I love WordPress… ok scratch that… I ADORE WordPress! I have used it for several of my own personal blogs, as well as to develop blogs and web sites for clients.
However the more I use it – especially for my own projects where I have full creative reign – I am constantly amazed by just how much it is capable of.
Not Just For Blogging – A Live Case Study
WordPress is incredibly versatile, in that although it is primarily known as a blogging platform, it can be used to run a non-blog web site as well.
I had been intrigued by the varied uses of WordPress, and knew that it was time to upgrade my own business web site to use the platform. Web designers / developers are often most critical of their own work and I was very specific as to how I wanted my own site to function.
I’ve finally given WordPress’ capabilities a full and through test by converting my own site from static HTML to WordPress.
This Is What They Call “WordPress as a CMS”
It is WordPress’ administrative area that turns it into a CMS or Content Management System. The WordPress admin area provides a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor – similar to a mini-version of Microsoft Word.
This allows virtually anyone to add and edit content themselves – all through their web browser – and without knowledge of HTML.
Of course, for more advanced users, there is a “code view” option where you can edit HTML code in a page, post or article, but it is not necessary for creating simple content.
Initial Settings – Permalinks and Comments
The WordPress installation process is a fairly simple one, assuming you have the right web hosting (which must be capable of supporting the PHP programming language, and running MySQL databases).
Once installed, there are several settings to update. Some of the essentials being to update the Permalink structure, and in the case of a web site vs blog, I wanted to remove the comment features, as well.
Permalinks – also known as “pretty URL’s” – change your post URL’s from something like “/index.php?p=364″ to “/web-design/wordpress-as-cms/”
Typically with a blog, posts are setup with date based permalinks. In the case of the main site, however, I wanted to go with a more traditional format of “/category/postname/”- which help give the illusion that all areas of the site are Pages, as opposed to a combination of Pages and Posts.
I also turned off Comments and Trackbacks (links from other sites back to your own) throughout the site. Comments are an essential part of a blog, but not something I wanted on the main web site.
The comment settings are updated through the WordPress admin area, however I took this a step further by also removing the comment loop from my template files – basically just because I didn’t want a notice that “Comments are closed” on every page of the site, as well.
How to Resource Link…
Using Permalinks
Using a Static Front Page
Once the main site settings were complete, it was time to begin on the content pages. To begin with, I wanted the site to use a static page for the home page (not the typical format of displaying the most recent posts).
This is a very simple setting in the WordPress admin area, which lets you specify either using the latest posts or a static page as the front page of the site.
How to Resource Link…
Creating a Static Front Page in WordPress
Individual Page Templates
Using the Page Template option (and with some extra PHP files), you can indicate separate templates to be applied to individual pages.
By creating a home.php file,* the pre-defined front page of the site can use a different page template than the rest of the site, as well. In my case, I wanted the home page to use a specific header and footer, but NOT use a sidebar.
* It’s important to note that the home page file MUST be titled home.php – anything else, even page_home.php as I had tried to use, will not fully work.
On the interior pages, I wanted to have unique headers on each page – each one having a different slogan under the “Hello! Welcome to iDesign Studios” text at the top of each page, depending on which section a visitor is on.
There is also a difference on the header and footer of the site, depending on if you are in a main site section – take the Portfolio page, for example – vs the more personal About Me section (which includes my bio and resume, etc.)
How to Resource Link…
Creating Your Own Page Templates
Individual Templates For Categories and Posts, Too!
While there is a readily available Page Template option when creating Pages – there is no similar option when creating Posts. I admit I had to do a bit of digging around on Google to find a solution to this problem, but I’m glad to say that I found it!
This one involves a bit of PHP scripting (explained very well at the link below) – but basically, by knowing your category ID’s, you can specify posts contained in different categories to use specific page templates.
This means that I was able to keep the header and sidebar from my Portfolio page along with my individual Portfolio posts, as well. Take for example the main portfolio page vs an individual portfolio post. By clicking through on the site, you’d really have no idea if you were viewing a Page or a Post, which was what I had hoped for.
How to Resource Link…
How to Set Up Custom WordPress Category Templates
Multiple Dynamic (Widgetized) Sidebars
Even more important than having individual headers and footers, I wanted to have separate sidebars, as well.
For example, on the main About the company page, I wanted to highlight one of my client testimonials, as well as link to additional information about myself (bio, etc.). On the Testimonials page, I wanted to include a PHP code that would automatically list all of the Testimonial posts so you can easily navigate from one to the next, etc.
Although I could just as easily have hard-coded the content of each of the sidebars in PHP, you have to admit that using widgets are easier. I could make updates anywhere as long as I have a web browser (without having to download/upload updated PHP files, etc.)
