From HTML Website to CMS with the same design powered by WordPress
Last week i had a task that i was really waiting to get one of these days. We had a client who has a basic informative website about a service they offer. The website was created a couple of years ago and they were very happy with design, but they wanted it to be a CMS. So that if they want to add another page they don’t have to manually create the page and add a link to it from the navigation menu on all other pages.
An obvious choice was WordPress since all they need is a 10 page website plus Blog, Drupal would be to big of an overkill for this scenario. Now, even though i already made more then 30 WordPress installs, i usually used either a free them and just made some small changes or even sometimes the client liked the theme so i didn’t even had to touch it.
I was looking for a blank WordPress theme that while having all the necessary elements would let me do the design. And while i am sure there are dozens of those here is one i used and was pretty happy with, its called WP Framework their own description says it in the best way possible:
A blank WordPress Theme Framework that’s everything you need, and nothing you don’t
And thats exactly what it was. All i had to do is break the existing HTML into parts as following:
- header.php will hold parts of the HTML that never change from page to page on the top of the page
- footer.php holds parts of the HTML that never change from page to page on the bottom of the page
- sidebar.php has to have the HTML that will container that will be able to stretch based on the widgets activated in the back-end menu
- and of course index.php thats where you include the header, footer and sidebar plus the container for the main part of the page your posts and pages.
Then i imported the CSS and 99% of the site was done. Feels great -I just created my first WordPress theme. Having done it i see first hand why there are so many nice and free WordPress themes, since you don’t have to be a coder to make one.
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Cool, I had seen that theme, and was wondering what kind of application it had. Now I know! Can I see the site you refactored like this? I'm curious to know what it looks like.
Sure, i have sent it to you.
use wordpress ita a magic cms . you can do anything what you need in wordpress . just use the static option in the settings in admin panel and also change you permalink settings , it will give you a html pages web site . I have allready made many sites in wordpress for my clients.
the static settings only affect the front page the rest stays the same…
use wordpress ita a magic cms . you can do anything what you need in wordpress . just use the static option in the settings in admin panel and also change you permalink settings , it will give you a html pages web site . I have allready made many sites in wordpress for my clients.
the static settings only affect the front page the rest stays the same…
Wow, very cool list.
Some great sites there