Hey guys, I have been looking around for a little while at what type of CMS i want to use for a website that I am building. I have decided to go with wordpress as it seems quite versatile and it do what I want with all the themes and plugins that are floating around. However I am not a developer, I have some html knowledge and cna fiddle with certain things, but all the good CMS systems are based on PHP which I have no idea. But I would like to customize my wordpress site a bit more, I want to get rid off all the parts that make is blog like, such as all the categories, archives. basically everything that comes standard with a wordpress install. I have seen sites that are powered by wordpress but do not have a blog look and feel, how do you hack it to make it that way? I know you can assign a static front page, but when u do that all the blogging stuff in the sidebar is still there. Any help would be great, I have searched around and cant find anything that really helps a newbie like my self. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance. Timbor.
The learning curve to WordPress isn't too steep and have found that if you download and look at a few themes it's pretty easy to figure out what does what. The advantage to WordPress is that there is a php function for almost everything so if you want to display a navigation bar you use wp_list_pages(), simple stuff like that. I built artflutter.com using wordpress and a modified k2 theme at a point where I knew very little about php/html/css. If I were to start again though I would use Joomla/Drupal as it is easier to customise but still has the advantages of Wordpress with plugins and themes. For Wordpress specific help the official site is the best.
Hey thanks for that. well the type of site that I want to build will allow users to sign up to certain lists, display articles and various other things that relate to freelancing. I have had a look at joomla, but I am unsure what the best cms for me is. I certainly see the merits in a cms. But im unsure which one i want to use. Any suggestions?
For your kind of website, Joomla is the best. Wordpress though is my choice coz of varied plugin options.
Joomla / Wordpress are pretty versatile but if you have a specific idea of what you want try having a look at the scripts forum or hotscripts.com for something that works for you. There are lots of scripts out there and starting off with the right one will save you a heap of time in the long-run.
Here is a site running WordPress as both CMS and Blog. http://www.ayurvedicmedicine4u.com I'm still finishing it off with a mate, who supplies the graphics and content, I do the code and wrap-around. It uses a derivate of a little site I was using to show off the WordPress software as a CMS : http://www.simplywordpresscms.com
I am using Wordpress as a CMS for volunteer work at www.malawiproject.org. It works pretty well and allows us to publish articles (blog entries) while keeping static pages in the back ground. Very SEO friendly and easy to implement. I recommend it.
WordPress is very versatile. There are so many great plugins to add to functionality of it. If you choose a theme that is widget-ready you can completely control what is on the sidebar. The learning curve is not huge and if you do things right, you can go from a Google PR0 to PR6 in 6 months or less. I wish you every success with your site
There's a great WordPress tutorial site here: www.urbangiraffe.com/themes/guides/ which takes you through deconstructing a WP theme, so you can then build one with exactly and only the features you want. There is a "blank", stripped down WP theme available here (So you don't have to go through the deconstructing process, and can just start your custom theme-building): www.miklb.com/blog/2005/my-site/blank-wordpress-theme/ I haven't gone through the tutorials yet, but they're on my list. They're some of the most comprehensive that I've seen online (and they're free!).
Hey guys, Thanks for everything and all your advice. I have decided to move with Joomla, the reason for this is the more i delve into what I want this site to do the more joomla looks like to me the right platform to do this with. Especially when you get into directories, reviews, mailing lists etc etc. But i can see the merit with wordpress when it comes to a blog, might have to add wordpress to me joomla site for a blogging platform. Who knows. Cheers, Timbor.