On each of the page templates, I’d link to the individual sidebar files. Where the real work comes in, though (which enables all of my sidebars to be widget ready and editable in the WP admin area) is to make some updates to the functions.php file.
How to Resource Link…How to Create Multiple Dynamic Sidebars for WordPress
Seamless Pages and Posts
Then comes the integration of WordPress pages and posts. On most blogs it’s quite obvious which is which. However, in this case I didn’t want to highlight content as being specific posts or pages – I wanted it all pretty much hidden.
With careful organization of my page and category structures (as well as the help of the Redirection Plugin) you’d never know the difference.
For example, if you tried going to http://www.idesignstudios.com/category/portfolio/ – instead of getting a chronological listing of Portfolio posts, you would be redirected to http://www.idesignstudios.com/portfolio/ which is the page I have setup with a general introduction to the portfolio, as well as a specific order of my work samples, etc.
Two additional plugins that proved to be essential for this project are Exec-PHP and Deactivate Visual Editor. Both plugins combined enabled me to add PHP code to my pages and posts from within the WordPress admin area. You can see this in action in the FAQ page, for example, where the questions are automatically inserted onto the page, just by including the “get_post” tags as demonstrated in the link below.
How to Resource Link…
Template Tags – Get Posts
Putting It All Together
There were so many individual elements involved, but combined, the new site takes “WordPress as a CMS” to a new level.
With some of the automated features – such as the PHP code mentioned above to automatically list Testimonials and FAQ’s – all I have to do is add a new post whenever I have a new client recommendation, for example, and it’s automatically added to the main Testimonial page and sidebar.
I haven’t made use of the Feed options for the site yet, but by using posts for some of the more frequently updated content (especially the Portfolio section), this will be a great way to keep clients and prospects updated about company news and updates.
This was a truly great project that I learned quite a bit from. Nothing like really being able to spend time working on your own projects, where you can learn new techniques that you can later utilize for client projects, as well.
This is yet another demonstration of exactly why I love web design and development so much! It’s a never-ending learning experience, and it just gets better every time!
From the Experts – Complete Resource Lists
For the developers out there, here are some of the resources that I found to be invaluable while re-developing my site with WordPress.
These guys explain the techniques better than I could – and they helped me tremendously – so I figure a little bit of link love is in order!
- WordPress Codex Template Tags
- Creating a Static Front Page in WordPress
- Creating Your Own Page Templates
- Template Tags – Get Posts
- How to Set Up Custom WordPress Category Templates in Four Easy Steps
- How to Create Multiple Dynamic Sidebars for WordPress
Then come the plugins! Since WordPress is Open Source, there is a big community supporting the software. Many talented developers create plugins that extend the software’s functionality.
With several thousand plugins currently available, the possibilities are seemingly endless! You can do so much with plugins but for this particular project, there are a few that were essential.
Big thanks to everyone involved in creating the posts and plugins listed here – without you, my site wouldn’t have been possible as I had envisioned!
If You’re Not a Developer and This Is All Greek To You…
Yes, it’s time for the obligatory shameless plug!
With the resources above, web developers reading (especially those versed in WordPress) should have no problem putting together a similar site.
But, you’re not all tech types (I don’t think…) So, if you need a web site of your own, or realize it’s finally time for an upgrade, but have no idea where to start… I hope you’ll keep me in mind!
Please check the Services page on the main site for details. I’ll be happy to put together a FREE detailed proposal with several options to choose from – just fill out the Quote Request Form or send me a quick message on the Contact page.
I look forward to hearing from you!
By the way, I offer “Design Only” and “Development Only” services that are great for other web designers / web developers who prefer to focus only on one or the other, and outsource the rest…
About the Author
Selene M. Bowlby is a web designer and front-end web developer with over ten years of professional experience in the design industry. As the owner of iDesign Studios she specializes in creating custom web sites for other businesses. more » 
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Hi there,
As promised, I read your post. After reading through the post, I double confirmed that my thought on using WordPress for a non blogging project, is positive. I am a newbie in web design industry, and working hard to be a successful one. So, thanks a million for the post, think it really helps a lot.
Dan
Great post. I’m about to take on a similar project for a friend and this will be VERY helpful!
dees last blog post..10 Reasons I Love Weekends
[...] where I have full creative reign – I am constantly amazed by just how much it is capable of.read more | digg [...]
Great post! I always wondered about this, and your set of links will be very helpful to me while I learn to implement my own wordpress website.
[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) from IDesignStudios [...]
