Website transition to Wordpress (Or similar)

[kirky29]

Hey guys,

I help run a small charity in the UK and they have a website, it hasn't really changed in a few years and they'd like an overhaul really. But they'd also like it to be made with Wordpress (or something similar) so different people can maintain it from anywhere, instead of the current HTML site storred on one computer using Dreamweaver.

They asked me to help, but I don't really understand Wordpress, or rather can't get used to it. I like to be able to drag pictures and move them around etc - I don't like having to code a site or be restricted with layouts etc.

Is there any extensions or plugins to help me, like a table layout plugin?
Or an offline Mac App for it?

Or, does anybody know any good but cheap Wordpress designers that could help?

Thanking you all
K

 

[-pete-]

WordPress is a great system but it does have some limits on what you can do with it, you really need to be able to hard code templates and add a content area which workers can add to.

If you are wanting to get deeply involved in "design" (basically make a bunch of bespoke pages that are all different from each other) then you may be better served either by a different CMS, Rapidweaver or even a hosted solution like Squarespace

If you could let us see what the site looks like at the moment (or a site that functions in a similar way to what you are aiming to do) then we could probably give better advice

 

[kirky29]

WordPress is a great system but it does have some limits on what you can do with it, you really need to be able to hard code templates and add a content area which workers can add to.

If you are wanting to get deeply involved in "design" (basically make a bunch of bespoke pages that are all different from each other) then you may be better served either by a different CMS, Rapidweaver or even a hosted solution like Squarespace

If you could let us see what the site looks like at the moment (or a site that functions in a similar way to what you are aiming to do) then we could probably give better advice

Hey, thanks for getting back in touch, it's a shame about Wordpress, it looked like it might be an almost perfect system. Although, I was messing around with it and did find it a little slow. Also I didn't like how it threw all the images in one 'album'.

I personally don't like RapidWeaver, it just seems too simple and again I'd lock me down to one computer, right?

I've actually looked at Squarespace, I'm a big Twit TV watcher! - It works pretty great, just the templates are....a little dull, they're all pretty much the same, not much colour!

This is their current site: www.northcotehorses.com - it's not the worst site in the world, but it's certainly not the best, it could be a lot better and have more consistency throughout the pages.

I think their main aim is to have a blog, news page and photo gallery that can easily be updated whenever and wherever needed.

Thanks!

 

[Tholian]

You might want to try wordpress with a framework to make the design component work better for you. Take a look at this:

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/10/a-comparison-of-leading-wordpress-theme-frameworks/

I've been looking at the new Thesis 2.0 from diythemes.com, but their are plenty of other choices also.

 

[960design]

Check out lynda.com for wordpress tutorials. Sign up for a trial membership and start learning or stop by the local library and see what they have for wordpress development.

To use wordpress offline, download/install MAMP to give you the necessary 'stack' to run a dynamic cms like wordpress ( or drupal or joomla or... ). Then visit wordpress.org to grab the latest wordpress files. Follow the 5 minute setup tutorial and off you go.

Good luck,

 

[glutenenvy]

They asked me to help, but I don't really understand Wordpress, or rather can't get used to it. I like to be able to drag pictures and move them around etc - I don't like having to code a site or be restricted with layouts etc.

The only problem with wordpress is that it is popular. It is popular enough to be targeted by hackers. You have to lock it down and keep it updated if you want to avoid eventually getting hacked. Other than that, it is a good platform with a good echo system of resources. Tons of themes and plugins are available.

The best free page and post editing tool I've found for wordpress is a Microsoft tool called live writer. You'll have to have windows to run this tool. I haven't been made aware of a free OSX tool that works as well as live writer.

What you get with a platform like wordpress is separation of content from style and functionality. With relatively little training your regular office people can do content updates after you've installed or created the theme and plugins you like. You can even do content updates easily with the WP app on your smartphone.

 

[Martin29]

I run a number of Wordpress sites ranging from small three page personal blogs, to complex integrated sites which utilise the CMS functionality of Wordpress.

Wordpress is a very powerful tool, with a huge array of plugins which enable you to create almost any kind of site imaginable.

If you need some help, then feel free to pm me..

Here's an example site:
Mosley Family History

This shows how some parts of the site can be restricted to members only and shows a range of content possibilities.

 

[venturacottage]

Also consider Drupal.org, very powerful and with plenty of user friendly features feel free to contact me for more details joeATventuracottage.com many of my clients are uk charities and small businesses

Hey guys,

I help run a small charity in the UK and they have a website, it hasn't really changed in a few years and they'd like an overhaul really. But they'd also like it to be made with Wordpress (or something similar) so different people can maintain it from anywhere, instead of the current HTML site storred on one computer using Dreamweaver.

They asked me to help, but I don't really understand Wordpress, or rather can't get used to it. I like to be able to drag pictures and move them around etc - I don't like having to code a site or be restricted with layouts etc.

Is there any extensions or plugins to help me, like a table layout plugin?
Or an offline Mac App for it?

Or, does anybody know any good but cheap Wordpress designers that could help?

Thanking you all
K

 

[TimothyJacobs]

Hey guys,

They asked me to help, but I don't really understand Wordpress, or rather can't get used to it. I like to be able to drag pictures and move them around etc - I don't like having to code a site or be restricted with layouts etc.

Is there any extensions or plugins to help me, like a table layout plugin?
Or an offline Mac App for it?

K

Try Headway Themes: http://headwaythemes.com. It is a wordpress plugin that does something similar to what you wanted. It will allow you to drag modules around and create different blocks, and does the heavy lifting for you. You can easily create slideshows, and widget areas and move around videos and photos if you want. It will also let you do styling inside their interface as well! I have used it before and would recommend it for a project if you don't want to do a lot of actual coding. They offer a free trial of sorts, definitely worth a look.

 

[kirky29]

Hey guys, thanks all for your suggestions

I've been playing around with SquareSpace and love it, just a few things I can't figure out, annoying things.

1 - when I import some images and drag them around, they crop and it looks awful, is there something I'm doing wrong? (I've attached a photo to show what I mean, look at the bits with the red lines around them)

2. How can I make the site look less boring. Big one, I know....
Are there any templates on the internet? Cause the ones that come with it aren't that great personally.

Note, I'm using the trial, are there any features that don't get included in the trial? Like more themes & templates?

Thanks all!!