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dreamweaver, wordpress, or both

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xenolite

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2004
26
0
so i'm building a website for the first time and here's what i want – a simple site with 3 or 4 pages total with the front page having blog capabilities.

i've been teaching myself dreamweaver using the missing manual book and it's been great. but then recently, i found out about wordpress. it's pretty amazing except that i want to have my own banner and navigation buttons...basically make the page look exactly like i want it to. i don't really have the time to learn html which is why i was interested in using dreamweaver.

but am i better off just abandoning dreamweaver all together and simply modifying the the default WP theme? or is there a way i can use them together? i found this which seems to get at my needs, but there's not really enough detail for it to make sense to me. anyone willing to provide me with some additional assistance? or maybe point me to an online resource that can? thanks in advance.
 
You are kind of comparing apples to oranges. DW is a HTML editor, and wordpress is a content managment system. I've skinned wordpress using DW, but I'm not sure why you would abondon it all together. My blog uses wordpress built via DW.
 
so i'm going to show how much i don't really understand by asking this...when you say that you've "skinned" WP using DW, do you mean that you've created WP themes in DW that you then apply? or do you build a site in DW and then embed the WP components (all that loop stuff i've read about in the codex) into your existing site?
 
xenolite said:
so i'm going to show how much i don't really understand by asking this...when you say that you've "skinned" WP using DW, do you mean that you've created WP themes in DW that you then apply? or do you build a site in DW and then embed the WP components (all that loop stuff i've read about in the codex) into your existing site?
Click to expand...

Although I can't answer this question directly (since it wasn't directed at me), I can begin to attempt your previous question with this one in mind.

Dreamweaver is a tool used to develop a vast range of Web applications, from pages to scripts. It revolves around development at the very fundamental level of the web.

Wordpress is an application designed using the above, which seeks to simplify what is actually a very complicated process of building a Blog system.

In your case I would absolutely encourage you to use Wordpress over building it from scratch because it is vastly easier to do so. However, you don't want to scrap Dreamweaver. One day, you may want to make a page that goes beyond the reaches of "prepackaged" systems like WordPress That's when tools like Dreamweaver, and others, will come in very handy. But that's not all - as the previous poster mentioned, you will use DreamWeaver all the time as you develop pages, even if your primary package is WordPress; the question is not when, but simply how much a lack of functionality from other software will drive you to do so.

That was the long answer, the short answer goes as follows: use both, dump neither.

Finally, before you jump on the WordPress bandwagon and invest hundreds of hours into developing it, I'd suggest you look at some of your alternatives first. The "CMS scene" has literally exploded in recent years, with hundreds of alternatives available.

Hope this helps some.
 
Jump on the bandwagon and go with WordPress. It'll do what you want, very easily.

You can easily modify the default wordpress theme (Kubrick2 is coming out soon by the way) or choose from literally hundred of other themes, which are all very easy install. Check out this page and this. Personally, I'm quite a fan of the Relaxation theme. The 'Pages' function will make it very easy for you make the 3/4 static pages that you want, without the need to code them using HTML. Don't forget to check out some of the available plugins as well.

I've modded Kubrick for my own personal website and it looks nothing like the original, even though it's based on the same code. Just changing the graphics files will do wonders. I've done all the changes in BBEdit but cheaper alternatives like SubEthaEdit or even TextEdit will do perfectly fine. You could use DreamWeaver but since you'll be editing mostly PHP and CSS it's perhaps slightly overkill and overly cumbersome.

That's not to say stop learning DreamWeaver altogether, it might come in handy one day. But for what you want right now, WordPress is the way to go.
 
Gary King said:
WordPress = free + better than Dreamweaver, for what you want to accomplish.
Click to expand...

saying wordpress is better than dreamweaver is like saying a camera is better than a photo album.
 
superbovine said:
saying wordpress is better than dreamweaver is like saying a camera is better than a photo album.
Click to expand...
What if you want it to only store photos and not take them? I said Wordpress is best for OT's situation. Sheesh. I personally use both myself.
 
superbovine said:
saying wordpress is better than dreamweaver is like saying a camera is better than a photo album.
Click to expand...

Actually, wouldn't it be "saying wordpress is better than dreamweaver is like saying a photo album is better than a camera?" You do the underlying things in Dreamweaver (photos) and then put it into the CMS, wordpress (or the photo album).

I used to use both, and they do work well together. Wordpress is a great CMS; you'll be happy with it.
-Chase
 
rendezvouscp said:
Actually, wouldn't it be "saying wordpress is better than dreamweaver is like saying a photo album is better than a camera?" You do the underlying things in Dreamweaver (photos) and then put it into the CMS, wordpress (or the photo album).
Click to expand...

Oops, yeah your right. I was thinking that though ;)
 
Wordpress is a great blogging CMS. I've skinned quite a few wordpress layouts now and the more I do them, the easier they become. My first one took about 60+ hours, my second one about half that, and each time I do it, I Keep knocking time off. I think there are a ton of themes out there, but like anything else, you'll just look like everyone else out there. That's why I prefer skinning them myself into a custom design.
 
hey thanks to everyone for their opinions and suggestions. i've actually decided on textpattern over wordpress. i understand why everyone is singing the praises of wordpress, but for my needs, textpattern won out. despite a wiki that's totally incomplete and the lack of any clear documention beyond installation, i've found that i can manipulate textpattern to do what i want it to do more easily. this from a newbie who didn't know a damn thing about CSS or CMS's a month ago. i think more than anything though, the supportive community at textpattern won me over. those wordpress forums just seem downright caustic sometimes.

maybe if i'm not too embarrassed i'll actually let you all see the site when i'm finished. maybe.
 
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