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Great article! I’d begun constructing a site for my web-label, HPL Laboratories of Pennsylvania, using WP a few weeks ago, and the project was going on just fine, but thanks to your article, I’ve learned some new tricks to try that have made certain design and operational elements much easier to implement. Werd to ya mutha.
Derek C. F. Pegritzs last blog post..DISQUSting! Multi-threaded comments are go.
Great posts about using WordPress as a CMS.
Hi, just a quick word of critique:
I would think that you as a ‘professional webdesigner’ would know that white on black text is fairly difficult to read, let alone grey text. Same goes for the green links.
Kev
I think I love you.
(and not in some kind of weird stalker-guy way, either)
Great, This will help me as i code my wordpress themes, thanks
Max | Design Shard
How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) | Web Designer + Front-End Web Developer | Selene M. Bowlby…
WordPress is incredibly versatile, in that although it is primarily known as a blogging platform, it can be used to run a non-blog web site as well….
Thanks for your post. I can learn something new even though I have many experience in using WordPress as CMS. WordPress is great. In the past two years, I used it to build several websites that collect and aggregate Hong Kong location-based information. I am proud that I picked up the right tool. You might be interested to see how WordPress can be used in such a way.
Great post! As a developer who makes use of WP on a regular basis I firmly agree that it can usually bend to whatever desire you need.
I have developed a plugin that you / others may find useful called Idealien Category Enhancements (ICE) – idealienstudios.com/code/ICE/index.html – which brings the selection of category and post templates into the admin module like page templates are. No longer must you use category-192.php and dozens of other templates. Set one via the manage > categories page and it will be used in whichever categories you assign it to via manage > categories. Same goes for posts in the template. Lots of inheritance / sub-category / post configuration options too!
comprehensive tutorial – but im not sure why you would go to so much trouble customizing wordpress for a static site when you could just use a simple cms like cushycms
@franky j: maybe she doesn’t want a hosted solution
Hi there, helpful article!! Yeah, I also use WordPress as CMS too, but it’s just a simple one, never deep into further more for example the multiple widget sidebar and so on.
So thanks ya! Delicious this post!
WordPress Rocks the world!
Rahuls last blog post..Pushpa Kamal Dahal, first Prime Minister of Republic of Nepal
nice – any suggestions about how to integrate a picture gallery into a wordpress site? want to do a portfolio for a friend’s site
Great post and a nice addition to the ‘WordPress as CMS’ idea to have separate sidebars without having to create new template files. I use WP almost exclusively now for my own sites and for clients – and like you Iove it!
I would also suggest anyone using WordPress as a CMS use a fwe extra plugins – SImply Exclude allows you to excluse individual pages or posts from your blog front page, search results, archives etc. which is often useful for short term news. SEO Title Tag does pretty much what it says on the tin, and allows you to specify the titles explicitly, and Feedburner Feedsmith reroutes all feeds via a single Feedburner account for easier tracking.
Bill
Bill – Online Business Logics last blog post..Commission Blueprint Review
anyone care to package this up as an installable wordpress config?
mark rushs last blog post..Link Bait Ideas – Making Best Use of Wikipedia.
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I’ve been building websites on WordPress for a few months now but I haven’t implemented multiple sidebars because I haven’t been sure how or if it was worth the effort. The widgets always seemed like a great idea, but I’ve just coded the PHP into the regular sidebar. I had just decided to look into creating a more integrated and adjustable site when I came across this post. Thanks for the resource. It came just when I needed it! I’m not a designer, just an obsessed hobbyist.
In my experience, even out of larger agencies there’s a surprising number of them using WP as a CMS. Most of them have pretty hacked up custom installs and plugins in use.
Nice article. WP is a bit of a mystery (and mess) for people starting out with it.
Cheers
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well our PartyTrail blog section will need loads of your help… thanks for sharing this information… great job…
Wonderful post! This will help a lot particularly in projects where we will use a silo structure in WordPress blogs (because the SEO gurus say that’s the way to go).
I’m intrigued by your approach of redirecting Category pages to written Pages. I don’t see too many WP bloggers doing that. I like it because it’s also a good way to address the “duplicate content” issue.
Manuel Vilorias last blog post..Commission Blueprint PDFs and Videos
Well written and beautifully timed!
I’d left WP a years back (when it got spammed constantly) in favour of Textpattern but TP just isn’t any good for clients to use if I’m honest.
With the 2.5+ versions out I’ve come back to the fold and was literally talking about the feasibility of WP as a CMS yesterday with peeps.
Your article has addressed my main concerns and though I don’t speak PHP (didnt know html when I started using that though either) I know I can offer this as a good and not just workable solution.
Truly. I use a similar structure for my blog on Twiek.net (http://www.twiek.net/). I think that WordPress is a great CMS for all issues. So cool!
