iWeb user overwhelmed – need advice

  • Hi there,
    I am new to WP as I have only ever used iWeb. I have read lots of info on here and am now totally overwhelmed and not sure if I will have the skills to use WP.
    I need to rebuild an iWeb site which is a quite basic 5 pages, inc. photo gallery, but using my own pics and logos. I need to have a page that another user can log into and update regularly with new photos and some text.
    1) Do I need to create a child theme or can I customise an existing theme?
    2) The themes all seem to have blog pages and I just want static pages mostly. (except maybe one for the new user page)
    3) Will a plugin work for the page my other user needs to update?
    4) Can I incorporate a Google map and hit counter?
    5) Do you think that someone with little experience like me can achieve all of this with alot of patience and some help?

    Maybe there is another iWeb user out there that has made the transition and can give advice on how possible this is.
    Thanks for any help.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • I recently switched from using iWeb. You’re right, the two systems are very different. I recommend hanging in there, it’s worth the effort.

    WP creates blogs by default. Yes, you need Static Pages. Look for instruction on Pages, such as https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Pages

    There are settings to make the first page a static page. Then add more Pages, not Posts. In each Page, do the “quick edit” and look for Allow Comments, and uncheck. You can ultimately eliminate the Post page and the “Leave a comment” forms. It may take some reading and experimentation.

    I’m now starting to see that having Posts may not be the worst thing, but initially it is daunting that WP is so strongly geared towards blogging (for a non blogger). It took me a couple of weeks to set up a site, and frankly I learned a lot from lynda.com. It’s not free but their “wordpress 3 essential training” series is excellent. Worth the small sum. (I realize I’m plugging another company, but frankly it allowed me to use this software quickly.)

    Learning how to do some simple customization via child themes was worth the effort. For example, if you want to eliminate the page’s title from sitting in the middle of your page (in a large header, no less), that requires some simple customization. I think the items you mentioned can be done with either child theme customization or by using plugins.

    So I’d say yes – with some patience you can build what you want.

    Thread Starter laragh

    (@laragh)

    Hi there,
    Thanks so much for your reply. I feel a bit more confident now.

    I’ve taken a look at the lynda.com site and it looks great. I think
    that the WP instructions for a beginner on the basic usage of the software is quite difficult to understand. Videos are so much better.

    I’m still confused about how customisable a theme is though, as some allow a user to change the backgroung and insert logos. If this all disappears when you update a site then why allow this option at all? Is it better to create a child theme is you want to change anything about the theme except the copy?
    Thanks

    All of your content is stored in a database behind the scenes, so it will be preserved as you try out different themes. The themes all have slightly different pieces, and changing themes may move things around, but your content should all be there. It’s tempting to try to build the whole site at once, since that’s possible with iWeb. I found it better to make a small site with a few pages and then experiment.

    There are unlimited options in customizing with the themes and playing with style sheets and html. Lynda.com has a series on building child themes and the examples given are simple to do. Then it’s a matter of wandering through the internet to get ideas and read what other people are doing.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • The topic ‘iWeb user overwhelmed – need advice’ is closed to new replies.

Tags