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greenoak
05-30-2011, 05:36 PM
im thinking about wordpress and have a question.... whats a theme? and why should i bother....my site is old and working great....

billbenson
05-30-2011, 07:47 PM
Ann, since your old site is working well, there is not need to change. Having said that, to make a decision whether you should change at some time in the future, you should know something about wordpress.

My recommendation is to make a small hobby site with wp. Could be a site or blog. Spend 15 minutes a day on it several times a week for a couple of months and you will answer all your questions. You will probably learn a lot that could apply to your current site as well should you decide not to change.

You've been asking a lot of wordpress questions lately and the best way is to get your feet a little bit wet. By the way I'm talking about wordpress.org where you put the site on your own server.

greenoak
05-30-2011, 07:52 PM
thanks bill...if i do it , it wont be me...i will probably do what david suggested...hire someone to change us over with our our look
. whats a theme?
i would llike to understand the good parts about it before deciding...so far i figure it lets you move thngs around better....then someone mentioned theme...and that went right over my head....

Patrysha
05-30-2011, 07:56 PM
A theme is the set of files that comprise the look and layout of a Wordpress site. This is what you will be hiring your designer to create. There are also themes available that are not completely customized to you that are available for free and for pay.

TotalPC
05-30-2011, 09:06 PM
yeah, a theme is the whole design and layout for a wordpress blog. THere are literally hundreds of free themes floating around the net. Many of them are quite good. You can go with a different theme mainly to change the look of your blog, or to add features.

Some themes offer much clearer presentation and better usability. That would be the main reason to switch. Just browse through some of the themes online, you will probably find something that is well suited.

greenoak
05-30-2011, 10:00 PM
thanks....i like the look of my site..... but i thought some were discussing other reasons to make the change........

Spider
05-30-2011, 10:17 PM
Something that is not generally explained well by those "in the know" that took a bit of realizing for me is that a theme is more than just a particular layout that repeats from page to page. Because of the nature of CMS (content management systems) one can change the theme, and all one's past pages, blog posts, etc. immediately switch to the new theme. You can be creating content in a 'flowery' theme for months and then change the theme to a 'boxy' theme and instantly it is like you wrote all the past material in that new theme. One flick of a switch, and your 'bluesy' blog becomes a 'banana' blog, or your plain 'black and white' 2-column site becomes a colorful 'party' 3-column site.

All the web-developers in our midst are obviously going to recommend a self-hosted (on your own server) Wordpress site, and they have good reason for that. If you do not wish to delve into the depths of the system and wish to keep things super-simple, I would recommend a free Wordpress site (from Wordpress.com), at least to start with.

OTOH, I prefer the independent, non-systemized approach, but that's not for everyone.

greenoak
05-30-2011, 10:55 PM
thats where i am now, i assume.....
. i wouldnt even be thinking about this except that 2 people i really respect said it would be better....

billbenson
05-30-2011, 11:04 PM
Spider, I'm not on the "ann should use wordpress" bandwagon. However, she is considering it and if she decides to use it she will hand it over to her web designer if I understand her posts correctly.

I am, however, of the opinion that every single small business owner, manager for corporations, all the way to CEO's should be able to design a small hobby site and put it in the top ten in a Google search.

You can only delegate so far as a business manager or owner. Many large companies have poor websites. They could do so much to promote their business. But the web department is buried 5 layers below the president as a minor marketing function. Usually the marketing managers don't have a clue about web design, SEO, or where it should fit into the whole marketing package for their company.

The same is true for the small business person. How can you possibly manage a web designer, web advertising campaign etc when you know nothing about web design and web marketing?

So, in this case, I recommend ann to spend a little bit if time learning about wordpress so she can make an educated decision. The process of uploading a site via FTP, dealing with the control panel, registering a domain, not falling into scams and traps, and getting a site to rank on G will be an education that she would never regret. And get this, its free and at her own pace. Vangogh will probably even send her a diploma when she graduates :)

So my recommendation of wp.org instead of hosted on .com is because of the learning process. Getting it to place on google, something you should know if you want to monitor what your web designer is doing or for that matter someone doing adwords for you.

