Use Wordpress As a CMS
Apr 5th, 07 | 11 remarks
If you followed along with the second post of this series, you’ve no doubt got your shiny new Wordpress installation set up and ready to customize as a Content Management System. Coolio. 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 always accessible as part of the main navigation. They’re used for displaying “static” information typically found on a website, such as about, contact, history, mission, etc. Conversely, posts are dynamically generated pages which will “fade”, or move down the blog chronology as new entries are made.
*Note: Technically, both Pages and posts are database-driven, and therefore dynamic, but for the purpose of this article and the intended use of Pages, think of them as static. If you already knew that, just pretend you’re still fascinated and we’ll move on. :)
Page Control
One of the ways I use Wordpress as a CMS is by way of custom templates. The kind of pages which can be added using template files that you define are virtually limitless. Say you want to showcase your Portfolio. You might need a layout vastly different from your default pages, especially if you’re displaying large photos on the page. The easiest way to accomplish this is to duplicate page.php, rename is to portfolio.php, and style it to fit the needs determined by your content. Finally, add the following to the top of your page, before any other code:
<?php/* Template Name: Portfolio */?>
FTP your new template and log in to your control panel. From within the Pages admin, create your page. I know this seems redundant, but Wordpress needs to reference it somehow. Add your content (if you havent’ already done so from within your HTML editor). Now you can assign it the Portfolio template using the drop-down selector on the right.
Post Control
Using the Loop, you also have extensive control over how and where your post information appears. You can create custom styles by category, by single post, or even by manual posting. For example, the index page of a typical WordPress site features the most recent post (or posts), ordered by date. If you only want certain entries to appear on your front page instead of the most recent one(s), you can specify this by modifying the Loop in the home.php page you created in part II of this series.
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.
This wraps up my first attempt at writing a guide for a custom Wordpress install, and my first series of any kind I might add. If you notice that I left anything out or completely botched something up, GOOD GRIEF let me know so I can make edits. Trying to remember my own feeble steps to installing and tweaking Wordpress for the purpose of this article was harder than I thought! :)
Thank you for these articles. I am new to WP, read a lot the codex and just needed some advices and examples to set up WP as a CMS. You really helped me a lot with these series of articles about Wordpress as a CMS.
Dec 11, 07 | 4:33 am[...] DesignAdaptations, Using WP as CMS and “Configure WordPress as a CMS“; see also “Potential of WP; Extending as a [...]
Dec 16, 07 | 10:34 pmYou’re quite welcome, and thanks for stopping in for a read. :)
Dec 18, 07 | 1:38 pm[...] Creating Custom Templates for Wordpress Charity at Design adaptations gives a step by step guide to creating template pages in Wordpress - “One of the ways I use Wordpress as a CMS is by way of custom templates. The kind of pages which can be added using template files that you define are virtually limitless. Say you want to showcase your Portfolio. You might need a layout vastly different from your default pages.” Charity has several other articles about using Wordpress including Configure Wordpress as a CMS. [...]
Dec 27, 07 | 11:17 pmThanks for clarifying the codex - its endless.
I have been using WordPress for some time but am about to embark on using it as a CMS for a client, your articles are making things a lot more straightforward,
Apr 20, 08 | 11:45 amCheers.
thanx for the info
Apr 28, 08 | 6:54 amusing it to create a static page for my blog
Currently i’m having confusion, i would like to make a blog,
Aug 2, 08 | 12:50 amwhich one i choose blogspot or wordpress?
I know themes and design wise wordpress is great choice,
But can u please let me now in view of seo which one is better from both these?
Regards,
DirectToIndia
Well I’m no SEO expert, but I’d recommend WordPress over Blogspot hands down, for a variety of other reasons. Flexibility for one thing. WordPress.com is limited in terms of how much you can tweak your blog, but not as much as Blogspot. And if you ever plan to move to a self-hosted solution, at least with WordPress your transition would be virtually seamless because you would already be familiar with the interface.
There is also a huge community surrounding WP where you can find support, and the developers behind the project release consistent updates which provide more and more functionality!
Aug 4, 08 | 8:44 amThank you for your suggestion, i will prefer now WP over Blogger.
Aug 5, 08 | 12:17 amI’m early in the process of building a 75 page site with Wordpress. When I started building out my pages I noticed that the Manage->Pages interface does not have ‘categories’ like Manage->Posts. My navigation is going to be custom/fixed so I don’t have to worry about articles/content fading over time. I also want my pages to have url.com/category/pagename which it doesn’t seem like Pages can do since there’s no category. Might I want to just use Posts for all my pages so I can categorize them?
Aug 15, 08 | 5:33 pmNever mind. As usual, a little more searching uncovered a plug-in the does exactly what I needed to to. : ) It’s called “Page Category Plus” and works like a charm. Supposedly not being rev’d but hopefully somebody picks up the reins, and if not a similar one will come along I’m sure.
Aug 15, 08 | 5:50 pm