What is a 'framework'?

  • AardvarkGirl

    (@aardvarkgirl)


    12 years, 11 months ago

    Yes I’ve read the codex page about frameworks.

    I’m clear about what a theme is, a little hazy on child themes, and though I’ve futzed with the ‘functions’ file I can’t say for certain its powers either.

    Our office does custom ColdFusion programming, though I am not a programmer. I started using WordPress about 6 months back as a tool for clients that simply wanted to be able to change out the content on their ‘static’ pages or blog a little.

    I’ve got a client who wants to switch to WP for that reason (and to my knowledge, that reason alone) so when I wanted to iron out a ‘look’ for the site he sent me a link to something, which ended up being a framework-for-purchase (and not a theme).

    I was a little concerned-confused and my first question was ‘What kind of functionality do you want beyond control of your content’?

    So I need to ask someone WHAT EXACTLY is a ‘framework’ (and yes I read the codex and Googled “What is a wordpress framework)?

    Is dealing with ‘frameworks’ for the average site owner (and I don’t mean this in an smarky way what so ever, but specifically a site owner that is not hugely computer literate) – is dealing with ‘frameworks’ a little over kill? Or let me rephrase, for the average site owner (a ‘static site’ with an owner who just wants to change their content or run a modest blog) is the ‘framework’ WordPress comes with enough?

    At this point I am not building ‘power websites’ with WordPress (like I said we have ColdFusion programmers here at our shop that do that stuff).

    Thank you for your time 🙂

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  • esmi

    (@esmi)

    12 years, 11 months ago

    A framework is basically a theme on steroids. It should pre-built functions and possibly some jQuery/AJAX scripts to allow you to create child themes with the minimal amount of coding. Thematic is a free WordPress framework: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/thematic

    Thread Starter AardvarkGirl

    (@aardvarkgirl)

    12 years, 11 months ago

    So if it is over MY head at this point, it is certainly going to be lost on someone who just wants to change their text on ‘static pages’ or make a few blog posts.

    On steroids. Funny. 🙂

    Thanks.

    esmi

    (@esmi)

    12 years, 11 months ago

    it is certainly going to be lost on someone who just wants to change their text on ‘static pages’ or make a few blog posts.

    I certainly don’t think it’s necessary for the average blog user. Or if you’re just going to be creating the odd WP site. There are so many good themes available, you can just pick one up and use that.

    If you want to stay away from PHP coding, I’d suggest having a look at Suffusion. Plenty of customisable theme options and good support. Frameworks are really best used by anyone who is regularly developing new WP sites. The “steroids” description refers to the fact that many frameworks use their own (lower level) templating systems/functions – which is probably something you wouldn’t be interested in.

    Either that or watching a documentary on Terminator the other night warped my brain. 😉

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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