What WordPress can do for me?

  • Hi,

    I am new to the blogging/podcasting world. The last time I coded HTML/CSS/Javascript was four or five years ago. I am out of the loop and looking for some help. I have found some information on my own but haven’t put all the pieces of the puzzle together yet. I like the WordPress info I have found thus far — I am a fan. I thought I would give you a brief overview of what it is I was trying to accomplish with my site, and maybe someone could help me to understand if WordPress would be capable of doing it. I spoke with someone at midphase.com about web hosting (from your recommendation) and they seem very nice too. I have seen other CMS options, but WordPress looks easy and friendly and pretty. I am also looking at drupal.org, because a friend recommended it — though it is confusing and scares me a little.

    I have been looking at the codex/wiki and some of the other information and a lot of my questions have been answered. However, I like to have a clear understanding of everything before I jump in — like to make a decision that works for me in the long run and what is the best option for me. Sorry this is long, and I appreciate all your time.

    So here we go: what I want from my website:

    I want to create a website to host the following: my blog (with different categories/genres), my podcast-audiobooks, and podcast-music-demos. I want users to be able to comment and also subscribe to my podcasts and blog via RSS feed. I would like the option of having categories/genres, so that a person can hit a link and be taken to a page with just audiobook content or just “general blog” content.

    I would like to have a start page, with the following content:

    Static snippet of information about the site, me, and what is available.
    Left and right sidebars (various content: links, maybe ads, etc)
    Recent blog/podcast/music postings from all “categories”, by date
    Ability to browse different categories of content (e.g., podcasting)
    Other various sidebar information (including: “about RSS feeds” and details about me and my work)

    From each separate content page, I would like to have:

    Static snippet of information about each particular piece of content (e.g., specific audiobook novel or music page information)
    blog entries chronologically ordered
    A simple sidebar with links to the content files (mp3s/audiobook)
    ability to subscribe to a particular content feed

    In addition, I wanted content management features such as being able to maintain a list of recent books I am reading and music I am listening to, that can be kept on a sidebar and also managed as a full list on a separate page. I don’t yet understand the best way to create the actual feeds that are read by RSS aggregators, however, I would love it if I didn’t have to code them each time I created a new post/podcast/song.

    Finally, I am not sure how customizable WordPress is — as I mentioned, I have a basic understanding of programming and I have learned quickly. I want something that is flexible and useable: like this website here.

    Thanks for your time, you can post here or if it is more appropriate email me at: [email protected]

    Thanks.

    Damon

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

  • WordPress will do most of what you want, though you’re (largely) on your own when it comes to styling your blog’s theme / layout.

    RSS feeds are automatically created when new posts are made, so that, at least, is one thing you won’t need to worry about.

    Reading lists, music lists, and other sequential data can be accomplished in several ways. You could use the Links_Manager to hold each item as a link; or you could use regular posts for these items and display them as Asides.

    Static content is usually best stored in Pages.

    The bulk of the challenge that most people experience with WordPress is getting it to look right. The functionality exists for basically everything you want.

    Thread Starter thornomad

    (@thornomad)

    Hello Skippy,

    Thank you for your suggestions. I read through the PAGES tutorial and it sounds like I could create static elements (for example, the first paragraph of a page) while including dynamic elements as well (which is what I would want).

    Asides sound very interesting (a little like “includes”, I guess). Have been spending more time in the wiki — I think I will have to go for it to finally understand a lot of what is meant. It is hard to imagine without actually being able to play with it.

    Is the customization of the WordPress layout and look done through CSS and PHP coding ? Or is it point and click, drag and drop ? Or a bit of both ? I have some experience with CSS in the past but would have to get the old book back out.

    And, though I did not read it, does WordPress create seperate feeds for each blog category ?

    Thanks again … this will be a good long process I am sure. More reading for me on the wiki!

    Damon

    Is the customization of the WordPress layout and look done through CSS and PHP coding ? Or is it point and click, drag and drop ?
    CSS, PHP. No point and click, drag and drop, here; though there may be a theme that will let you customize the theme thru options panel.

    And, though I did not read it, does WordPress create seperate feeds for each blog category?
    WP pretty much provides feed for everything. You need to append “/feed” if you use permalink or “&feed=rss2”

    E.g.,
    https://example.net/category/music/feed (with permalink)
    https://example.net/?cat=2&feed=rss2 (w/o permalink)

    p.s. look up permalink in codex

    Thread Starter thornomad

    (@thornomad)

    Thanks,

    Is there a good book to read about PHP ? I have an older version of O’Rielly’s CSS “definitive guide.”

    Is this posting maintained by WordPress ?

    D

    There are people who would say WP is not PHP:
    https://mattread.com/archives/2005/04/wordpress-is-not-php/

    “By “this posting” you mean this forum? It is bbpress >
    https://bbpress.org/

    Thread Starter thornomad

    (@thornomad)

    Ah … very neat. BBPress seems to work well here. Smile.

    Thanks for your input. I think i will have to get the stuff up and running on a server and start playing with it before I come up with some more specific questions.

    Thread Starter thornomad

    (@thornomad)

    When one is making new template files (for specific categories or pages) is that done outside of the WordPress admin screen ? That is: are we creating our own .php files and then uploading them via FTP to the server to make them available ?

    Are all the “theme” and “template” files created this way ?

    Thank you!!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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