Juan Manuel Lemuss last blog post..Anuncio Clasificado
Is there a version of this post in a more reader friendly contrast? Grey on black is one of the hardest combinations to read web text on.
[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) | Web… (tags: wordpress webdev tutorial tips tricks) [...]
wow! complete and amazing, its very helpful like a reference in future and now.
nice blog cheers!
Great article. Amazing idea. Surprised it hasn’t been done before now…
Anyway I am almost done building a site in which users (who are for the most part web illiterate) can register, author and post online articles (usability is a huge consideration). It also has an e-commerce section.
Do you think I could retrofit what I have done (simple 2 column CSS layout with header and footer) with your CMS idea for WP? The online WYSIWYG editor and CMS functionality are obvious pluses. This would be SO much better. Any issues that may prevent something like that from being done with WP? Don’t want to postpone the launch date and start down a road that I find out later I can not use due to some unforeseen limitation.
Thanks again for a great article. You are sparking many ideas.
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@everyone – I have to thank you ALL so much for such great comments on this article! I had really hoped it would not only point out some of the benefits of using WordPress to run a non-blog site, but for the developers help point you in the right direction with some of the techniques I used.
I myself got stuck several times trying to figure out how to accomplish a few of the things I wanted to do, so hopefully this post helps save some frustrations when you are developing your own sites, too!
Anyway, thank you all for the love on this post – I got a lot of social votes and bookmarks from this one (even more than my previous “popular” post “6 Phases of the Web Design / Development Process”
@Kevin – Sorry you feel that way about the light / dark. I am aware of the issues of reverse text. But with this being my own personal site, I decided to take a calculated risk – something I can’t usually do with client web sites (unless it’s something they want to do, as well).
The number of people who take issue with the lighter text is very low in comparison to the number of people who don’t mind it, so so far, so good… Most of my previous personal site designs were dark text on a lighter background. This time around I wanted something much more edgy. Black is great for portfolio sites, too…
Also I went with light grey text as opposed to white text because it was much less jarring on the eye. I started with white text, but felt the contrast was too much on the eyes for this amount of text, so light grey won out… I don’t think the green links are hard to read, but it’s all personal opinion.
@Jonny K – I literally LOL’d at your comment. Thank you (for not loving me in a weird stalker-guy way!) ha ha
@JamieO – Thank you for posting your plugin link! If only I had known, it would have saved me quite a bit of time, lol.
@franky j – I haven’t used cushycms (though have heard of it). WordPress is used so widely that I wanted to continue to utilize it. I already use it for this blog, but decided that as I’m now focusing more on offering WordPress custom theme design and development to clients, that I would convert my static html web site to utilize the same platform, as well. Since this was for my own site, I was able to spend as much time as I wanted to learn some new techniques (putting it on my own dime, so to speak…) – you don’t always have that luxury with client projects. I’d call it a self-learning educational project so to speak…
@wasser – You mention that cushycms is a hosted solution – then yes, I wouldn’t have wanted to switch my web hosting to another company either. Too much hassle when I have several databases setup here, etc. (I’m happy with my web host, lol).
@ornob – There are several plugins that do a great job of integrating photos for a portfolio (or other) type of image gallery. On my own Portfolio I use the Slimbox Plugin. Another great (and even better) gallery plugin is NexGEN Gallery which I use on another personal blog. That one is the most comprehensive that I’ve used and will likely integrate it into my portfolio at some point, as well. If you have a Flickr account, Flickr Photo Gallery plugin is a good one too (you can see that one in action on my recent vacation post displaying photos of the US Virgin Islands
@Bill – thanks for the plugin recommendations! I use Feedburner Feedsmith (very helpful to track all of your subscriptions!). The Simply Exclude sounds great, too – I use a variation of that (which is probably more complex?) as I have the Google XML Sitemap plugin, however you have to manually enter in post/page ID numbers in order to exclude it from the sitemap. I’ve also installed All In One SEO Pack which handles all of your meta tags (I admit it’s a recent installation for me, though, so I still have to actually start using it to it’s full potential!
A note on the plugins… I’ve got a massive list of plugins and other tweaks, etc. that I will be writing about soon (I’ve been promising this one to people for months – lets see if I can’t finally get it published within the next couple of weeks, LOL)
@Manuel Viloria – The redirecting of the categories just came from me being anal retentive and overly controling, I guess, LOL. Even if I don’t list a link to the categories, I’m sure those versed in WP can easily type in the url and get a dis-organized list of posts, etc. I went with the redirection to help control it a bit, and send them to the page I want them to see (where posts are in the order I setup). The SEO “duplicate content” issue is an added bonus!
