If you followed along with my article on configuring WordPress as a CMS, you’ve no doubt got your shiny new WordPress installation set up and ready to customize. Before we dive in to using your setup as a CMS, let’s cover some basics.

There are two means of displaying content with WordPress – Pages and posts. Pages operate outside the the Loop. In other words, they don’t age and they’re usually accessible as part of the main navigation. They’re used for displaying static information such as a contact form, bio, services, etc. Conversely, posts are dynamic pages which will “age”, or move down the blog chronology as new entries are made.

Page Control

The number and type of pages which can be added using custom templates is virtually limitless. Say you want to showcase your Portfolio. You might need a layout vastly different from your standard pages, especially if you’ll be displaying large images. The easiest way to accomplish this is to duplicate page.php, rename it to portfolio.php, and style to fit the needs of your content. Finally, add the following to the top of your page (before any other code):

1

<?php

1	/* Template Name: Portfolio */

1

?>

FTP your new template and log in to your control panel. From within the Pages admin panel, create your page. I know this seems redundant, but WordPress needs to reference it somehow. Add your content (either from within your HTML editor, or via the Write box within WordPress) and assign the page to the ‘Portfolio’ template using the drop-down selector on the right.

Post Control

Using the Loop, you have extensive control over how and where your posts appear. You can create custom styles by category, single post, or even by manual posting. For example, the index page of a typical WordPress site features the most recent post(s), ordered by date. If you want only certain entries to appear on the front page, you can specify this by modifying the Loop in the home.php or index.php file.

Further Considerations

• Comment Control – for every forum, blog or community portal, there needs to be a way to moderate. In time, you may need to employ the use of some comment moderation and/or anti-spam tools.
• User Management – User roles may not be a consideration for you yet, but if you ever plan to have multiple authors or users, you’ll have to implement some restrictions.

Well this wraps up my first attempt at writing a custom Wordpress installation guide. :) If you notice that I left anything out or completely botched something up, please let me know so I can make corrections!