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Need help with updating website

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by Dogaza, Feb 24, 2020.

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  1. #1
    I have an existing site that was built using (don't faint), WebPlus by Serif. If you are not familiar, it is a WYSIWYG software program that has gone belly up. It still works fine, but there is no support and no chance of future updates. My site is over 10 years old and is only used by members of our club, mainly sports related pages charting standings/stats.

    I am happy with the site, except with the demise of the software, I have additional steps because they are no longer supported; i.e. host, forms, ftp, etc. All this makes updates more time consuming and during baseball season, for instance, the site is updated daily.

    I've looked at MANY available stand alone and web based software programs, but haven't found a one, that will do what WebPlus (WP) can do. The majority of the site is the display of Excel data that tracks stats from our various sporting events. The beauty of WP is that I can literally chose my cells in Excel. click copy, go to WP and use paste/special and choose to link to the Excel file. Now, every time I change the data, it is automatically changed in WP. Even the attributes (font, color, borders) come through. The only thing that I haven't been able to come across are fill colors.

    Learning to write this site the correct way is very much my first choice, but the problem is, at nearly 70 years of age, not sure my mind is up to it. I've purchased a 2 book set from Jon Duckett titled (HTML & CSS, and JavaScript & JQuery) and plan to use them. Think I'll do better with a hard copy - old school.

    Looking forward to any suggestions/advice anyone may have.

    dogaza
     
    Dogaza, Feb 24, 2020 IP
  2. Dogaza

    Dogaza Greenhorn

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    #2
    Slowing working my way through the books that I have purchased. Completed the HTML section and am now starting the CSS portion.

    Still want to redo my site the RIGHT way.
     
    Dogaza, Mar 11, 2020 IP
  3. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #3
    Hi @Dogaza

    How you tackle this will depend on how much time you're willing to throw at the problem and who is responsible for maintaining the site (you, I'm guessing).

    Without seeing your current site it's hard to decide how to replicate.
    • You can start with WordPress (derisively referred to as TurdPress by some)
      It's easy to pick up, there are lots of themes and plugins to get you started.
      There are good tutorials to help you write a custom plugin to manage the table data you're describing.
      This gives you things like blogging, and webpages quickly and easily but introduces risk if the theme is poorly written or a plugin is insecure.

    • Alternatively, you can just create a website without an admin section and just upload the new content as it's generated.
      You should be able to salvage the WebPlus generated html to use as a start point.
      Reading this through, I'm leaning towards this option
    Either way - that data you have in Excel, that can be handled quickly and easily by saving it as a CSV file, uploading to the website, and having a php script that picks up the CSV file and turns it into a pretty table. It's surprisingly easy, you'll find lots of tutorials for parsing a CSV file, and we can help you if you get stuck.

    I'm not as old as you but I'm all for flexing the grey matter and forcing it to keep learning new stuff. I'm impressed!
     
    sarahk, Mar 11, 2020 IP
  4. designgenie

    designgenie Active Member

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    #4
    as mentioned above, you can create this using Wordpress.
     
    designgenie, Mar 11, 2020 IP
  5. Dogaza

    Dogaza Greenhorn

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    #5
    Thanks sarahk.
    I did look at WordPress and found a few addons that handle my Excel situation, but they have a monthly fee tied to them.
    If you care to take a look at the site, I can pm the address.
     
    Dogaza, Mar 12, 2020 IP
  6. Mafishioso

    Mafishioso Well-Known Member

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    #6
    It's worth looking into WordPress. You might find plugins to import your Excel files/data and your other website files.
     
    Mafishioso, Apr 9, 2020 IP
  7. JEET

    JEET Notable Member

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    #7
    @Dogaza
    Kindly PM the site URL to me.

    I am a coder at PowerPress (a wordpress alternative script), link in my signature.

    Might be able to develop a plugin for PowerPress for your excel problem.
    Thanks
     
    JEET, Apr 10, 2020 IP
  8. Tom Hardy

    Tom Hardy Greenhorn

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    #8
    Updating your old-school website requires some effort and time. You can choose a web development like WordPress to replicate your site and migrate your website data to the new site. WordPress offers a lot of plugins and themes that open up a whole level of customization opportunities even for beginners or novices. There are also many plugins that might help you to migrate your existing data to a website. The best way to update your old website is by consulting a professional web design and development expert. Browse our website redesign service page to get a consultation on updating your website.
     
    Tom Hardy, May 11, 2020 IP