@Gesnok – Apologies for the grey on black text – that’s one of the “controversial” issues about my site. Most don’t seem to mind, but every once in a while… Anyway, I don’t currently have another version (though would like to work on a theme selection option, where users can select the default light on dark, or a modified dark on light theme…). What I can suggest is that you subscribe to the feed, because through your feed reader you’ll be able to read the post with your feed reader’s default design (which is likely black text on a white background). And just pointing out that I’m not saying that to get more subscribers, LOL – you can unsubscribe if you want, it’s just a way to be able to view the text differently. Also, until publish another post, you should just be able to read this post on the feedburner page without actually subscribing. Just a thought…
@Dragon – I don’t see why you can’t use your existing WP theme with some of the techniques above. There will be a little bit more work, just that you’ll have to create some new php files. But they can certainly be based on your existing files, with whatever changes you wish to implement for each of the individual page/category templates. Good luck if you decide to give it a try! I hope you’re able to get it out by your launch date!
[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) (tags: wordpress cms) [...]
Thanks for responding. I have decided to take the plunge.
Where would you suggest I go for a quick tutorial on editing static content in WP like the header or footer PHP includes? Or even changing the layout of the page to accommodate my existing design (which is not in WP)?
Thanks for this great post. I use WordPress as a CMS for most of my projects. The multiple dynamic sidebars comes very handy as my current customer is asking for a different sidebar content on each page. I know to do it directly in the code by adding some PHP functions, but I actually didn’t know the “Multiple Dynamic (Widgetized) Sidebars” trick. Thanks a lot.
Jeeremies last blog post..CushyCMS – a Free and Truly simple CMS
This article rocks! Great job! I wish I’d had it when I was working on my site a month ago!
Roses last blog post..This Week in Review 7/19 – 7/25
Hi Thx a Lot
It’s a killer compilation
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[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) [...]
Great article – wish I had found it several months ago. The two eye opening moments in using wordpress as a CMS were the dynamic sidebars and the use of page templates. Still not as friendly as some CMS systems but it is nice not to be forced into the everything is a box design of a lot of CMS systems.
Nice work on the category page templates that was new to me.
[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) | Web… — WP, the little engine that could [...]
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After customizing my new layout, I decided using WordPress as a CMS is a great solution. I like designing websites, but for some, it’s faster to not re-invent the wheel, so to speak, and design this way. Plus you get the added bonus of having the blog. I am bookmarking this article for future use in a few upcoming projects. Thanks for the great info!
Kristis last blog post..Rubber Band
Nice article. So much in WP! It’s a Wow factor!!
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Thank you all for the continued feedback on this post! I’m so glad it has helped many of you!
@Dragon – I don’t know of a specific tutorial offhand, but I’m sure a google search will give you some great ones (it’s a matter of weeding out the good vs not so good ones, lol).
To start with, though – I’d suggest going straight to the source with the WordPress codex site. A few helpful links on their site…
- WordPress Template Tags
- WordPress Lessons
- Designing WordPress Headers
- Stepping Into WordPress Templates
Just a few, but those might help get you started…
thank you for taking efforts and writing this great article.
thanks a lot !
This is a great article. I’ve been thinking of using WordPress as a CMS just because I know WordPress so it’s easy for me to use. This article helps.
Nicholis last blog post..How to Donate to Charities Without Spending More Money
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This is a great post!
I found several nuggets in here that I have not seen anywhere else.
I have written a few blog posts on using WordPress as a CMS which expand on some of your ideas.
I’d love it if you’d take a look and let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Josh
http://www.nooozeguy.com/using-wordpress-as-a-content-management-system-cms/
http://www.nooozeguy.com/migrating-website-wordpress-guide/
Continued thanks for the positive feedback on the post!
@Josh – thanks for providing your links! Your articles both seem to be good resources with additional detailed information – thanks for sharing!
Graet post mate. Keep them coming….
Impressa:) or as a Portuguese, vpechatlilso!
Hi. I have used WP for a very basic CMS for static pages. Is it possible to create dynamic pages, such as news, besides blog post, without knowing PHP? Let’s say we need a special promotion text message box on the sidebar. Can a client, who doesn’t know html, change the text without getting into template design change?
I’ve been googling on how to do that with WP, but I’ve got no luck.
Thanks
It is absolutely possible to create dynamically generated news pages in WordPress.
You would need to know PHP to do this however, because you would need to alter page templates.
Regarding changing promos on a sidebar, you can definitely do this without knowing HTML– the key is making sure that a certain plugin is installed.
In terms of good WordPress resources, here are two I recommend (these are from a post on my site):
* Joost de Valk has written what he calls, “The Definitive Guide To High Rankings For Your Blog”.
