Professional Websites Created with WordPress?

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by Bauer14, Jun 10, 2008.

  1. #1
    I am designing a website for a small business and I would like to use WordPress because it is extremely simple to use. Does anyone know any examples of corporate sites using WordPress? Also should I invest in a new theme or use a pre-existing free one?

    EDIT: I want to make it clear that I am not creating a company blog. I'm creating the actual website. I would like it to look something like this http://www.acurity.com.au/content.cfm. Can WordPress achieve something like this?
     
    Bauer14, Jun 10, 2008 IP
  2. q7m

    q7m Well-Known Member

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    #2
    You can build something like acurity.com with wordpress, but a lot of customization work will be necessary (including php programing, not only template).

    A company website doesn't look good at all with a pre-built free theme. I strongly recommend you creating an all-new template.
     
    q7m, Jun 10, 2008 IP
  3. Norebbo

    Norebbo Active Member

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    #3
    Yes, pretty much anything is possible with Wordpress. However - for a corporate website, I'd stay away from a blog template. It's just not professional enough - and if it looks anything at all like a blog, people are not going to take the company seriously.
     
    Norebbo, Jun 10, 2008 IP
  4. maxense

    maxense Peon

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    #4
    ok.i'm too goin to build a blog or web site offers free blogger templates.
    is blogger better or wordpress.
     
    maxense, Jun 10, 2008 IP
  5. Bauer14

    Bauer14 Peon

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    #5
    Thanks for the replies. I was thinking of using this wordpress theme http://ithemes.com/purchase/icompany-web-theme/

    Zeegal: How much php programming would be involved and is it possible for me to learn enough of it to complete the site in two months?
     
    Bauer14, Jun 11, 2008 IP
  6. tntcheats

    tntcheats Peon

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    #6
    That layout seems fine as long as you change or remove the graphics for the top nav and header.

    As for programming: You'll be more interested in making sure you know HTML, then for the rest just do a search for Wordpress Tags, if you don't understand it make a thread here asking for an explanation: it's very easy once it's been explained.
     
    tntcheats, Jun 11, 2008 IP
  7. q7m

    q7m Well-Known Member

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    #7
    This doesn't look like a professional company website. This is just my opinion.

    This depends on the exact project specifications.
    As long as you are building a company website, I suppose you have some web development skills. Or you don't?
     
    q7m, Jun 11, 2008 IP
  8. webmindz24

    webmindz24 Peon

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    #8
    The theme is good.. you can also make some good changes if required by you.. if you having some styling (CSS) and PHP knowledge you can complete the site in 2 days only.. if not you can your theme get customized by ithemes (from where you are going to buy)..

    Its good to use wordpress for having your site as it is more search engine friendly..
     
    webmindz24, Jun 11, 2008 IP
  9. hatrick24

    hatrick24 Peon

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    #9
    well, a good theme and lot of plugins can get ur work done. but it is going to be hack of a work to do. anyway, if u look at it, any other cms will give u more pain, atleast wordpress is easier. so i say.. hail wordpress! :p
     
    hatrick24, Jun 11, 2008 IP
  10. BANAGO

    BANAGO Active Member

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    #10
    WordPress can achieve that by all means.
     
    BANAGO, Jun 11, 2008 IP
  11. mspider

    mspider Guest

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    #11
    WordPress can be even better than some cms systems like drupal, joomla,.. If you know how to do it some stuf with WP you can achieve many great web 2.0. things.
     
    mspider, Jun 11, 2008 IP
  12. Bauer14

    Bauer14 Peon

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    #12
    I have always created WordPress sites by uploading the files onto the server and then going into the admin panel and editing to create the site. Is there a way to design the site offline and then upload the files using an FTP client when the site is ready to be published?
     
    Bauer14, Jun 18, 2008 IP
  13. Divisive Cottonwood

    Divisive Cottonwood Peon

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    #13
    I've no doubt that if you are an experienced webdesigner you could make a Wordpress installation not look at all like Wordpress (a blog)... I'm sure its fine for business use...
     
    Divisive Cottonwood, Jun 18, 2008 IP
  14. PSHeads

    PSHeads Peon

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    #14
    wp is very versatile. it's also very appropriate for static sites as well as frequently updated sites, sich as news sites. A lot of big sites use wp, including cnn
     
    PSHeads, Jun 26, 2008 IP
  15. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #15
    You can TRY to do it - but I rarely see anything done in turdpress I'd consider a professionally done website. USUALLY it's partly the fault of the people writing the themes, but a lot of the blame can be placed in the hands of wordpress itself and how it does NOT let the skinner change certain bits of REALLY PISS POOR output. (like redundant target attributes, absolute URL's, etc, etc)

    If you have the skills to write your own back end, I would advise against it - but much like other frameworks and CMS they exist for the people that lack those skills.

    Oh, and that acurity site - I hope your not serious about wanting to look like that... absurdly undersized fixed fonts (effectively illegible to large font users), grey text on white being so low contrast as to be illegible, 260k in 55 files, a completely absurd 116k of which being scripts (76k of which is the ****tarded dhtml menu - a bad idea in 1998, no place being done after 2002) and a whole host of other 'issues' that make the entire site a wonderful example of how NOT to create a web page... You'd almost think it was done in Dreamweaver. OH WAIT!!!

    ... and 99%+ of your wordpress off the shelf templates have these problems and more. You CAN strip and mod wordpress down to ALMOST produce good code - Dan Schulz has made an art form of doing so - but it's a HELL of a lot of work, almost as much work as just writing your own CMS from scratch. (since first you have to reverse engineer their piss poor PHP to figure out how the **** it even works)
     
    deathshadow, Jun 26, 2008 IP