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General Discussion

Matthew Schmookler
Matthew Schmookler
8,970 Points
Posted by Matthew Schmookler
Matthew Schmookler
8,970 Points

Wordpress or not to Wordpress?

Hi All,

I just finished up the web design track and want to get my feet wet building some sites. I have a couple friends that would like me to give them a hand and wondering what peoples thoughts are about using wordpress themes as a starting point. Before taking the track I did make wordpress sites before, but I didn't know how to tweak the code at the time.

Suggestions? Is there a better way to get experience? Should I use a blank theme? If not word press, what are the other "best" options for handing over a site for ongoing content management?

I've gotten started designing logos from scratch based on the illustrator classes and that's been both challenging and rewarding to see that there is hope for me :)

Any advice is much appreciated.

-Matt

5 Answers

Niek Heerink
PLUS
Niek Heerink
Courses Plus Student 1,557 Points
Niek Heerink
Niek Heerink
Courses Plus Student 1,557 Points

I have build over a dozen WordPress websites, and that is what I would recommend to use. With WordPress you have great flexibility, and not to forget the power of 'custom post types' and 'custom taxonomies' etc. It is also easy to add custom fields with a plugin like 'Advanced Custom Fields', one I always use.

WordPress is a perfect CMS to get more experience with PHP for example. It's focused mainly on OOP, which makes it a powerfull CMS and easy to understand it's code. I would not recommend some other CMS, unless it really is not possible to do with WordPress.

You could also get more experience by using the focus on Magento, which is mainly for the use of E-commerce websites. Be warned though, it is different then a normal CMS and uses tons of files. If you ever create a theme in Magento , I would recommend buying a theme and modify it. Install it on a local server, go trough the files and you will get what I mean.

Richard Duffy
Richard Duffy
16,488 Points
Richard Duffy
Richard Duffy
16,488 Points

Hm... if you have already done the web design track and want to learn Wordpress I would because it is a good package with design and Wordpress because you can offer websites with Wordpress blogs. I hope this is of some use to you.

Happy Coding,

Richard Duffy

Matthew Schmookler
Matthew Schmookler
8,970 Points
Matthew Schmookler
Matthew Schmookler
8,970 Points

Thank you Richard and Nieck! I appreciate the advice. A question for both of you....do you usually go off of a preset theme and tweak the design, or do you build from a blank theme?

Thanks again, Matthew

Niek Heerink
PLUS
Niek Heerink
Courses Plus Student 1,557 Points
Niek Heerink
Niek Heerink
Courses Plus Student 1,557 Points

Hi Matthew,

I most of the time build things from scratch, having only a empty style.css and index.html file. I like to have full controll on my projects, not having to search trough someone elses code all the time. After I sliced the whole project PSD to html, I create the necessary php files for WordPress, split up the code and put it in the right files. Although I must say, HTML and CSS get's pretty boring in time. I most of the time outsource the slicing as it is really cheap.

Richard Duffy
Richard Duffy
16,488 Points
Richard Duffy
Richard Duffy
16,488 Points

I tend to build things from scratch rather than using templates, unless it is needed really quick.