Wordpress

[ikester7579]

I just wanted to get some thoughts on using wordpress. I was going to have my site updated with new templates etc.. because the templates I have only work with a certain online website builder. I was told that wordpress was a way to go to do this.

Any thoughts on this?

I have never used wordpress so I know nothing about it. Thought I'd ask before making the big leap.

[bdh]

In my opinion, Wordpress is probably the best of the bunch. Works really well and looks really good... and the plugins you can get for it to do all kinds of wonderful things is mind boggling. The only thing I would caution on is to keep it updated but that's easy to do.

[edit] Slug1 uses Wordpress extensively. I'll ask him to pop in here and you can hear from someone who actually uses it from a site administrators perspective.

[ikester7579]

Sounds good. I'll wait on him to respond.

[Athanasius]

I use Wordpress... Website in signature.

[ikester7579]

That's pretty cool looking. Question on the installation. My html site is curretly in the root section. So if I install into the root section will it conflict or cause problems?

[Slug1]

That's pretty cool looking. Question on the installation. My html site is curretly in the root section. So if I install into the root section will it conflict or cause problems?

I'm using Mambo right now for one of the sites I use and to answer your question real quick... what I'm about to do is remove the Mambo site and basically start with a clean slate and install the WordPress. Then from there, rebuild the site.

Now, as far as I know, there is nothing to merge the present site using Mambo into the new site with WordPress. Seems this may be a boat you are in as well. What I did was literally copy/paste all the work and pages (as viewed when surfing from page to page) into a Worddoc. Then I will regenerate all these pages into the new site once Mambo is uninstalled and I install Wordpress and pick the theme/template I want to use. Long drawn out way to accomplish this but I can't find any easier solution for turning the present site from Mambo to Wordpress.

I don't know how much work is done on your site but when I got done copying all work done from my site into a Worddoc, it was about 100 pages or so... can't recall without looking again.

Anyway... backup all you have done. Remove the present site and then you can install Wordpress and rebuild.

[Athanasius]

That's pretty cool looking. Question on the installation. My html site is curretly in the root section. So if I install into the root section will it conflict or cause problems?

Bdh would know for sure, but I don't think so. In any event, like Slug1 has said, I'd probably start fresh.

[ikester7579]

Here is an idea that I posted in another thread about transferring while leaving current site up:

I was just reading the thread about add on domains. Which gave me an idea that may make the conversion to a new template much easier. Here's my idea, and tell me if it will work.

I take and make a addon domain with one of my extra website addresses. I then take my new template and start working on transferring text etc... When done I download a back up of my old website, then delete it and transfer the new website with new template to the original address. Then put back my extra website address (the add on domain) where it was.

This way I can take my time and test everything as I do it. Make sure all files links etc... work. And my old site stays up until the conversion is complete. And I have a back up just in case anything goes wrong.

I'm beginning to think it's more trouble this way than it's worth. But maybe not. Maybe someone has a better way?

Hmm, just came up with another idea. Make the addon domain, install the online website editor in the control panel and start the transfer of info that way. The reason I don't use my pc is because my upload speed is slow and it would take forever to do the site on it then upload. So I'm looking for a way to do it all online.

Now if I do this and instead use wordpress instead of templates, does anyone see any problems? I still have my add on domain set up and could install worpress there. Then work on the 2 sites until transfer is done then delete the old one from the main domain and transfer the new wordpress to that. Of course I would make a back up before delete just in case. Is there going to be any problems with site direction installing on the add one domain?

The only thing I am not sure of is how the add on domain where wordpress is could be transferred to the main root directory. Can it be done on the server, or do I need to use a ftp program?

I just came up with a new idea. How about I transfer my old site to the add on domain and do a redirect from the main root domain. Install wordpress on the main root domain and work on it until done. Then undo the redirect, delete the old site, delete the addon domain, merge it back into being a parked domain. And we are done. How does that sound?

Or am I in the experimental zone, where I do it and see if it works?

[bdh]

Bdh would know for sure, but I don't think so. In any event, like Slug1 has said, I'd probably start fresh.

