How easy is Wordpress?
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- Projectile
Meeting a potential client tomorrow evening who needs a full corporate identity, but also a Wordpress website.
I've never used WP, but is it as easy as just replacing graphics in a template?
OK I'll obviously be honest and tell her that I'm no expert and can't customise it a helluva lot and she'll have to stick to a chosen template. But she just wants a showcase site for a yoga studio but with a blog page that she can update herself.. not exactly the most complex project.
Without any prior experience, can I just experiment for an hour or two and then be ready to get it made? Or does it actually take a fair bit of coding and WP-specific experience and knowledge?
- detritus0
If you want a blog-like site, then yes, it's very easy.
If it's something more to your specification (ie. a typical CMS site), then no - uit's not 'very easy', it takes a bit of fiddling.
Not saying it's hard, like. Just fiddly.
- flux40
If you have some knowledge of HTML and CSS then, yes, you'll find it relatively easy.
This book has a lot of flaws and useless information about design trends, but as a speedy introduction to Wordpress theme design I recommend it - https://www.packtpub.com/wordpre…
Replacing images in a pre existing Wordpress theme / template can prove limiting very quickly.
- TheBlueOne0
If you;re going to build a site and just have a blog on the side why not use Tumblr for it? Or you could use a much more lightweight blogscript like sNews ( http://snewscms.com/ ) for the blog section. Wordpress seem like overkill (and a bunch of frontend design headaches) if it's only going to be used for an independent blog section.
- inteliboy0
^ Tumblr can be just as 'fiddly' as Wordpress imo if customising a basic blog template.
If you can find a theme you really like, and just need to change out the logo/banner and some link colours - then Wordpress is super easy.
Having some basic WP knowledge is good to have in your arsenal anyway.
- I suppose. I just find Tumblr far easier than WP to theme for. But it does have its foibles as well.TheBlueOne
- TheBlueOne is BACK!!!rusty_ace
- 23kon0
Find out what the client wants first before promising any Wordpress site.
Once you know what they want then go on the hunt for a Template that is similar to what they want to do and could even be a similar design.
Then its only wee tweaks you have to do to structure and design rather than having the fiddlyness of adding extra functionality.I did a site for my dad using wordpress by tweaking a template to suit.
Got a client whos after a personal site for herself.
I started last year on it and just grabbed a template that was nice and tweaked the design.
Now she wants loads of extra functionality and i've had to tell her it isnt possible with wordpress and that we'd either have to build her a site with our own CMS or do a Drupal job.
- Atkinson0
very
- boobs0
It's so easy the clients can do it himself!
Which is something you have to guard against relentlessly!!
- acescence0
the docs on wordpress are pretty good, just read through them all and you should be good to go. I don't bother hacking away at themes, which I often find confusing as you need to wade through a bunch of html and css that has nothing to do with wp functionality. I just start by creating static html pages and pasting the necessary code in the appropriate places.
- This is my general approach too, and it's been working for years for the most part.nocomply
- BattleAxe0
it's being used at High Schools by journalism classes easy
- sputnik20
if the client wants anything other than the wordpress basics it can be a bit of a pain. "fiddly" is a good word for it. i've used joomla and ditto.
- Ranger0
shhh It's easy - but we're not supposed to let on...
- ukit0
Nowadays 5 year olds are probably hacking away at Wordpress on their laptops while they got Spongebob on in the background.
Anyone who decides that there is an arbitrary point where things are "too hard" for them to learn is selling themselves short. The main question is just do you have the time to do it. If you are already familiar with things like HTML, and how setting up a site on a server works on a basic level, it should take you all of five minutes. If you don't know that stuff, you may want to think twice, but then why would you consider any kind of web design job to begin with?
- noneck0
You could always do the site design and outsource the HTML slicing to some place that will also build a WP Template for you. Build in the cost into your fees.
- hmm it's a yoga studio, not a pharmaceutical company. I doubt she'll even pay in money.Projectile
- but that's ok, I've always accepted magic mushrooms as payment.
(kidding about the first bit :P)Projectile
- spraycan0
be careful with comments here , they're always like : "ye go for it man", "ye everything is cool"
- mrghost0
i heard she was a total slut
- Projectile0
thanks for all the advice!!!
yeah I really ought to try give it a quick go, but just haven't had 20 mins to spare to be honest. (fuck i havent even had time to watch this thread!!) Will try have a twiddle today during lunch. And yes I'll just drill it into her from the start that it will be limited to the template we use and I'll have to tell her a lot no "no can do" once it's built.
One more thing.. is it simple enough to embed flash elements?
...and is it simple to embed youtube/vimeo vids? (i imagine this being easier than flash)
- FallowDeer0
I always thought the same and worried I wouldnt have the time to learn it but its really simple to do the easy stuff.
Some websites have different function so you may find yourself trying to hack around WP and working around its limitations
I also gave this pdf book a try http://rockablepress.com/books/r…
- airey0
there's a million commercial themes that take very little to repurpose or use a developer to build from scratch using your design. really really affordable.