CMS site. You can, however, integrate a blog into your site so that the design flows seamlessly between the two.

 

To use WP in this way, you can simply go to Settings > Reading and then set your "Front Page" to a Page instead of where the Posts (blog portion) are displayed.

 

And the website you showed as an example would be very easy to create using WordPress. The best part is that your client (or you) can easily edit the site without having to mess with the code.

[Susie]

Also, to help you get started, you could start out with a blank 2 column theme and customize it with colors, graphics, etc.

 

Here are a few: http://www.refueled.net/blank-wordpress-themes/

 

Or if you'd like to learn how to write your own theme from scratch, there are video tutorials right here at Killersites.

[jstern]

Can wordpress be used with something like zencart? or does it have something else already available? I will soon be starting a project that will need a simple shopping cart and I'm looking for ideas. I'd like something better than coding everything from almost scratch.

[Susie]

You can try googling for "wordpress zencart integration" to see what you come up with. I've never used zencart, so I can't say how well they might work together.

 

If you are looking to add e-commerce functionality to a website that is powered by WP, you might want to look at these plugins:

 

http://www.instinct.co.nz/e-commerce/ - I have experience with this one. I've found it buggy and difficult to customize. However, it's been a few years and maybe they've improved in it updates.

 

http://shopplugin.net/ - I haven't tried this one yet, but it comes highly recommended to me.

 

http://www.phpurchase.com/ - I've sampled this one. It seems like a good one if you don't have a large number of items to sell. Unless I missed something when I gave it a try, it seemed like it was more for placing products/buy buttons on WP pages/posts rather than setting up an actual cart system.

[falkencreative]

I used the Instinct.co.nz ecommerce plugin semi recently, and I can't say I recommend it -- like Susie, I found it buggy and a bit difficult to use. I haven't used the Shopplugin.net one yet, but if I need a Wordpress powered site with a shopping cart of some sort that's the first one I would look at.

 

You may also be able to integrate FoxyCart with Wordpress, though I haven't personally tried it. (Just noticed that CSS-Tricks had an screencast on that: http://css-tricks.com/video-screencasts/56-integrating-foxycart-and-wordpress/)

[lm]

Can wordpress be used with something like zencart? or does it have something else already available? I will soon be starting a project that will need a simple shopping cart and I'm looking for ideas. I'd like something better than coding everything from almost scratch.

 

Wordpress-Zencart:

I've recently used them both to set up the website and online store. I find this combination possible but if they installed independently: WP as CMS for main website and Zencart for online store in its own directory. I must say zencart is easy to install but you should prepair to get your hands dirty on coding( which is in itself a good learning curve) and tweaking (if you require extra features, the knowledge of PHP is required) to customize it.

 

If you just started and want it quickly and painless, try already mentioned WP plugins ( if Paypal is an option, there is and Paypal WP plugin I suppose (at least they good documented) or otherwise simple shopping cart - Big Cartel if it suits your needs (which is for 5 products free).

Also, if you are a "social type", you can try Storenvy (free)

Edited June 10, 2010 by lm

[divz2]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for all the replies. I am glad that WP can be used for creating/maintaining websites.

I know its a very basic question but how can I emulate the index page and the css code I have in my website into wordpress?

I created a my new theme folder in "themes" folder and added the index and css pages (Understood this procedure after seeing the videos on killersites website). It works but I am not sure how this same css and template can be used for other websites?

Also how can the pages be changed in other websites without messing with the code?

Sorry about these questions as they may seem very basic.

Thank you very much once again.

[Susie]

I'm not sure I understand your question, but you will need a separate WordPress installation for each website. Each client's website will be on their own server and you would work on them separately.

[divz2]

Let me try and explain my questions clearly.

 

Question 1: I have installed WP and added my css and index pages as a new theme in the themes folder. It is working. Now I want to add new pages to this website, how do I do it with WP?

 

Question 2: I already designed & programmed a website www.independentsunsupport.com. I hand coded this. I have few more websites that need to be designed with the same css background (maybe just few colour changes). All these websites are similar to my www.independentsunsupport.com. The layout will be the same but the sub pages and its content will be different based on the type of product.

How can I do this?

 

Thank you very much indeed.

[Susie]

Oh, I see. Sorry for my misunderstanding.

 

Question 1: I have installed WP and added my css and index pages as a new theme in the themes folder. It is working. Now I want to add new pages to this website, how do I do it with WP?

 

In the WP dashboard, go to Pages > Add New. You may need to click the little arrow that appears on the right of the navigation background to open up the options.

 

Question 2: I already designed & programmed a website www.independentsunsupport.com. I hand coded this. I have few more websites that need to be designed with the same css background (maybe just few colour changes). All these websites are similar to my www.independentsunsupport.com. The layout will be the same but the sub pages and its content will be different based on the type of product.

How can I do this?

 

Again, inside each WP dashboard, go to Pages > Add New to create your new page. To create a sub page, select the Parent when writing your new page (on the right side of the page in the Attributes section).

 

Hope this helps.

[dianikol85]

and when you add the new page you can check if this is the page you want to display with the <?php if (is_page("yournewpage"))?> tag to show different content