Is my project wordpress viable? Help please :)

  • Hi there,

    Background: I currently only really use rapidweaver but my new project appears to exceed the capabilities of that program. I have worked with various website development programs over the years including some CMC’s but mainly only as a user not anything more involved. No experience at all with wordpress yet. I would dearly like some help determine if wordpress is the better way for me to go and how to do so.

    Project: My project is for a sporting club that had various clubs within it. From time to time this club holds games over a variety of different disciplines and events so the new site would need to list those events for members to click on and pay the registration for each event they choose to participate in. This means that the site must have the capability to process visa card payments and provide immediate payment verification plus email invoices. I would also need notification of each registration to track each event.

    Ideally the site would somehow self populate a list to show who has paid for each event so at any time I can track the progress and I issue event coordinators/marshalls with this list so they know who is authorised to compete so that no freeloaders jump in. At first glance a simple shopping art wouldn’t suffice but i could be wrong.

    At the same time this site must provide a professional/corporate theme to deliver a moderate amount of information and gallery photos. I am a graphic designer so I have no problem making it look pretty once the theme has been chosen and already has the ability to look ‘pretty’.

    So that’s it in a nutshell. Does wordpress seem to be a good fit for this project? Are there plugins or something that’s already spring to anybodies mind that would address my registration and payment needs?

    Any assistance at all would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you.
    Steamed

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

  • Yes, that’s quite doable in WordPress – this plugin looks like it can do everything you want – if not, there are other event plugins – try searching on the plugins page:

    https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/events-manager/

    There are lots of great themes here:

    https://www.ads-software.com/extend/themes/

    Thread Starter Steamed

    (@steamed)

    Thanks very much WPyogi, I really appreciate your feedback and that’s great that wordpress seems like a good fit for my project…. even better that there is a plugin that suits my needs also… whew. Load off my mind there to be brutally honest. I literally don’t know where to go to find anything, and i don’t really know what to look for anyway. Sounds dumb but it’s true.

    I’ve been reading all day about wordpress to get my head around it but the three things that stick in my mind are:

    1. the learning curve considering i need this project completed within a month, &
    2. I read that many plugins don’t match up and end up conflicting when you put them together. Is it fairly safe to say though that if i buy a premium theme an only add one or two necessary plugins then i’m probably pretty safe?
    3. what visa transaction plugin / addon do I use that would integrate with the events function or at least that it wouldn’t conflict with it. The more automated the better.

    Thanks again for all of your assistance. ??

    Yeah, the learning curve can be a bit rocky at first – but it really depends on you – experience with HTML/CSS helps a lot; any JavaScript/PHP helps too but less necessary unless you are getting into a lot of custom coding; “comfort” with technology/servers; ability to learn new tech stuff, time, effort… (Probably not telling you anything you have not already surmised :).)

    And yes, plugins CAN be problematic (or worse) but if you stick to plugins from the repository on this site and make sure that the ones you use are compatible with current WP, have lots of downloads and active support by the developer, you’re much less likely to have issues. You can see all that info from the plugins page. Also look at the reviews page – though, as always, those can be rather subjective so take em with a grain of salt…

    Commercial themes really are not necessarily better, in fact, some can be more complicated and sometimes harder to use. One important factor there is that these forums only support the themes available on this site and no commercial themes – so if you buy any, make sure it’s supported well. Even though you are short on time, I’d really suggest you at least start out with a free theme – do a bit with it and see how WP works, and then IF you decide to look for a commercial theme, you’ll have a better idea of what you want.

    One other thing about themes is that some have many more built in options which means it’s more easily customizable – this one https://www.ads-software.com/extend/themes/suffusion is like that – MANY options and GREAT support by the developer on his own dedicated forums: https://aquoid.com/news/themes/suffusion/ The default theme, twentytwelve is also really nice and clean.

    But there are a lot of other really nice themes too – just poke around and see what you like.

    Another thing you probably want in a theme these days is “responsiveness” – which means it will work on various size devices automatically. More and more do that…

    Before you start making changes, I’d also recommend making a child theme from your theme – that enables you to make changes to theme files (if you need to) — and not lose them when the theme is updated. Best to do that before you get started on the work – so you don’t end up having to do it over…

    https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Child_Themes

    And of course, if you need help and are using a theme from here, just post a thread and someone can likely help you out :)!

    Thread Starter Steamed

    (@steamed)

    Ok that all sounds great, thanks again for all of that info. I appreciate it.

    In regards to the child theme, i’ve read the information at https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Child_Themes but i still don’t really see the need for going and doing that – except as a back up in case I modify and screw up the parent theme somehow (perhaps I’m wrong there too but am I on the right track?) I’m trying to cram so much info right now so i’m probably missing heaps.

    Say for example I wanted to purchase and use this theme https://cosmox.ozythemes.com/#
    and if I wanted it to look basically the same as they have it in the demo site… how does the demo actually come when I download it? Is it really bare like the twentytwelve theme, basically waiting for me to make it look like an actual site using html and css? or does it come looking like the demo and I just have to go into the cpanel and organise what I want where and add images and text etc? how much html or CSS would I have to add to a standard downloaded theme like the one I’ve link above? if it requires a fair bit of html or CSS I’m in real trouble ??

    Sorry to ask what I know must sound like super dumb questions but i can’t actually find that answers anywhere.

    Steamed

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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