* Ian Stewart has an excellent guide: “Use WordPress As a CMS: Plugins, The Bare Minimum“.
(There’s also a link to an article I wrote in an earlier comment on this post).
Hope that helps!
-Josh
Josh Fialkoffs last blog post..A How-to Guide to Migrating a Website to WordPress
[...] http://www.idesignstudios.com/blog/web-design/wordpress-as-cms/ [...]
[...] articles on using WordPress as a CMS: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, [...]
[...] people. WordPress is the next best choice, and is very user friendly too, to be used as a CMS. This tutorial explains how you can do [...]
Thanks for that information! I will refer to it if someone wants to use WordPress as a CMS. I use WordPress a whole lot, but use other systems as well, such as MODx, Website Baker, and I test others all the time. When you do that, you begin to see a system will do a particular thing much better than your fave.
WordPress is, indeed, flexible enough to be adapted to almost anything with enough mods and tweaking. But the problem with any CMS is that when someone becomes enamored with one, they start to believe that it’s omniscient and always better than anything else. And that’s very much not the case.
A very quick example would be that setting up multiple templates in MODx is much easier and more flexible than WP, and customized menu generation is more flexible and easier. Yet WP crushes MODx on plugin updating, form creation, etc. The right tool for the job, as it were.
It’s easy to see why this happens. Apart from emotional attachment to something one likes, after spending a lot of time with a system, the thought of learning still more can be annoying. And if you’re part of some large IT department, they will resist change, even for the better, because it’s just too big a deal to do so.
Hi,
Great post about using WordPress as CMS…
Regards,
[...] But those sites do exist. If you look hard enough, you can find the incredibly talented designers that take WordPress to an entirely different level. By combining an eye for design, technical know-how, and a sense of “outside-of-the-box” thinking, these designers create customizations that make you wonder how you lived without WordPress as your CMS. [...]
[...] But those sites do exist. If you look hard enough, you can find the incredibly talented designers that take WordPress to an entirely different level. By combining an eye for design, technical know-how, and a sense of “outside-of-the-box” thinking, these designers create customizations that make you wonder how you lived without WordPress as your CMS. [...]
i’ve used WP as a CMS quite a lot for various things. it’s a veritable playground of fun what you can do w/ WP. keep it up.
dmks last blog post..FFolio portfolio website from Flickr
Excellent post.
So not only the best blogging platform but quite possibly one of the top CMS’.
Geoservs last blog post..Where’s my Pagerank?
Awesome posting, you have definitely made me ‘all excited’ about WP again
I am going to give it another chance thanks to you.
Car hire South Africas last blog post..
Thanks you very much for this timely post… I am now in the middle of transferring a website I am now working on to a new url and this is giving me a chance to do a revamp. A lot of very useful information you have given me!
anapat
Hello,
Great information you have provided. I have just finished a project consulting with this information. Thank you.
I have a problem, I could not be able to find how to highlight parent page link inside navigation while viewing the sub page of the parent.
Please help how can i do this.
Your help will be much appreciated.
Once again, thank you very much
iShafaat
http://tinyurl.com/8xrdwo
Selene, yours is one of the cleanest designed websites I have come across and a great testament to your abilities.
I look forward to seeing more from you.
Steve Daviess last blog post..untitled-2.jpg
Thank you very very much! This was exactly what I was searching! And congratulations for your marvellous work!
A great post
I’m looking at using wordpress as a cms for an upcoming project and I think you’ve just made my mine up!
Thanks!
When trying to introduce my customers to WordPress I’ve found they often get flustered and confused by the basics. To solve this I’ve made a WordPress beginners how to tutorial.
Hi, Thanks for the information. I’m new to WordPress and these tips are helpful.
If you don’t mind me asking… what is the name of the plugin for the “accordion” sidebar? Does it work with 2.7?
Also, what plugin do you use for the 3 sections (Above Me, Skills & Experience & Contact Me) above the footer? Thanks so much. Keep up the good work!
Thanks everyone for the continued great comments on this post!
@henri – I’m using the “Tabbed Widgets” plugin (yes, it’s compatible with 2.7).
As for the “About Me / Skills / Contact” info below, that is all hard-coded into the footer.php file. Although I saw a post somewhere showing how to set that up as if it were a sidebar so that you could edit the content as a widget. (Sorry I don’t remember where the article was, though…)
This was very helpful and I thought it was what I needed but I can not get it to work.
I have a page called “videos” and I want that page to only display posts from the category id 3. My category is displaying this correctly but the page does not display the posts.
When I call multiple headers, the page gets loaded TWICE by wordpress.
That only happens on headers that are note the header default.
