Help with my first client

[Yr Blues]

I have a writer that wants me to design his website.

He wants to have a main page with his essays and another page for his blog.

1. Is wordpress the way to go for this?

2. Can I use wordpress with his own url instead of wordpress'

3. is there a better way of doing what he wants

I normally do print design and I started to learn HTML and dreamweaver over the summer

 

[TodVader]

1)You could use wordpress in the background and use HTML & CSS for the design. If you are going the wordpress route, you will absolutely need CSS. I use it to create websites all the time. I create a design with HTML/CSS and drop wordpress elements wherever I need them and modify their style using CSS. It's a good way of having a blog on there but you can still use it to create the regular website too.

2)Of course you can use wordpress with your own address.

3)Better? I don't know. It depends on his needs. Wordpress is a powerful tool if used in the right way.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

Excellent response, TodVader.

@OP:

If the main focus is the essays and an integrated login environment you might consider installing a CMS (Content Management System) with a WordPress plugin. Or use the CMS's built in blog system if you're not married to Wordpress. Wordpress is by far the most popular blog format. Use your own domain, maybe build a nice home page with a few of his best or most recent essays highlighted and his most recent blog linked to his full blog page, create an essay repository elsewhere on the site. Among other ideas you might have.

Joomla is a decent CMS that supports the WP plugin, see:

www.siteground.com/wordpress_plugins.htm

Drupal is a decent CMS that has a decent blog system built right in:
http://drupal.org/

Finally, there is a module to import WordPress blogs into Drupal through an RSS file, documented here:
http://drupal.org/project/wordpress_import

-jim