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View Full Version : Word Press Help (Moved from Design and Development)



jamesray50
12-01-2010, 03:33 AM
I have some questions about WordPress

I now have it installed thanks to one of our members (thanks Matt) and am trying to decide on a Theme. I have installed a few to just mess around with. I copied and pasted my About Us page from my original website to one of the themes I picked out. But when I changed themes, it didn't show up in the new theme. I thought I could change themes and my content would stay the same?

I don't understand what plug-ins are. How do I know what plug-in to use? Also, when choosing a theme, do I choose one with a customizable header if I want to use the logo that Matt created for me? How do I know know how many columns I need? On my other website I had different number of columns on the different pages. Can I do the same here or will there be the same number of columns on each page? Should I choose fixed or variable?

I will watch wordpresstv, but thought I would ask you all these questions too.

Thanks, I really appreciate the help I have received so far. I cannot wait to get this new website up and running.

Harold Mansfield
12-01-2010, 10:39 AM
I have some questions about WordPress

I now have it installed thanks to one of our members (thanks Matt) and am trying to decide on a Theme. I have installed a few to just mess around with. I copied and pasted my About Us page from my original website to one of the themes I picked out. But when I changed themes, it didn't show up in the new theme. I thought I could change themes and my content would stay the same?

You can, and it should. While the software itself works universally, different themes have different options. It may just be an issue of setting any menu options for the theme, or checking your Wordpress menu (Appearances->Menu). Wordpress allows you to create custom menus and some themes won't show anything until you set that menu.
Your content stays in the database with it's settings no matter what theme you switch to.



I don't understand what plug-ins are. How do I know what plug-in to use?
Plug ins are packaged scripts that add different functionality to your website. For instance if you need to add a contact form, I like to use Contact Form 7. (http://contactform7.com/)
If you want to add an SEO plug in to set your sitewide keywords and descriptions, as well as, your individual keywords and descriptions for each page and post, a lot of people use All In One SEO plug In (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/)

There are literally thousands of plug ins and most of them are free. You can find all certified ( by Wordpress.org) plug ins in the Wordpress Plug In repository: WordPress › WordPress Plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/) to do all kinds of stuff.

What plug ins you use depends on what functionality you want or need to add. There are plug ins that do everything from managing and displaying your advertising to configuring your site for mobile browsers.
Most are easy to use, some require some advanced knowledge or experience.

It's easy to add plug ins, if you have FTP access you just download them, unzip them and drop the folder into your plug in directory of your installation. Ex:: hxxp://yoursite/wp-content/plug ins
You can also install them from your dashboard. Just download them onto your computer. (don't unzip them) and go to Dashboard->Plug Ins->Add New->From your computer and upload the folder, or you can search from the same area and when you see the one that you want or need, just click "Install".

Once a plug in is installed it will b visible in your plug ins menu, Dashboard->Plug Ins. be sure to Activate it to start using it.
Most plug ins will have settings that can be found in your Settings tab, but some create their own tabs ,or put themselves in other areas. They all come with documentation or a "Read Me" file if there needs to be any special instructions.

Be careful, it's easy to install too many because they all look cool. Try and stick to what you need for now based on what you want to do, and get fancy later after you have the site up and have a need. You still want to keep them to a minimum especially on shared hosting.

Lastly, most plug ins function just fine. You will find that some have compatibility issues with others, or haven't been updated in a while. These instances are rare, but they do happen.

Also, when choosing a theme, do I choose one with a customizable header if I want to use the logo that Matt created for me?
Not necessarily. Customizable header usually refers to the entire header, not just your logo ( I suppose that could include your logo). Themes that have easy options for adding a logo will usually use the term "logo" or add your own logo.
But it's not completely necessary because you can add a logo (or have someone do it for you) to the header of any theme by editing the theme files.


How do I know know how many columns I need?
That's a personal decision based on how you want your website laid out.