Any help will be really appreciated
EXCELLENT article. I have seen some good ones before but an excellent thorough explanation as well as resources to make it easier. Your portfolio examples are wonderful as well. As a web designer myself (other half of my biz) I can appreciate the work it took to make it seamless and effective.
Paula Gs last blog post..The Tremendous ROI of Self-Development Work
Am I completely missing the part about how to keep the /blog/ ?
You can also use the CMS theme from my website:
http://www.bos89.nl/1261
or
http://www.bos89.nl/1258
Martijns last blog post..Cloud Computing next step in Virtualization
This is an amazing resource. Thank you for taking the time to put all this together. I will be trying all your suggestions with the next site I create at datingology dot net. Thanks again and wish me luck
Great article, Selene, but one of the most useful articles has a broken link.
The article on creating multiple dynamic sidebars has now moved to:
http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2007/11/how-to-create-multiple-dynamic-sidebars-for-wordpress-widgets/
Really good explanations
keep doing good articles to community
CEY
Admiyns last blog post..Admiyn #Mass #Twitter #Follower
great post, lots of awesome info here for a web developer making the jump into the wordpress world of being…haha its a lil different on this side, but i like where it is going. thanks again!
this is a very wonderful piece of work. cant wait till i have more time to read the other half of your article
i have read your other half and let me just say that this article is a life saver
Great blog. I’m a web developer looking to use wordpress as a cms and this is perfect. Well done.
Useful post for both beginners and experts
You should definitely check out the Pods CMS Plugin for WordPress, you may find it makes some of your more complex work much easier.
[...] you are simply using WordPress as a CMS for a brochure type site, this is a step you can skip. However most people take advantage of [...]
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Firstly let me say I like your black on gray..I could read this perfectly.What a wonderful post I have just started in the blogging world and progects. You’re site has given me so much good info,from all of you.I am looking into wordpress CMS.. so wish me luck…Thanks for a wonderful informed post…I will vist again.
Great post. So very helpful.
Michael Locke’s last blog post: How to Create a Page Curl in Adobe Fireworks – Tutorial
ok, so I took a course online, and while thorough, it doesn’t tell you where to paste the snippet of code if you are in affilate marketer trying to promote other peoples products. So where do you paste product codes? So frustrated. I thought this would be fairly simple.
Thank you so Much ! saved alot of time !
Its a Killer CMS actually , better than the available ones !
This was a good day for me !
Thank you again
duby’s last blog post: Hello world!
Brilliant post – exactly what I was looking for! WordPress is great!!!!
This is a FABULOUS post – thank you so much for sharing all this information! I think you just saved me a ton of time. Yay!
Laura’s last blog post: Apple: 1, Tooth: 0.
I had always associated WP with blogs and so had overlooked it as a CMS instead using Joomla and Drupal but after having useed WP I can honestly state I would have used it for about 90% of the others. It is also a dream to install and update.
WordPress is the most easily configurable CMS on the open source market.
I am really curious what the next versions will bring…
Steven’s last blog post: TNT Grunge Stop
Really very helpful, i created my WP blog but didn’t know how to make a website look. Awesome post…
[...] here: How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) | Web… Tags: cms Comments0 Leave a Reply Click here to cancel [...]
I would say that I have really found a great source for my technical big picture. Honestly, your writing style is pretty simple and excellent in explaining the stuff in a nutshell. I started recommending my peers too.
[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS – Selene M Bowlby – idesignstudios.com [...]
[...] Many wordpress theme run as content management system, there are some feature also inside wordpress to do so, from insert more tag feature at the editor posts, and some other plug in to do so. There are some site describing how to do it and set wordpress as content management system, how to use wordpress as truly content mangement system ? [...]
[...] plug-ins to feed job vacancies and events into our site. Selene M. Bowlby in her blog post - How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) highlights how some of this can be done by converting her static HTML site to [...]
Cool Article n so detailed,
I was searching for some information for creating a CMS with WordPress. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Will try this soon.
Thanks
This is a truly excellent tutorial page – simple clear language and instructions with great graphics.
I wish all tutorial pages were this good! OUTSTANDING & INSPIRATIONAL!
Just started building a WP based site (in the sandbox atm) & wanted CMS structure on the front end with blogging capabilities, you showed me how.
Heart-felt thanks.
Great post! WordPress can easily be used as a CMS for small web sites, especially since the ‘pods’ plugin was released. Templates are the only issue but not really a big deal if you know a bit of CSS and HTML.
[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers … [...]
Nice tips. The alternative to “Using a Static Front Page” is home.php, once the home.php is created and uploaded it will pose as your default page and it will replace the index.php.
