How does WordPress work with existing domain/host?

  • I apologize in advance for the infantile newbie question…

    I’m completely new to WP and am just trying to understand. My basic question is, how does wordpress work with an existing domain and website host?

    There’s so much information on these forums and it seems like an impossible task to wade through all of it to find what I’m looking for.

    Here’s the nature of the reason for my question. I created a simple website many years ago with Dreamweaver that I continue to use and maintain. It’s a site to showcase some of my photography. Since mobile devices are becoming more popular and my website is not responsive, I am thinking about recreating the entire website so that it is responsive to mobile screens. The problem is that I’m obviously not a coder and I simply used templates and the GUI of Dreamweaver to create my site.

    It was suggested to me that I build the site with WP using a responsive template. That’s all well and good, but I’d like to retain my basic domain https://www.buckeyestargazer.net and website host.

    Does WP just function as a typical website builder that I can create the site and then upload via FTP to my host? I get the impression that’s not quite right.

    Again, I know these basic questions must be frustrating to people that know what they’re doing. I do really appreciate any help and direction people can give me.

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  • Does WP just function as a typical website builder that I can create the site and then upload via FTP to my host? I get the impression that’s not quite right.

    No, WP is not a website “builder” however, WP is very easy to install and use. The real question is, do you want it to look the same as your old site? If the answer is yes then you will need to manually copy the template. If you are unfamiliar with doing that sort of thing you might want to get a web developer to do it for you.
    If you want a new template there are many out there to choose from as well.
    Simply install WordPress on your server and upload your finished template and activate it.

    Thread Starter joelshort

    (@joelshort)

    Thanks for the reply. I don’t mind if the website looks a little different and I assumed that I would use a new WP template. I also assume that changing aspects of the template to customize the look would be possible.

    “Simply install WordPress on your server”
    This is the part that trips me up I guess. Is WP something I need to simply upload to my server via FTP, or do I need to “install” something on the server?

    Another question, will installing wordpress on the server cause the current website to disappear?

    Thread Starter joelshort

    (@joelshort)

    OK so I think I understand a little better having downloaded the instal package from www.remarpro.com I get that this package is uploaded to the server and then accessed through an admin page in a browser. So my only other question is what happens to the existing site? Is there a way that I can keep the existing site live while I build the new one with wordpress on the same host?

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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