Using WordPress as piecemeal in existing site? - php

After some solid advice from people on here about using WordPress for a small (six page) website, I wanted to broach another question regarding using WordPress for a non-blogging site. Yet, I know my client would like to update various, but small portions of their site from time-to-time.
I won't be installing WP in the root, but a sub-directory and have all my core site files sitting in the root.
Here are my questions:
Can I include content from Pages in WordPress and output that content on any page outside of the WP install directory? Is there something specific I would need to include?
Do I have to use a Theme or can I still use my already built CSS?
I'd like to be able to use my own CSS for the site and not have it be tied to a Theme - is that possible? Meaning I use www.example.com/css/styles.css vs www.example.com/wp-content/themes/styles.css.
I also have a slider comprised of three DIVs for each panel, can I pull in that specific Page with that markup for the slider?
Can I also make my own queries for data as well?
Is there anything that I won't be able to accomplish or advise against doing?
I'm mostly concerned about having to use a Theme, mostly because I don't know if I'll need to use it or not.
Thanks for any help.

Lots of docs available:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress#Giving_WordPress_its_Own_Directory_While_Leaving_the_WordPress_Index_File_in_the_Root_Directory
and
http://codex.wordpress.org/Integrating_WordPress_with_Your_Website , where you pull pages/posts from the WP loop into your existing design, CSS, etc.
You will need to link necessary JS files in the site.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/query_posts will show you how to make your own queries.

Related

is there a way to make HTML, CSS , JS static page a wordpress dashboard so that the user can change the content images

I am working on a landing page using HTML, CSS , and JavaScript which are the tolls I am familiar with, but the client informed me that he want a dashboard to update the contents , images ...etc . I am not familiar with WordPress and have not done any project before. So is there any way to create the website then convert it into WP or any other way to solve the issue I am facing ?
hope I found a solution here
Yes you can create the HTML first. Then you can convert it to a WordPress Theme. But would require some PHP coding and knowledge in WordPress template structure, functions, etc.
Or else, you can hire a developer for this purpose.
Or the more easier way for you would be to use a drag and drop content creation plugin like Elementor (personally, I like it more) or WPBakery or something else.
EDIT:
To answer your question in comment, there's a starter theme called Hello. You can use it as your canvas and start adding your components and layouts in it. There are many third party Elementor addons available for use (some are premium). I mean certain elements for your layout would already be there as an addon widget created by someone else or it might be already shipped with the Elementor plugin!
If you have some time to spare (I mean it's not an urgent project), I would suggest some time playing with it.

Making a dynamic website using core HTML/CSS and PHP or Wordpress

I have to make a dynamic site for my assignment, the site must have an admin panel where the owner of the site can change certain visual elements that will be specified by them.
Now the question is will I have to use core PHP HTML/CSS to do this entirely?
Will Wordpress provide any help in this situation?
I have read people making sites using Wordpress so will this help me regarding my situation?
WordPress is a CMS. You'll have a lot of control over the content, and can add additional control by use of Custom Post Types (CPT) and taxonomies.
There are lots of themes you can use and extend by use of child themes, or you could either build your own from scratch or use a starter theme (I would recommend Underscores).
You can, of course, roll your own using HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP, but it is a lot more work.
WordPress is a simple and user-friendly solution for your issue but if you want to avanced custom the admin panel for each user or each group user you must use Drupal : https://www.drupal.org
Yes, definitely WordPress is what you need. There are other solutions like Joomla, Drupal also available but I would suggest to use WordPress though. Using it wou may create your own widgets and specify areas which you want to allow administrator to edit. So basically if WordPress theme is done right the end result will be very good using WordPress.

How to handle user customizable website themes?

We are developing a CMS and would like advice on the best way to handle user customizable themes. We have a couple ideas but are not really sure what the best approach is. The CMS will allow the user to customize every part of the site including colors, fonts, layout, etc, through a theme editor UI built into the CMS.
We were thinking writing a custom CSS parser that writes changes out to a CSS file for that theme. This approach seems like it may have a lot of point of failure and a lot of overheard.
The other way was to store all the CSS in a database and then just use inline CSS.
The CMS has been built using JQuery and PHP with MySQL database for user information and content, but not CSS.
Is there a more efficient way to parse/control/edit CSS properties of the theme?
Thanks
My suggestion is to take a look at the way WordPress or any other pre-built platform (Drupal, Joomla, etc.) approaches this. WordPress themes consist of template files stored on the file system that allow users to have complete control over the look and feel of their Web site. The CSS for each theme is stored in a file called style.css. WP itself does not enforce a frontend layout but instead leaves that in the hands of the site administrator/developer.
I would treat your CSS files as if they were code classes. For instance, have a CSS file for your customizable font themes, one for page themes etc.
With that in mind, on page load you can easily build a dynamic CSS file based on user selections.
AKA
font1.css
font2.css
font3.css
page1.css
page2.css
page3.css
On Page load you identify that user preferences are font 1 and page 2, pull in both css files and walla you're good to go!
I am currently looking to do the same thing. Some of the solutions I've come across seem to use an xml file for the layout and then (probably) parse out a custom css file. This way, the layout determines the "stacking order" of page content modules and the other customizable features (which are usually limited) such as fonts, colors & background image are handled by an additional custom (user)css file.
I'll be following this one and will also be interested in finding actual code solutions to making it happen. For instance how to use jquery to build a draggable content module interface for the user backend.