On my other website I had different number of columns on the different pages. Can I do the same here or will there be the same number of columns on each page?
No, but you can use good old fashioned HTML to create columns in your pages and posts. If you don't know or have the time, there is a plug in called WP-Post Columns (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-post-columns/) that will do the job with short codes, which I use here (http://1stinternetmedia.com/about-main/), and here. (http://haroldmansfield.com/support-and-consulting/) But I use HTML here (http://1stinternetmedia.com/services/custom-facebook-pages/) for the video placement (don't ask my why I use both, I don't know)

You can find examples and tutorials on how to do it with HTML by doing a simple Google search. Using natural coding and HTML when possible is cleaner, and one less plug in to run, but plug ins are quicker and easy when you don't know how to do things like that by hand. Carefully balance the 2. Don't rely on plug ins for simple things that can be done by hand.

By switching to "HTML" in your editor ( when making or editing a page or post) you can use your own HTML, and other script. There may be issues with adding some Java or PHP scripts, but there is a work around for that.

Should I choose fixed or variable?

That usually refers to the layout. Fixed will display the same across all browsers and monitor sizes, variable will adjust to the monitor and it's settings, most times to cover the whole screen.
That is also a personal decision based on how you want you site to look. I prefer fixed for mine. IMO, very few sites look good these days completely spread across a large monitor. That's just a personal preference of mine and not any stead fast rule.

vangogh
12-01-2010, 11:43 AM
Harold did a great job answering your questions. I'll see if I can add a little.

Your About should still show up with the new theme, but it is possible that the new theme needs you to turn on some option or another. I would look where Harold pointed under Appearances -> Menu. There are probably some checkboxes that need checking.

Plugins and themes are similar. Themes change the design and plugins change the functionality. The idea behind both is to make it easier for average users to do more with WordPress without having to learn the underlying code.

There are no plugins you absolutely need, but a variety that are very useful to have. One (Akismet) is included by default. Another (Hello Dolly) that's also included by default has no real use whatsoever. It exists more to teach WordPress developers the very basics of creating plugins. As far as which you should install it really depends on the specifics of your site. For example a photographer's site would benefit from any of the image gallery plugins and an ecommerce site would benefit from one of the shopping cart plugins.

Plugins like themes come in free and paid varieties. The paid plugins should offer more support and be better coded, though that's not always true.

Usually when I need to do something more in WordPress my first step is to see if any plugins exist already. The WordPress plugin repository (Harold linked to it above), which can also be accessed via Plugins->Add New is usually the first place I look. If that doesn't work a general search in any search engine for the functionality you're looking for along with the words WordPress and plugin usually turn up some more.

You do have to keep in mind with plugins that they're generally written by independent developers so they can vary in quality. Sometimes it's good to seek out reviews of plugins before committing yourself to using one.

mattbeck
12-01-2010, 11:57 AM
Just thought I'd toss this in:

Try not to go crazy with plugins, 90 percent of WordPress problems are solved by removing faulty plugins or cutting down the number of installed plugins. Good ones can be insanely useful, but I wouldn't go hunting through them just to try a bunch out. If you have a problem that needs solving with the site (i.e. 'I really wish my site had flickr integration') plugins are the answer, but try not to overdo it.

Themes can duplicate plugin functionality, so once you settle on a theme, be careful switching it out. You're likely to find that some things that used to work a certain way don't anymore, or work differently.

If you make changes to the theme itself, try to use a child theme or at least rename the theme you are using (both the folder and the name in style.css) or you risk heartache when an update the the original theme get's pushed out.

vangogh
12-01-2010, 10:46 PM
Good point. There are a lot of plugins that could exist only to add a line or two of code, but because they're plugins they need to add much more code slowing things down and potentially having more errors. The hard part is most people wouldn't know how to add that line or two of code.

When adding plugins ask yourself if you really need the functionality. There are lots of plugins (and functionality in general) that sound great, but really don't add anything to your site. That's not to turn you away from plugins, but rather to make you think about what you really need to add to your site and not to overdo things because it's so easy to do.

Harold Mansfield
12-01-2010, 11:15 PM
A good example of VG's point is, on another thread I made comments about the placement of your social media icons and posted some code for you to use to display them a little more organized.
Now there are all kinds of plug ins that will do that with your social icons, which you already know how to do with a little code, so using a plug in to do the same thing would be a waste of resources.