You probably could but I would not recommend it. Wordpress, like any other script based site needs to be updated often and mixing in all kinds of other stuff is only going to lead to nightmares later on. Kind of like keeping your socks and gun ammo same drawer -- possible but definitely not recommended. (Also only possible if you do it manually. An automatic installer won't instal to a folder with files in it for fear of replacing something important).

[ikester7579]

I decided I will be the test project for my idea which may save myself and others a lot of time when doing a change like this. So here are some questions:

1) Will a wildcard redirect make everything go to the subdomain I redirect it to? Also, will this apply to any files (Pics, flash, etc...) that currently have the main domain as an address? I will be transferring all files to the subdomain address. And installing wordpress on the main domain address.
2) Will this cause any problems with how the website currently works (links not working, pics not loading, etc...)
3) Will search engines detect this and this end up as being bad for how I am listed (I am currently listed in the top 3 when doing searches related to my site subject)?

[bdh]

If you have an existing site (in say HTML), converting to a script based site (like wordpress) can be done a few ways -

1. install Wordpress to a folder like your-site.com/worpress/ and get it all up and running then once everything is as you want it, remove the wordpress/ part and re-install it to the root folder (deleting the old site but keeping the MySQL data intact). This needs some tech skills and you may need to get someone to do this for you if you don't know how ... but it can be done. The advantage here is you can keep the old site alive and going for as long as it takes to get WP all setup.

2. Make a HTML landing page (index.html) with one of the links being to yours-site.com/wordpress/ -- not a nice but you can then leave the old site intact.

3. install wordpress to a folder as above and incorporate all your old html pages as static pages into wordpress and either do 1 or 2 above later.

4. manually install wordpress into the root folder (all mixed in with the HTML stuff ... ouch!) and redirect index.php -> index.html until you have it all working right then manually delete all the old stuff ... a nightmare on a site with many pages and images. Highly not recommended.

As with all things, there are probably other ways too but that's what I've got.

[ikester7579]

I could not get it to install into yecheadquarters.org/wordpress/. So I created the folder thinking that might solve it but it did not work. So out of fustration I just left it blank and it went in. But now I am confused as to where it went.

My site is here: http://www.yecheadquarters.org/
Wordpress is here: http://yecheadquarters.org/

Is there going to be a problem with the install?

Okay, I just did a search while typing this. It went in with the html stuff, the one you said ouch about. If I end up having to uninstall, will it effect the html site (like delete everything) or will the program know which files to remove, or will I have to do it manually? it seems to be working as the home page loads right up, and my site home page loads as well.

[ikester7579]

Well I think I messed up. I was trying out the permalink option to see how it works. Now I cannot undo it. So my homepage is not a wordpress page. Going to try and find a way to undo it.

Added: I looked at how to undo the permalink and it was to involved so I deleted wordpress. Now I will reinstall and won't be doing anymore permalinks until I am ready to use them. So problem solved and I start over.

[bdh]

Whether you go for Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal or Mambo, whatever you decide, it's a good idea to get intimate with their documentation and forums, and once you have chosen, stick with it. I've spent hundreds of hours on vBulletin's documentation and forums simply because we use it here ... simply one of those necessary evils

[ikester7579]

Whether you go for Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal or Mambo, whatever you decide, it's a good idea to get intimate with their documentation and forums, and once you have chosen, stick with it. I've spent hundreds of hours on vBulletin's documentation and forums simply because we use it here ... simply one of those necessary evils

I'm sticking with WordPress, I was the one who messed up. It's fixed now, had to unistall then reinstall to undo the permalink. Being that it was the beginning of the build I did not lose anything. But what I find strange is that it will not go anywhere but into the root directory. But I'm not having any problems so I'm not going to worry about it. Plus once my transfer is finished, the html will be deleted. Just looking at themes for now. I wonder if different themes can be used for different pages or if the theme applies to the whole blog? My guess would be the whole blog.

Just so you know, I don't give up that easy. I taught myself what code I do know, and all was trial and error. The site would not have gone up if I gave up that easy LOL. Site studio only goes so far, the rest you want to do you have to learn yourself. And from what I have seen of other editors, it's weird even though it's the only one I have learned. Won't go back to it though, it's to outdated. And the support is zip. Because there is none. That might have been a good thing for me though, it forced me to have to learn to fix or correct things.