Modifying wordpress to create a customized CMS

I am working on moving a normal HTML website to Wordpress for a client. It's a simple website with a lots of images and HTML text. The idea is that client should be able to modify contents of website through the simple CMS without actually looking into code.
While doing analysis I came across some roadblocks like
Problem: If I want to modify text/ image for Header or footer in wordpress, I will need to do it in PHP code.
Solution: Create a customized header/ footer update tab. Modify database to store these contents and modify PHP code to directly read the data from database.
Problem: Wordpress provides a set of widgets (blogrolls catergories etc.), I need more like Latest News.
Solution: Modify PHP code and datbase, basically create your own widget.
Problem: There are a lot of static HTML pages which are linked from one page to another.
Solution: I don't see any way in wordpress to create static HTML pages which among which we can create links from one to another.
Solution: Create a new interface where user can create HTML pages/ plain text content. This will return a link which can be used to provide hyperlinks in another page.
My query is: Are the solutions mentioned above correct? The problems mentioned look very common, so is there a tried and tested way to solve?
Edit: User (Client) want to use wordpress. Just wanted to make sure here that Solutions I am thinking about are correct. So would like to have suggestion from someone who has already worked on Wordpress and solved the problems like I have mentioned. Do not want to reinvent the wheel.
I've worked a lot on a Wordpress-base white-label CMS, so I think I can help you in some ways.
First of all : always remember the real power of Wordpress is its community and its plugins base (that you can access directly from wordpress admin)
Problem: If I want to modify text/ image for Header or footer in
wordpress, I will need to do it in PHP code. Solution: Create a
customized header/ footer update tab. Modify database to store these
contents and modify PHP code to directly read the data from database.
If you want to have a fully customisable appearance, I suggest you to start from a theme like Consctructor. This is a theme with a whole admin panel for simple appearance editing. The code is far from perfect but this is a good start.
If you just want to manage the content of header / footer, you can do it via Menus / Widgets / Links, but only if your theme is designed for that. For example, a lot of good theme allow you to add widgets in footer, then you can construct your footer with only a few drag-n-drop in the Appearance/Widget menu. For header image, the default theme (Twenty-Twelve) provide an header panel where you can upload a new image.
Problem: Wordpress provides a set of widgets (blogrolls catergories
etc.), I need more like Latest News. Solution: Modify PHP code and
datbase, basically create your own widget.
Yes you can create your own widgets for specific needs, but I suggest you always start from an existing one. There is a lot of plugins providing you dozens of widgets. Explore that before reinventing the wheel.
For your specific case, a 1s google-search returns me this plugin.
Problem: There are a lot of static HTML pages which are linked from
one page to another. Solution: I don't see any way in wordpress to
create static HTML pages which among which we can create links from
one to another. Solution: Create a new interface where user can create
HTML pages/ plain text content. This will return a link which can be
used to provide hyperlinks in another page.
No, use the pages. Wordpress Pages are static content and this is editable, and for each page ou have a permalink. If Pages aren't good for your job, you can consider creating a custom type (or install a plugin that create a custom type).
Wordpress themes can be made to accept images and stuff like that.
The are ample wordpress widgets to do just that. Just be sure to find the right one.
I don't understand this one. You can create any amount of wordpress pages, and to link between them is easy. If you want your files to end in .html, simply enable permalinks and specify that option. It's very easy.
Reinventing the wheel sometimes is good, possibly even good for you (Given patience and time). Nothing is prepackaged to do everything for you, hence these are times when you need a custom build.
Anyways, CMSes don't come as a multipurpose, all-in-one package that solves your programming woes and turns everything into a point-and-click solution. Every CMS is unique, designed to serve a specific purpose. Others general purpose, others for blogs, others for very simple sites.
If you don't find anything native that fits your needs, find the right plugin for the job. If you cannot find anything at all, then might as well build a custom solution, or build on top of an existing resource. Innovate

Modifying WordPress's "post-new.php" File for Custom Blog Entries

Has anyone ever modified the "post-new.php" file in their WordPress installation?
I want to modify the look of this page to include pieces that I standardly include in my blog posts, and I just don't know if it is do-able/easy/worth my time.
Should I just find another CMS that allows more modifcation like Drupal?
No reason to modify the core files - you can add stuff via plugins. See, for example, the more fields plugin - it adds to the new/edit post form without breaking your ability to upgrade the core installation.
Drupal's great, but if you're focusing on blogging you may get better results tweaking WP via plugins. I use WordPress for blog sites, and Drupal for most others.

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