How to replicate a FP website using WP as CMS
-
Hi folks.
I’ve just installed WordPress For Windows (using MS Webmatrix). Very easy to install, and it allows you to run WP locally on your computer so you can work on designs without going “live” online until you’re ready. No doubt old news for many here, but I’ve only just become aware that this is now easily possible, without having to bother installing SQL independently etc (that always put me off in the past). Anyway…
I have a couple of websites I designed in FrontPage that I want to replicate with a few mods using WP as the CMS. I then intend to delete the FP ones currently published to the web, and upload the re-designed WP versions.
I can easily replicate one of the sites, which has a very simple design, but am stumped by the more complicated one. Would someone mind having a look at it for me, please, and advise whether it’s even possible to replicate – more or less – using WP? The URL is:
http://www.perthpunk.comCheers!
Ross
-
Yes. It shouldn’t be very hard.
Also… Spirit of ’76… Yay !!!
Err, any more information s_ha-dum? “Shouldn’t be very hard” doesn’t give me a lot to go on!
I get errors –
500 Can't connect to www.perthpunk.com:80 (connect: Connection timed out– when I tried to validate your site for possible problems see here.As s_ha-dum suggested, shouldn’t be very hard. But you may lose some of the site designs that you created with FP if you convert the pages to any ready made WordPress themes just because it is really hard to create the equivalent custom designs using WP unless you are a seasoned designer with adequate knowledge of WP theme coding.
“Shouldn’t be very hard” doesn’t give me a lot to go on!
I realize that, but it wasn’t much of a question. What you asked was, “How do I make a theme that looks like this?” I could make a ten page essay out of that. I am not sure what your field is but this is like showing a carpenter, which I used to be, a picture and asking “Is it possible to build that?” Chances are the answer is “Yes”, but it is hard to say more than that. You are looking at an apprenticeship in carpentry to get the complete answer. See what I mean? You need to come at this with some kind of familiarity with PHP, HTML, CSS, and theme basics and with a more specific problem.
Hi Krishna. Thanks for your comment. Some queries in response, please.
1. I’m concerned about those errors you encountered with the website. I take it you were able to open it up in the first instance, but then ran some sort of error test that identified the many possible problems as per your link? What do these errors mean in practical terms? Would these problems be something to do with the clunky FP code? How are they impacting on reader experience of the site, do you think? (Sorry about these basic questions – I have no idea about these errors or what they mean…but the sheer number of them is quite alarming).
2. Yes, I am aware that I’d need to make a lot of mods to any ready-made WP theme to replicate the FP design of the site in its current form. I’ve used Dreamweaver, including messing about with PHP to create an online form following step-by-step instructions from a YouTube video, but too long ago to recall much about it. So, I couldn’t categorise myself as a seasoned designer, and I certainly don’t have much knowledge of WP coding, CSS etc. I have always managed to follow advice from generous online techies when seeking solutions to specific problems, but that’s as far as my capability goes. Do you think replicating this current site on a WP CMS would be too complex a task for someone of my pretty basic tech knowledge, then?
3. Do you think I’d be better going for some other web design software given the size and nature of my current site, and if so, is there any open-source WYSIWYG type option that you would recommend?
Appreciate your help.
S_ha_dum,
Fair enough points you make. I thought you were taking the piss in your previous response, but see now I was mistaken. My apologies.
You’re quite right that I need to get specific with some ‘how-to’ queries. I guess I was just trying to establish initially whether the task of replicating the current website using a WP CMS was a huge, complex, technically demanding proposition. I’m guessing your assessment that it “shouldn’t be very hard” assumes a fair knowledge of PHP, HTML, CSS and WP theme basics – which I don’t have beyond a bit of step-by-step instruction following.
I do have a couple of specific queries to start with. If you wouldn’t mind responding to these, it will give me some gauge as to whether the task of making the appropriate mods is within my grasp. So:
a) You’ll note from looking at the home page of my current site that I switch back and forth between a 4 column layout and a single column. Is this easily done on a WP page, and if so, how would I achieve this, pls? (I used tables in FP, but I understand that that is an antiquated approach now, with CSS – I think? – providing more elegant solutions).
b) Can I get rid of or greatly reduce the side margins in WP so the content area stretches across the screen as in the current site?
c) Is it possible in WP to have a tiled background in the content area as in the current site? I’ve seen backgrounds like this in the margins of WP themes, but not in the content area. At least, that’s my recollection.
I’m not new to WP, BTW. I’ve been blogging regularly for 5 years using a WP blog platform, but in this time I haven’t needed to do many mods after initially setting up the site – and I’ve forgotten what that took now!
Cheers
Ross1: The errors that you find now are because of Microsoft FrontPage 4.0, some incorrect coding and possibly because of conflict of the old coding with HTML 5. You can make some corrections if you conti8nue with the same HTML, and if you convert them to suit WP, they may go away. In any case you need not worry too much about them.