See http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy
Once you have the home.php in place, you may do pretty much whatever you please and fully customize your WordPress to act as CMS.
Thanks,
Emil
[...] How to Use WordPress as a CMS http://www.idesignstudios.com/blog/web-design/wordpress-as-cms/ [...]
[...] are a lot of articles on the web talking about how to use WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS), but [...]
Great info. I’ve been looking for this type of information over the the last few days. Can’t wait to give it a go.
[...] http://www.idesignstudios.com/blog/web-design/wordpress-as-cms/ [...]
I’ve found WordPress to be one of the most user friendly CMS’ when it comes to giving clients the ability to edit their own websites. I did get a few more ideas from this article though, thank you for providing such a comprehensive guide!
Ryan Cowles @ Metacom Creative’s last blog post: Amber Stevens New Website Launch
Thanks for the information, just started using wordpress a few months ago and found myself thinking, “where have I been all of this time?” I just might try using it as a CMS.
[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more! | iDesi…. 0 Comments Filed in Web Posted by jroakes [...]
Hello, I’m very new to WordPress. I create a homepage with wordpress. Now I would like to add a blog and link to /blog. How do I do this?
[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) | iDe… (tags: wordpress) [...]
[...] learning wordpress in detail Also found a link http://www.idesignstudios.com/blog/web-design/wordpress-as-cms/ really useful and full of information. Just managing to edit my theme based on my portfolio [...]
Wow! This is wonderful. Thank you so much for posting it.
I’m new to the professional design world and just transitioning my old static site into a proper portfolio with blog, free resources, about, etc. I’d been considering trying out WordPress to build the whole thing, but was unsure if it was even possible — until I read this!
I’m sure this will be a huge help as I delve into the process.
[...] But those sites do exist. If you look hard enough, you can find the incredibly talented designers that take WordPress to an entirely different level. By combining an eye for design, technical know-how, and a sense of “outside-of-the-box” thinking, these designers create customizations that make you wonder how you lived without WordPress as your CMS. [...]
Cool Article n so detailed,
I was searching for some information for creating a CMS with WordPress. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Will try this soon.
Thanks
[...] How To Use WordPress As A Truly Customized CMS [...]
[...] How to use WordPress as a Truly Customized CMS (Multiple Headers, Footers, Sidebars and more!) | iDe… [...]
[...] than WordPress is out of the box. In the past couple of months I’ve been exploring using WordPress as a CMS and have had a few clients to try it out on recently. The flexibility is impressive and development [...]
Hello Selene,
Very nice work with this post – but I’ve run into a couple of problems with the multiple templates for pages.
In both the ‘Individual Page Templates’ and ‘Individual Templates For Categories and Posts, Too!’ sections you linked to the same resource link..
Also, when creating home.php (as a copy from page.php) it becomes the default template – the page used as your static front page (Home) and the blog page (Blog) will always take on home.php as the template, even when defining the template as a different php file.
Any other page (that isn’t set as the static front page or blog page) is fine and will take on the defined template php file.
I noticed you have a sidebar on your blog page though none on your homepage – so you must have found a workaround (or I’ve missed something completely).
Anyway, I’m sure you can understand the annoyance of spending hours trying to find a solution to a single problem, so if you can help me out I’d be ever so grateful..!
Very nice work – keep it up,
Harley B
Exactly what I was looking for, thanks for taking the time to post this! I’ve been using WordPress as a blog CMS but now I want to use it for my entire site! Great site design too.
Hi Selene,
As others have mentioned you have a very beautiful site and the information you’ve shared is very much appreciated. If you don’t mind sharing a bit more – did you use a plugin for the navigation at the top of the page (Home, About, Service …) and the navigation below the header (About, Biography, Resume …)? I’m new to WP and do not code. Was hoping there is a plugin that would allow for custom navigation and the ability to place navigation in different locations on the page.
Thanks!
Ted
Hi,
Nice site. I usually to use wordpress for blog only and rest of the site in MODx CMS. I had to make two template and install two separate software’s MODx and wordpress separately.
Thanks for sharing this knowledge. Now I can use only wordpress as pure CMS with an inbuilt blog.
Thanks,
Ashish
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Selene,
I communicated with you few weeks regarding my domain appraisal
, hope you remember me.
I got few clients who were looking for customizing WP for converting to a CMS & I had a tough time , I should have read this article before , that would have saved my time.
Anyway this helps me to meet my client’s requests in the future.
Thanks for the post.
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Wow, lots of nice info. Just looking around to find help on converting the webpagei admin to a wordpress site. And this article really outlined several good ideas. First stop for me is to find a useful professional looking template for the site.
thansk again for the inspiration.
T
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