How to plan a WordPress site

  • 1fatbear

    (@1fatbear)


    6 years, 11 months ago

    Hi,
    I could use some advice on creating a website. If there is a more appropriate place to ask, please tell me where and I’ll switch to there.

    I wish to create a website for an organization of volunteers. I would like a public part which will include a static page or two, a blog, and a forum. I actually intend for most of the important content to be placed into pinned posts at the top of appropriate forums.
    I wish to have a private section of the website where I can keep a calendar and contact information for our local group. I would like those volunteers to be able to create a login and then access/change the calendar.
    I also wish to be able to add other private sections for groups from other localities. These private sections should all be separate from one-another.

    So my first question would be: can I do these, or any subset of these with WordPress and without too much tricky programming? My budget is zero.

    My second question would be: can anyone suggest a theme that can be used or easily modified to do this? Again, my budget is zero. We’re just a bunch of retired volunteers here. 🙂

    Thank you.

    –Brian

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Joy

    (@joyously)

    6 years, 11 months ago

    Themes are for looks. Plugins are for functionality. You should be able to find what you need in the WordPress repository, which is free, and no programming needed.

    There are many membership plugins available. Some have the ability to have different levels or “groups”.
    There is https://wordpress.org/plugins/user-role-editor/ and https://wordpress.org/plugins/members/ and https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpfront-user-role-editor/ for managing different user roles.
    There are several forum plugins. You’ll have to research to see what features you need.
    There are also several event calendar plugins, which you’ll have to research. It will need to work with your other plugin that restricts the view if the calendar is to remain private.

    Thread Starter 1fatbear

    (@1fatbear)

    6 years, 11 months ago

    Thank you, Joy. I think that gets me pointed in the right direction.

    Wordpress is beginning to look very DIY to me. For example, I tried to find a good forum. I found lots of screenshots of admin screens, but I want to know what they look like to the outside world. I can see it is going to take a lot more time than I thought before I even start the installation.

    So is it possible/practical to embed a PHPBB forum into a WordPress site?

    Thread Starter 1fatbear

    (@1fatbear)

    6 years, 11 months ago

    Also, how hard is it to remove a plugin once you’ve installed it? Can it break anything when you do?

    Joy

    (@joyously)

    6 years, 11 months ago

    It is very DIY, but it’s not that hard. You can add and remove plugins at any time. The only concern is if the plugin has data that only that plugin knows how to use. One example would be a forum. Depending on the plugin, it might store the content in different tables than another plugin, but for the most part plugins are written “the WordPress way” and they mostly get along with each other and WordPress.

    You should try playing around with it before you decide. Go to http://poopy.life/ and make a free installation. Ignore all the WP Sandbox stuff (it’s how they make money) and just see what you can do with WP. Install plugins. Write a post. Try a theme or two. Everything there is WP except that brown bar at the top. Normally WP has an admin bar with helpful links (the bottom part of the brown part). The link to the front end is the little house icon next to the WordPress logo.

    That site is using WP 5.1.1, so it has the new editor. A lot of people prefer the old editor which is still there, so you can use the plugin Classic Editor to see the difference.

    Thread Starter 1fatbear

    (@1fatbear)

    6 years, 11 months ago

    Thanks. I will try it out.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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