2: If I were you, I would not have worried about the look and feel (design) aspect of the site at all. Instead I would have gone ahead with a readily available theme that suits my requirements and converted the site to the new CMS environment. I would be worried about only how it will affect my content and how the changes will affect my traffic and ranking. In fact, I have changed many of my sites/ blogs many times for one reason or the other. I never bothered to make the exact or similar looking sites. My oldest site (2006) was hand-coded with the help of Microsoft FrontPage and it continues with the same even now. I do not even know which version it is because I picked up codes from many sources. Once when I validated I had many errors, but the site was running fine and Google finds no HTML errors. So, it is fine with me. In other words, even though I can reproduce more or less similar looking site using WP, I won’t be doing that because the look is not worth the time I may spend on that. So, I would say, it is your personal choice.
3: Frankly, I do not use any WYSIWYG type software or even FP now. So, I cannot recommend any. However, if you want to convert your site to a WP one, you can easily do that by selecting a suitable theme and just pasting the body portion into the WordPress editor. You may try one or two pages and see for yourself. If you find it difficult, report back.
I thought you were taking the piss in your previous response, but see now I was mistaken.
🙂 No worries. I am argumentative and sometimes grumpy but rarely post things that don’t have a substantive point, even if a grumpy point. 🙂
I’m guessing your assessment that it “shouldn’t be very hard” assumes a fair knowledge of PHP, HTML, CSS and WP theme basics…
You probably have the HTML, and CSS parts well enough. You will need a fairly limited PHP, most likely, if you can get your head around the how WordPress themes work. So, you shouldn’t need to be a web application rock star. It should still be fairly easy.
You’ll note from looking at the home page of my current site that I switch back and forth between a 4 column layout and a single column.
The 4-column home page would be one template (a particular php file in the theme that is assigned to one or more WordPress ‘Pages’), and the 1-column other pages would be a second template. It should be too hard. You definitely want to use CSS. Once you get used to it (ten or fifteen minutes) you will never want to go back.
Can I get rid of or greatly reduce the side margins in WP so the content area stretches across the screen as in the current site?
This is CSS and is controlled by the theme, so you can do what you want.
Is it possible in WP to have a tiled background in the content area as in the current site?
Again, just CSS. You can do what you want. WordPress really does very little of the creation of the front end. That part is all theme, but WordPress provides lots and lots of helper functions.
Take a look at this. I think it may help with the “getting you head around it” part. http://wordpress.org/support/topic/making-a-website-best-process
Krishna,
Thanks a lot for all you’ve said. I suppose I have to admit I’m a bit attached to the current design, but I get your point about not replicating. OTOH, I’m thinking trying to replicate at least aspects of the current design using a WP CMS would be a good exercise for enforcing some much-needed learning. I really don’t know a thing about CSS or coding in general. My experience has consisted of copying what others recommend like a monkey, then experimenting by tweaking values on their supplied code and running back to mama (the advisor) if I mess up!
s_ha_dum,
Very helpful stuff – thanks a lot. I’ve read through the thread you linked to and it is, indeed, broadly educative.
However, you much overrate my knowledge in your comment “You probably have the HTML, and CSS parts well enough” – I really don’t! (See my parting sentence in my response to Krishna, above). I think I’m a bit of a slow learner when it comes to code of any type. I’ve spent hours looking at online CSS tutes in the past, and come away overwhelmed and none the wiser! It’s all very alien to me.
Re: “Once you get used to it (ten or fifteen minutes) you will never want to go back.” – For me, I fear that 10-15 mins is more likely to be 10-15 days, but to test my theory of innate personal coding inadequacy, do you happen to know a site you can recommend that covers the CSS basics? They’re all over the web, I know, but interested in your recommendation if you have one.
Re: “The 4-column home page would be one template (a particular php file in the theme that is assigned to one or more WordPress ‘Pages’), and the 1-column other pages would be a second template.”
So, are you saying I could download a 4-column theme and another 1-column theme and somehow use CSS to amalgamate them on one page, allowing me to switch from 4-column to 1 as I choose?
Appreciate the time and effort both you guys have put in here.
Cheers
RossYou have probably already come across the site but for basics I like w3schools.com. The basics is this though: “name” your pieces of markup with classes and ids, then use those “names” to decorate. That is it. The rest is vocabulary– float, background, position, etc– that you can look up as needed until you remember them. CSS has some very, very wrong-headed rules, but not too many, but it is much better than hard-coding fonts and colors into the HTML.
So, are you saying I could download a 4-column theme and another 1-column theme and somehow use CSS to amalgamate them on one page, allowing me to switch from 4-column to 1 as I choose?
No. That would be very hard. Start from a theme you like, in general. If most of your pages/posts are going to be 1-column, find a 1-column theme to start with. Then you will take (probably) the index.php from that theme, save it under a new name, and change the “header” information at the top (like this). You will edit that to be 4-column and assign that template to your 4-column page when the page is created in the backend.
Yes, I have come across w3schools. Just had another look, and it does seem like a great place to start. Thank you!
Had a read through the “like this” link – like a different language to me! But you’ve given me a direction to pursue. Appreciated.
Cheers
Ross
The topic ‘How to replicate a FP website using WP as CMS’ is closed to new replies.