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WordPress

robertm
robertm
13,570 Points
Posted by robertm
robertm
13,570 Points

Static site to CMS Question

Hi all, Let's say I have a static site that has a Slideshow gallery with thumbnails that are clickable. How would I go about putting that into a CMS for example Wordpress? Or do you generally just try to find a plugin that already exists that is similar?

I'm just confused on how I would update things like Slideshows, Tabs, Accordions that were on a static site converting to a cms.

Help and guidance would be greatly appreciated :)

Thanks, Rob

2 Answers

eck
eck
43,038 Points

Are you creating your WP theme or downloading one? If you are creating it yourself, you can probably use very similar code to what is on the static site to create you slideshows. If you are using another theme that, and it does not already have built a in slideshow, plugins are probably your best option.

Even if you are creating your own theme from scratch, a plugin is still probably the simplest solution.

For things like tabs and accordions, if they are not already part of your theme, you will want a plugin that gives you access to shortcodes that allow the creation of the modules you desire (I have not used it, but this plugin might be good).

There is a lot to learn when it comes to bending WordPress to your will, but there is also a lot of good information online that can help answer many of your questions :D

Baruch Velez
Baruch Velez
275 Points
Baruch Velez
Baruch Velez
275 Points

With WordPress you can have different templates for different pages all based on the same theme. So, for example, you have your landing page and your single page look similar, but you want to add a slideshow to your landing page, you can do this creating a new template and activating it on your landing (main) page. Here's is a more in depth explanation on how you can use Page Templates. http://codex.wordpress.org/Page_Templates

Hope this helps.

robertm
robertm
13,570 Points
robertm
robertm
13,570 Points

That sort of helps, but I still don't understand how I would update a slideshow image or something through Wordpress using my own coded slideshow for example. Or is that actual plugin development to get a visual way of updating images instead of seeing code?

Baruch Velez
Baruch Velez
275 Points

You can go into the Appearance > Editor and this will allow you to edit any file in your theme's directory. Of course the best way to do this would be with a plug-in, but then you will have other issues likes site load speed, mobile-ready design, SEO images, things of that nature.