I am a web designer and I usually use Dreamweaver to design all of my sites. One of my clients wants just a text intensive web site and recommended this program, says that it is very easy to use. Well I must say that this is probably the most awkward and frustrating program I have ever used. I just cant figure it out. I was told that you didn't need to know coding etc that it was that easy. How do I make a site my own without knowing html?
[resolved] How the heck do you create you own site? (22 posts)
-
Bozzer
Posted 1 month ago # -
Well, the documentation would be a good place to start.
See Installing WordPress to get it running.
See Getting Started with WordPress to learn how to use it.
-
//
-
Posted 1 month ago #Thanks but I have read a lot of the documentation but still no use, like for instance what if I want to add new boxes on the left and right page and then in the middle add a flash file but without it being a blog post?
-
$xhtml = $css = $php = 1; if ('web designer' == 'graphic designer') : $xhtml = $css = $php = 0; else 'web designer' == 'web developer'; endif;Been There. Seen It. Guess who uses the title "web developer" these days? ;-)
-
Posted 1 month ago #$xhtml = $css = $php = 1;
if ('web developer' == 'non universal') :
$xhtml = $css = $php = 0;
else 'graphic designer' == 'universal';
endif;Been There. Seen It. Guess who can do everything? ;-)
-
:-p
So why are you having a problem with WP then? Have you looked at developing custom page templates? You can code pretty much anything into a custom template. Or use conditionals to determine what to show, where and how.
-
Posted 1 month ago #Thank you for being serious. I know what the program can do i've seen some pretty cool sites but I don't know how they did it. Is there any way of doing anything like that without the coding? I'm so used to wysiwyg programs, is it really all just coding for WP?
-
yes it is. wordpress is NOT dreamweaver.
its _simplified_ by the use of widgets, but wordpress is, at its core, is code.
dreamweaver is a piece of software thats made for editing, wordpress is much more.
Btw, if your gig is graphics, youre not going to get wordpress unless you install it, use it, tweak it, and inevitably, break it. You will also need to overcome the "im not a coder" thing. LOTS of people arent coders, but they copy and paste well, and they follow directions even better.
and they read.
-
good one esmi
-
Posted 1 month ago #I know it's not Dreamweaver I was using that as an example, i'm just confused that WP is supposed to be easy, yet unless you are an absolute genius at HTML/coding you can't use it.
-
One of my clients wants just a text intensive web site and recommended this program, says that it is very easy to use. Well I must say that this is probably the most awkward and frustrating program I have ever used. I just cant figure it out.
Have your client contact someone with broader skills, maybe? Seriously. Im not trying to be rude, just honest.
-
whooami is right. If you want to get beyond what is possible by editing the CSS on a pre-existing template, then you have to get your hands dirty with coding. There's a stack of pre-defined template tags and functions available, so you don't have to delve into raw PHP too often (although it helps if you're comfortable with it). But, on the plus side, that does make WP a pretty powerful development tool whilst limiting the damage that a non-technical user can wreak on a finished site.
-
Posted 1 month ago #No offense taken he might have to do that, its a shame because I like the back end of WP, in that my client would be able to edit and add stuff with out me. I can always figure stuff out i just need a little direction but I just don't seem to find it in the help files.
-
.. then you ask pointed questions, bozzer. :) thats what this forum is for.
maybe, what you need to do is install it. think about what you would like to do with it. try to do it, and when you get stuck, come ask a question or 2.
-
Posted 1 month ago #Thank you for your help everyone, i'm going in . . .
-
http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development is a good place to start. and bookmark both of the links I gave above. They will come in useful and could well become your first port of call each time you have a new problem to solve. Use the Search in both the Codex and here when you get stuck. If you still can't locate an answer, just ask.
-
Posted 1 month ago #already bookmarked! thanks, i'll be back if I need you, cheers
-
I know it's not Dreamweaver I was using that as an example, i'm just confused that WP is supposed to be easy, yet unless you are an absolute genius at HTML/coding you can't use it.
If you can't grasp the utter simplicity of WordPress themes and templates, and think you have to be a "genius", then my friend, you are not a web designer.
Real web designers don't use WYSIWYG tools to make web pages. They don't need them. Tools like Dreamweaver and such are for managers. Newbs. Business jerks. People who have to create a website but who are not computer professionals. That's who those tools are written for, that's their market. A "web designer" knows HTML and CSS and understands basic programming principles. That's all you need for WordPress themes, really.
-
Posted 1 month ago #Otto42 why don't you take that chip off of your shouler and shove it where the sun don't shine. The difference here is your a web developer and I am a web designer, you use code to create a one dimensional web site and after about a month of coding you achieve the status of having a box highlight when you hover a mouse over it and then you call upon us "designers" to make it look cool and exciting. Thats where I come in, I design websites in an 8th of the time using programs such as Dreamweaver, photoshop, flash amd fireworks to make the site look dynamic, exciting and cool to look at. So i guess the 90% of us "jerks" that use these programs are wrong!
I think you coding dinosuars need to wake up and see that web design is getting simpler and that coding is a thing of the past.
I personally wouldn't use this program as it is difficult to use, not very user friendly, I'm doing this for a friend. I have finally figured it out but I had to use dreamweaver to do it as WP wouldn't allow me to save any edits.
This website is really just to have a glorified blog, nuf said!
-
Bozzer,
its not a chip :)
and he's not a dinosaur. :)
The internet is built on code. not pretty pictures.
its that code, that allows all those pretty pictures to be seen.
and admit or not -- you are simply using tools like dreamweaver to get around having to write code. Its still there -- you just didnt write it.
thats okay, but dont delude yourself into thinking that the code isnt necessary.
it is. at it's VERY basic.. you need HTML. which - is - code.
lastly, coders dont need designers to make things pretty. we do that by ourselves using another bit of ...
code.
that code is called CSS.
Being able to move pics around in photoshop doesnt make one a web developer, or a designer. It makes you a photoshop user. Not saying thats what you do .. im just saying.. in general.
Its a common refrain around these parts.
-
The difference here is your a web developer and I am a web designer, you use code to create a one dimensional web site and after about a month of coding you achieve the status of having a box highlight when you hover a mouse over it and then you call upon us "designers" to make it look cool and exciting.
Okay, first off, it takes about five seconds to make "a box highlight when you mouse over it".
Second off, it's *code* that does that. The web is code.
If you don't know the code, then you cannot create a real webpage. Period. This is in the same sense that if you don't know about fonts, you cannot design a magazine layout.
And yes, if all you do is use somebody else's program to create something by dragging and dropping bits around, then no, you are not a web-anything. You might just be a marketer, or an advertiser, or something like that. Possibly even an artist.
Because all too often I see people create something in, say, Dreamweaver, then they pass it off to somebody like me, who does know code, and who does know the web... And you know what we do with that static site they created? Usually, we print it out, throw away their broken website, and recreate it from scratch, in the correct manner.
See, those sorts of tools are made such that anybody can sit down and use them to drag and drop things around. Some people might be better at it than others, true. Artists might create better looking things than business men.
But then again, just because somebody knows how to use Microsoft Word doesn't make them a writer. The fact that somebody can apply paint to canvas doesn't make them Michelangelo.
Tools like you're describing create static websites. They don't create dynamic ones. They don't create user interfaces. They don't create database connectivity, and all the other stuff that make websites actually *work*.
You need to know at least a little bit of code to create a website. Not to design one, of course, because anybody can sit down with a pencil and a piece of paper and design anything. But to actually do it, you do need to actually know at least a little bit about how the damn thing works.
Reply
You must log in to post.
