Transfer Design of old html site to new WP dummy site?

  • Hi Everyone. I design my own sites. My degree was in digital media but I work as a dog trainer. My old simple html site (approximately 10 pages) that I designed using straight html with text edit on a mac (never used Front Page, Dreamweaver, etc. Taught in school to do all programming with basic html) is https://www.adriennecaldwell.com

    My reason for wanting to switch over to WP is social media sharing capabilities and blogging. The new test site is https://www.holisticdogtrainer.com

    I am lost here. I know html and that’s it. I don’t want a theme. I want the new site (holisticdogtrainer.com) to look exactly like the old (adriennecaldwell.com).

    Supposedly one recommended start is to delete the current “hello world” page on WP and I can’t even figure out how to do that. Any advice where to start? Supposedly its a tough transition for those who are used to html upload from their own computer rather than through a program. I am used to total design control.

    Thanks. Hope my question is specific enough.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

  • Sounds like me. I started out in WordPress 6 years ago, so badly wanting total control of every pixel on every page of my site that I built my own “Do Nothing” theme to let me do that. It was pretty horrible, as Themes go, so I’m not suggesting that to you.

    Unless you decide to “buy into” the Theme-oriented approach of WordPress, you are probably better off having a mixed site, in my opinion. Back in the days when WordPress was “just for Blogging”, lots of sites just installed WordPress in a folder called (for example) “/blog/” and continued to do the rest of the site, including the home page at Site Root, as they had previously, with hand-crafted HTML.

    By the way, a few years back, I actually saw a Theme that did what I tried to do 6 years ago: give me full control of every pixel.

    Thread Starter adriennecaldwell

    (@adriennecaldwell)

    Thank you Jon. It helps to know I’m not the only one. I would do the mixed but html doesn’t give you the social media sharing capabilities that wordpress does.

    By “buy into” do you mean pay a monthly fee for more design options or you mean adapt to the theme approach? Do you know a theme that has a minimalist style.

    Thanks for your help.

    Yes, I meant adapting to the Theme approach.

    I’ll see what I can find to give you complete control of the screen real estate.

    OK, it appears as if the search keyword is “Naked”. I googled “naked wordpress theme”, and will suggest that you do, too, if you can’t find just what you want from the links below:
    https://www.ads-software.com/themes/blankslate
    https://code.google.com/p/wordpress-naked/
    https://naked-wordpress.bckmn.com/
    https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/the-naked-wordpress-theme-a-crash-course-for-designers/

    I was checking my own files and see that I used an entirely different approach in the last year. I built a plugin (not good enough to release into the Plugins Directory) that overrides one or more pages by catching WordPress before it has output any HTML (the “wp” Action hook) and then doing a PHP require() on the HTML file, then a PHP exit. Not sure that would do what you want.

    Thread Starter adriennecaldwell

    (@adriennecaldwell)

    Thanks Jon. The last two links look promising and just what I was looking for. I need to get up and running with the advantages of wordpress but it can’t wait until I actually learn wordpress. Plus with me its always easier to do things the more complicated way. I can more easily learn a whole new programming language than how to work with the limitations of an application.

    Thanks again. I’ll keep you posted.

    Adrienne

    Thread Starter adriennecaldwell

    (@adriennecaldwell)

    I’m lost here. I installed the naked theme and don’t know where to go from there. I need to get something up and running for a blog re dogs available for adoption. I think I better just stick to the html site as thier lives depend on this. It just is not user friendly. I hate it. I need to figure out how to make each dog listed on the html page sharable to various social media. That sounds easier than trying to figure out wordpress.

    I’m not going to be any help either as I’ve never done the social media stuff. I think you either have to do it the same way you would in HTML or use a plugin to simplify it for you.

    WordPress is a Core software with specific functionality, which Themes and Plugins and your own code can expand upon. Non-Core functionality often requires significant time and a learning curve, typically including learning PHP.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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