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Paul Elliott
12-06-2009, 09:01 PM
For all you WP developers out there --

Is there any trick or warnings about putting metatags and analytics code into WP themes with a development program such as Dreamweaver?

Where a person is hosting a WP theme on his own site, are there any difficulties in adding pages to the site such as special information pages?

Thank you.

Paul

vangogh
12-06-2009, 09:36 PM
The easiest way to add metatags is going to be through a plugin like All in One SEO. Just search for new plugins in the admin side of your WordPress install. Then as you create new posts and pages you'll have fields to enter for the metatags.

You can add your analytics code directly in footer.php or again use a plugin. Most of the analytics plugins will generally offer a few extra things. If you search analytics or google analytics through the admin side of WordPress you can find a lot. I don't know that one is any better than the other.

As far as using DreamWeaver I would only use the code editor to work on your theme. I don't think you'll have problems if you stick to the code editor, but I don't use DW and can't really say for certain. I'm pretty sure if you try to use the design view (is that what it's called in DW?) you'll probably just get a mess. You would need to have PHP, MySQL, and a working server installed on your machine to see the pages anyway, but even if you do I have a hunch DW will not present things quite like they really are.

billbenson
12-06-2009, 11:27 PM
Well, if I understand you correctly, you should be able to write the center section of you page in DW (no navigation or side columns). Go do code view, copy the code and use it to make a post or page in WP. I'm pretty sure you are going to have to do the css by hand. You should also validate your code with w3 schools or somewhere else.

I think it would be easier and have better results to use the html editor in WP?

I don't use either DW or the html editor in WP, so I am just guessing.

vangogh
12-07-2009, 12:49 AM
Paul I think skipped over your last question in my post above. You can create pages in WordPress. Pages are similar, but treated differently than posts. Depending on how your theme has been developed a new page could be as simple as creating a new page inside WordPress and adding whatever content you want. A link might be directly added to the navigation or you may need to add it. Similarly you may want to remove it if it's added and you prefer it not to show up.

In general to create a new page in WordPress you login to the admin side of the site and add a new page. You may or may not need to modify your theme after, depending on how it was developed and what you want. You shouldn't need to create new pages for the site through DreamWeaver.

Paul Elliott
12-14-2009, 12:00 AM
Bill and Steve, thank you for your help and insights.

Paul

JayLane
02-17-2010, 05:06 PM
My suggestion for editing Wordpress files is to use a standalone text editor. I use Notepad++ when editing my PHP files or CSS files. I like using it over WordPress's text editor because you can "undo" changes to the file (if that makes sense). You can right-click on files stored on your machine and choose to edit with Notepad++. I used to use Dreamweaver for everything until I switched over a Wordpress site 3-4 years ago.

vangogh
02-17-2010, 07:36 PM
Welcome to the forum Jay.

I'm with you on using a standalone editor. I use Coda, but it's the same thing. I don't care for the WordPress editor and in all honestly wonder why WordPress included it. I would think most people who are willing to edit the files directly already have a standalone code editor. I think WP should take their code editor out of the core WP files and make it a plugin.

billbenson
02-17-2010, 10:21 PM
Welcome to the forum Jay.

I'm with you on using a standalone editor. I use Coda, but it's the same thing. I don't care for the WordPress editor and in all honestly wonder why WordPress included it. I would think most people who are willing to edit the files directly already have a standalone code editor. I think WP should take their code editor out of the core WP files and make it a plugin.

That would take away the group that don't know much about the web, do a one click install and start writing your blog. If you don't keep beginners interested, most won't try to figure the code out and disappear. Thats a big market for WP. They want to maintain their market saturation.

vangogh
02-18-2010, 12:29 AM
Yeah, but do you really think that group is editing their own files? Maybe. I don't really know, but if I had to guess those people are calling someone else to edit their files directly. They'll learn to use widgets, install themes and plugins, and they learn to use the general admin interface, but I'm not so sure they edit files directly. Again maybe I'm wrong. More a hunch on my part than anything else.

I'm sure the code editor adds a lot of unnecessary weight to WP. Would a leaner faster WordPress attract more users or would a feature than most won't use attract more users. I'll have to see if WP has any stats on how often that code editor gets used.