Is this architecture possible with WP?

  • Ok guys, I need some help. I’m in the process of completely redoing Ocean.US <https://www.ocean.us&gt; and it’s a huge mess (if not already apparent). I’m scrapping everything, the frontend/backend/architecture, nothing is setup in a logical manner. I’m moving the entire system to an Apache/PHP/MySQL backend.
    But here’s where I need help, how do I organize this site which is a bunch (roughly 80-200) static files with an equal amount of Word and PDF documents but at the same time allow them to update the site, like change text, or upload a file and link to it, basic maintenance stuff?
    Is it possible in WP to mimic the Ocean.US site as it is now, with links and static content, but allow users to login and edit these static pages? I could then allow the users to FTP documents in and edit the toolbar for editing content to have an extra option for linking to documents. This could work very well but I’m not sure if it is all possible, since I’m fairly new to WP (but not new to PHP or XHTML+CSS design).
    Any other ideas? I haven’t really built a site of this size and structure before and would like to approach this in the best possible way for maintenance on their part and ease on my part. XHTML1.0 Strict is a must so that will help considerably in seperating content/design, all I need is a solid architecture to back me up.
    Thanks!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

  • I believe you can build a static template that gives you the look you want for every page as it would appear when you call up your wordpress.index.php file. Then add your links, categories etc. when you login as administrator. You would provide the “look’ in wp-layout.css and index.php. Then I believe you would have to convert your static content in “Write” page edit window. You would be able to copy and paste your html but most likely it wouldn’t validate. So you’ll have to redo alot of the code. This can be done easily with the quicktags and some plugins.
    I have edited the quicktags.js file on my site to do just that. I’ve added many new quicktags to make coding easier anywhere from changing type face, color, highlights, bullets, etc. to adding photos, lines, links and so on.
    I think you’ll have to be as simple as possible for your users and give them specific directions as to how the quicktags work. I am also working on adding icons and mouse over screen helps for the quicktag functions.
    It would also help to be able to outline on paper just exactly what the template is, what the links you add will be, categories, colors, and user options.
    I hope this helps give you some direction or at least some options.
    Randy

    In addition, you’ll probably want to take out some of the code in the index.php file making it look more like a static web page rather than a blog page.
    I would also suggest not doing everything with WP. I don’t think it’s needed. You could use links to some static pages but make sure they view correctly in different browsers and they are built in pixel dimesions and not percentage dimensions.
    Also consider the home page to be static html considering search engines.
    Randy

    Thread Starter m3avrck

    (@m3avrck)

    Yeah I was thinking hacking WP might be more effort. My other idea is to just create either a hiearchy of folders/files for this content or store it in a database, in a simple table, with content ID, title, and text of page and then just have my master index.php grab the page it needs and put this in the middle of a header/footer/menu code.
    And then make an easy “edit this page” link when logged in takes the user to a simple textarea field to edit the content, using a great Text Editor: https://www.fckeditor.net/ … seems like this might work best?
    Btw, any thoughts on including FCK Editor into WP? Could be a great plugin and make blogging even easier for non-techies.

    Simple is better especially when you have many users and different browsers. Otherwise you’ll have to support their many questions with your TIME.
    I think it makes sense using a simple text editor that has a “Word” like GUI, something most computer users are familiar with and then have the output nestled between your header and footer.
    If you want to stay with WP, check out this plugin recently being used with WP. I haven’t had any personal experience with it yet because of time but seems to be OK with other folks.
    https://mudbomb.com/archives/2004/05/29/wysiwyg-hack-for-wordpress/
    But any ways, I believe you’ll have greater and faster success using what you’re familiar with, building an html template to use for all your other pages, using php includes and then providing a simple interface for your users that’s tied into a SQL database.
    WP is great but I still have a few doubts about using it to support the validation of my entire site especially in the real world of multiple browser users.
    I hope this helps.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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