This is just plain a marketing course that everyone should take. You took it (except for the wordpress class). And the only reason I am suggesting the wordpress "class" is because it is what she is considering. It also doesn't require html or programming knowledge.

greenoak
05-31-2011, 07:04 AM
i hear you bill...im so busy and so not tekky...i cant even download pictures off my camera for facebook.....
....i guess im still at the is it worth it stage....the site is pretty good and in the top 5 on google for our main thing...indiana antiques....
still i hate to be behind in anything that would make our web presence better.... i could get this done .....
one thing i realize is that i can be hands on with most of facebook and the blogs....but i dont touch anything to do with the website.....

Spider
05-31-2011, 08:54 AM
... I am, however, of the opinion that every single small business owner, manager for corporations, all the way to CEO's should be able to design a small hobby site and put it in the top ten in a Google search. You can only delegate so far as a business manager or owner. Many large companies have poor websites. ..."Should" be able to, I agree. I would go further and say, "is" able to, but chooses not to. And why? -- Because they have figured out where their time is best spent. A CEO's time is not well spent doing things that hired people can do better.

It is incorrect to say that you can only delegate so far, if that means there is some limit as to how much one can delegate. Ann, like any capable CEO, chooses to spend her time where her time is most valuable - and a website is not the most valuable thing in a company like Ann's. It's different for a company that does it's business online, of course, and Ann does not do business online. Her business is very much face-to-face, personal association, touchy-feely. I think Ann would be ill-advised to spend any time on learning to build a website (except as a fun thing to do, if she were to find such stuff entertaining.)

I think Ann would gain much more for her business by spending more time schmoozing with customers than learning to build a website.

greenoak
05-31-2011, 09:36 AM
thats how i feel too spider..i would delegate this stuff....but i would never delegate networking with my best connections....
..plus i have so much behind the scenes work to do, getting everything to work right together....and getting all the big stuff on the floor right...and getting all the communication right....i would love to know all the how to s tho...
what bill is saying is just exactly what i hope my in house web person would experience....which wuold make us a lot better....
im so impressed wilth some blogs out there...that im sure arent what i have, a generic blogger template...with an added column....
so i take it a theme is kind of like a blogger template but it can move around from page to page..and has more features and possibilities..???

Spider
05-31-2011, 11:35 AM
A theme is only a fancy name for a template. A template might be considered fixed. A theme can be customized, and once customized, it is then a template. It can be re-customized at any time, and switched with another theme at any time, because the web page is constructed from its component parts (template, contents, comments, etc.) every time it is called by someone's browser.

billbenson
05-31-2011, 01:11 PM
My opinion, Ann, is to put it into your medium term strategy. Right now everything is working great for you so I see no need to change immediately. The saying "don't fix it if it ain't broke" kind of applies, but "don't get caught with your pants down also kind of applies...

greenoak
05-31-2011, 03:07 PM
dang...there are always 2 sides.....maybe we will start a hobby blog like you suggested ,just for fun......and take it slow...
thanks spider...that really made sense.....

tylerhutchinson
05-31-2011, 04:29 PM
A theme is a pre-designed layout to your blog or website. You can find some free or for a low cost. I bought mine for my site. It gave the color layout, the header, the drop downs, and the overall design. You can then go in and adjust everything as you would like (color, font, wording).

One note on wordpress is that it is limiting. Especially with pre designed Themes. For example my site is in wordpress. My banner with my company name and logo can only be a set size. So even though my banner goes across the entire top, the name and logo can only go about half way. Little things like that can quickly get frustrating.

I am in the middle of re-designing my website in another program all together (dreamweaver) to get out of wordpress. There is more I want to expand on my site that wordpress limits. Great for blogging, but for a company site I would suggest a different program.

billbenson
05-31-2011, 05:18 PM
One note on wordpress is that it is limiting. Especially with pre designed Themes. For example my site is in wordpress. My banner with my company name and logo can only be a set size. So even though my banner goes across the entire top, the name and logo can only go about half way. Little things like that can quickly get frustrating.



The header is just html. You should be able to do anything you want in either. There are things that you may not be able to do, but that shouldn't be one.

Patrysha
05-31-2011, 10:46 PM
One note on wordpress is that it is limiting. Especially with pre designed Themes.

Not true at all. Anything can be changed, adjusted and tweaked...no more limiting than a site coded straight without a cms.