WordPress › Support » How can I run a non WP page as my landing page for www.mydomain.com?

bring
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

Hi,

I'm a total noob to WP, so please forgive me if it's realy trivial, though I did some search and couln't find out the answer.

So, I want to install wordpress on my root directory (I read its a good practice...), but I would like my site's landing page to be my own custome HTML+css file, which will then have link to the wordpress HOME page - i.e not just any post, but the HOME page.

I know if I install wordpress in a different directory this is pretty easy task, but if I want to install wordpress to root, how do I set this?
Samuel B
moderator
Posted 1 year ago #

http://codex.wordpress.org/Creating_a_Static_Front_Page
theotherlebowski
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

the other alternative is to create a landing page in html and upload it to the root folder on your server and install wordpress in a subdomain/sub directory, ie:

mywebsitename.com (landing page)
mywebsitename.com/blog (wordpress install)

you don't necessarily need to make the landing page and the wp theme match you can just create a page and link to your blog from there.
bring
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

If I use the static page, I must use a WP page, not just any page, no?

At least that's what it says in that link. I want a stand alone page I made outside of WP to be my home page (landing page for http://www.mydomain.com)
Is that possible?

Thanks
Samuel B
moderator
Posted 1 year ago #

you can create your own wordpress page the way you want
http://codex.wordpress.org/Pages#Creating_Your_Own_Page_Templates
theotherlebowski
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

if you use the static page feature of wordpress then yes you'll need to have wordpress installed in the root directly of your web hosting but if you want to have a separate page thats not part of wordpress you'll need to create one yourself in a text editor if you know code and upload that to the root of your hosting. then install wordpress on a subdomain/directory (it's up to you which...)
bring
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

Samuel B - Thanks for those links, I'll have a look, but I'm really trying to avoid working from within wordpress itself for that page, since I already have it made.

theotherlebowski - Thanks for your tips. I currently have wordpress installed on a subfolder (to root), I want to remove that installation and reinstal under root. Once this is done, I want my current landing page to stay the same, without WP taking over.
I code HTML and css, and I read (i.e. not really able to code much) php, but if I have to modify something in idex.php or something like this then I think I should be able to (as long as its simple), I'm just trying to find out what is it exactly that I have to do to make it work the way I want:

Have wordpress installed directly under root, but have a landing page which is NOT a wordpress page, and from that page have a link to my wordpress homepage.

Sorry if I'm driving you nuts guys.
Samuel B
moderator
Posted 1 year ago #

well you can't have another index page (like index.html) and have wordpress' index.php work
so - either you are stuck using a wordpress page template or installing in a sub folder as already suggested
bring
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

If I change index.php to wp_index.php and keep index.html on root, would that work? And if so, then how do I call/link to my (now named) wp_index.php from my index.html? I think you can't link directly to that php?
theotherlebowski
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

in simple terms you can't have to sites or two home pages sitting in the root responding to the one url call.

the best ways to do what you're describing are:

mydomain.com (static page, ie: index.html in the root folder that people land on when they type "mydomain.com" into the address bar. from there a link on that page that users then click to take them too...)

mydomain.com/blog (your wordpress installation)

or

mydomain.com (wordpress installation with a static page set as your home page and a second page set as your blog posts)
Samuel B
moderator
Posted 1 year ago #

won't work - as you observe you can't call that file directly
all themes and plugins rely on index.php, so I suppose theoretically you could change the instance in every theme file and plugin you use...which would then be broken on upgrade

If server is configured correctly, you can try adding this to top of root .htaccess
DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
then you could link to the index.php of wordpress from the index.html page
however, most folks find that this causes problems with wordpress permalinks
easy enough to test I suppose
bring
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

ok, I understand you guys, and I really appreciate your time and help.

I think I know the workaround now.

You guys are really great!

Just one last question then, is there any advantage in terms of SEO or otherwise to installing wordpress directly under root?
theotherlebowski
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

good luck dude, give us a link and let us know if it works :D
bring
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

Are we allowed to give links here to our site?
theotherlebowski
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

for reference and assistance purposes, there's a forum specifically for bragging! :D
bring
Member
Posted 1 year ago #

I will send you a link as soon as I have it runnig, right now, trust me, there's nothing to brag about... ;)
rosscoburden
Member
Posted 1 month ago #

Bring! Can you help me as I have the same problem and am trying to help out a client? Their existing website consists of a WP home page (index.php) and from that page links to 3 different subdomains consisting of multiple WP pages each. WordPress is installed in their root domain. I have a new landing page html/css (index.html) and this page would need to link to the existing home page index.php to call all the other pages within the site. I would also need the WP admin area to function as is..... I am not sure if moving the WordPress install to a new sub folder is the way to go here or am I just asking for trouble. I am a WordPress noobie as well and am learning as I go so any advise would be of great value.