Help Understanding the Website Developing Process

  • Resolved makorobbie

    (@makorobbie)


    1 year, 4 months ago

    Hi there!

    Background:

    I am looking to have some questions answered regarding the website development process with WordPress. I have for the past few years been a web developer and am very familiar with using HTML, CSS, Javascript etc. I have a client who uses WordPress as a CMS and is looking to revamp their site. At first I figured I could simply code the pages in HTML, CSS, etc. and upload them from there, but after doing some research, that does not seem to be how wordpress works. I’ve looked into developing Themes, but that seems to be more stylistic changes to the site as a whole (colour pallet and what not). I’ve also looked into developing Templates, and that seems a bit closer to what I’m looking for, but I’m still not sure if it allows for everything I need – like having javascript animations, or transitions.

    Question:

    How do website developers create highly customized content (that you couldn’t otherwise do with the block editors) for wordpress? And if there are any web developers on here I would love to hear about what your workflow looks like if you’re making customized websites for clients!

    Thank you!!

    • This topic was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by makorobbie. Reason: Specifying topic tags
    • This topic was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by makorobbie.
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  • Moderator bcworkz

    (@bcworkz)

    There are a number of factors that contribute towards a particular work flow. Whether you develop as a team or as a sole dev will strongly influence the work flow. Specific to WP dev, what do you need to accomplish? Developing a theme or plugin for wide distribution will be different than developing a one-off bespoke site. If a particular WP site’s theme is block based or a “classic” theme will make a difference in approach.

    If your goals are largely about unique style, layout, and appearance, you are looking at theme development. I recommend identifying a basic starter theme and building from there. If your goals are largely functional, you’re probably looking at plugin development. It’s possible to add functionality through a bespoke theme, but it’s preferable to keep style and function separate. There’s no reason you cannot develop both for one site.

    I’m usually the sole coder on a project. I generally do my development work offline in a local WP installation. It’s simply more convenient for me to not have to constantly upload revised files for testing. When it comes time to get feedback from others, the site will be migrated onto a staging site. Once all the parties involved approve of the new site, it’s moved to the production server and it goes live to the public.

    When the site is in staging, there will inevitably be more work to do. I generally do not deal with site content, only plugin and theme code, so it’s not important that my local site exactly reflects the staging content, as long as the theme and plugin code is the same. Thus I can still develop locally and only upload back to staging once my part is complete. Avoid getting into a situation where more than one version of the DB (i.e content) needs to be kept in sync. For example local and staging DBs.

    In case you’ve not encountered it yet, the WP Developer Portal will lead you to much of the WP resources you’ll need.

    Thread Starter makorobbie

    (@makorobbie)

    Hi bcworkz,

    Thank you for your reply, I will look into theme based development since the project is a bespoke site.

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