# Questions about Wordpress



## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

I have in the past, built some websites using Frontpage 2003. I still maintain these sites and so still have and use Frontpage for this reason......but now I am being asked to help with a website that will be coming out in two weeks (for the Virginia Horse Council) and this new website is being built with Wordpress, which I've never used. Actually, I had thought Wordpress was more of a blogger's tool than something used to build and maintain websites, so I'm not at all familiar with it.

So, my questions are:

Will Frontpage be compatible for editing a website built with Wordpress (so I don't have to learn a new program, lol)?

If it is not compatible......is Wordpress substantially different from Frontpage and how difficult/different would it be to learn and use? 

If I downloaded and installed Wordpress, would I be able to use that to edit/maintain my other websites that were built with Frontpage?


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## dukevyner (Nov 4, 2011)

im not sure if frontpage can edit php files(it should) but if so you should be fine


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

I would suggest ditching FrontPage and learning WordPress. In WordPress, you use CSS *extensively* for styling the page and do little on the HTML "side". You'll spend the bulk of your time creating a WordPress theme, if you want the WordPress-based site to have a custom look to it. Of course, there are plenty of pre-made WordPress themes you can easily install. Some themes are free and some are commercial.

I believe current WordPress "engines" serve HTML5, so you should get familiar with that so you can best support the site if any HTML issues arise.

Once you wrap your brain around the concept of keeping the styling of the content separate from the actual content, things in WordPress can get easier. Of course, you can cram outdated HTML into WordPress and it will serve it up but doing so can lead to issues in the future as you want to add "widgets" to your site and they won't integrate properly, due to the outdated HTML on the page.

If you're not familiar with CSS, I would suggest getting more familiar with that since you'll be using that to control the look of the site.

Lastly, you'll do most of the site modification using the WordPress interface, which is web-based. You can easily create pages, edit the style sheet(s), and edit the raw PHP files, if necessary.

Peace...


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

heck, even use wordpress.com. That's what I use, easily as fool-proof as frontpage, but you don't have the ability (I believe) to own your own domain.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

valis said:


> but you don't have the ability (I believe) to own your own domain.


Actually, you can! There might be a small cost involved, but it's possible. 

Peace...


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

did not know that......but no worries, when I get my own domain, it will actually be MY own domain.


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

> I would suggest ditching FrontPage and learning WordPress. In WordPress, you use CSS extensively for styling the page and do little on the HTML "side". You'll spend the bulk of your time creating a WordPress theme, if you want the WordPress-based site to have a custom look to it. Of course, there are plenty of pre-made WordPress themes you can easily install. Some themes are free and some are commercial.


The site is already being created by a design company. I will just be helping to maintain it and add or remove content as the need arises.



> If you're not familiar with CSS, I would suggest getting more familiar with that since you'll be using that to control the look of the site.


They told us it was CMS.......and I think it says something to that effect on the Wordpress website, too.



> heck, even use wordpress.com. That's what I use, easily as fool-proof as frontpage, but you don't have the ability (I believe) to own your own domain.


Don't know what that is, but this new site has it's own domain and has a host. It is simply replacing the website that is currently there.



> im not sure if frontpage can edit php files(it should) but if so you should be fine


Yes, it can/does.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

LauraMJ said:


> They told us it was CMS.......and I think it says something to that effect on the Wordpress website, too.


WordPress can serve as a "Content Management System" (CMS) or sorts because the actual content is stored in a database. If the design company is designing the site IN WordPress, from the start, then you're set. All you need to do is learn the WordPress interface and how to access the various parts of the site.

If you have your own website, you can do a WordPress installation yourself or I can help you have access to a WordPress installation you can tinker with to get familiar with how WordPress works, from an administration perspective.  If you want to do this, send me a PM.

Peace...


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

valis said:


> did not know that......but no worries, when I get my own domain, it will actually be MY own domain.


Cool. I registered my domain back in 2010.  There's not much there right now but I use it for testing, etc. 

Peace...


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

I've got a few good ideas for names....and no, I'm not worried that they will be taken. Seems I have a knack for making memorable quotes.


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

> WordPress can serve as a "Content Management System" (CMS) or sorts because the actual content is stored in a database. If the design company is designing the site IN WordPress, from the start, then you're set.


Yes, that's my understanding.


> All you need to do is learn the WordPress interface and how to access the various parts of the site.


Lovely. *sigh*



> If you have your own website, you can do a WordPress installation yourself or I can help you have access to a WordPress installation you can tinker with to get familiar with how WordPress works, from an administration perspective. If you want to do this, send me a PM.


Yes, I have several.....though my personal one is here: www.wildwoodfarmva.com

Might be better if I first tinker around with one that someone else can fix if I completely screw it up, though.  I'll PM you. 

However, .......before we go any further.......will WP work with sites already constructed using FrontPage? AND.....is it pretty much impossible for me to edit a website built in WP with FrontPage?

I've only got two weeks until this new site design rolls out.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

LauraMJ said:


> However, .......before we go any further.......will WP work with sites already constructed using FrontPage? AND.....is it pretty much impossible for me to edit a website built in WP with FrontPage?


Ok, here's a "quick & dirty" explanation:

HTML is a markup language. The point of a markup language is to describe the *kinds* of content in the document and let the software that renders that document deal with the presentation of that content. The main point here is: *content is separate from presentation*. So, if the content is separate from the presentation of it, how do you control how the content is presented? Through style rules. That's where CSS comes in.

So, this is basically "bad" coding:

```
<p><font style="Arial" size="3">This text is in Arial font, size "3" (whatever size that is)</font></p>
<p><font style="Arial">This text is in Arial font, but in a different size because I forgot the "size" attribute.  Doh!</font></p>
```
It's bad because the font used to display the content (the sentences) is directly embedded with the content, itself which violates the "content is separate from presentation" concept. It's repetitive (the tags), which leads to unnecessary "bloat" in the size of the HTML page which leads to longer page load times since there's simply more data to transfer AND more HTML tags to be parsed, etc. It can lead to inconsistency if one isn't careful in how they code the "presentation tags" (, in my example).

Here is "good" coding:

```
<p>This text is in Arial font and whatever size the style rules dictate</p>
<p>This text is in Arial font and the SAME SIZE as the previous paragraph, for consistency.</p>
```
Then, the style rule might be:

```
p { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; }
```
This is "good" because it keeps the HTML clean and the actual content CLEARLY and EASILY identifiable. The content can be easily edited and WITHOUT breaking the presentation, at least most of the time.  The content is presented in a consistent manner throughout the site. If an adjustment to the CONTENT needs to be made, the PRESENTATION of it doesn't necessarily need to be changed or touched. If an adjustment to the PRESENTATION of the content needs to be made, the content ITSELF remains untouched.

The above isn't meant to be absolute and the concept of separating content from the presentation of that content can be explored in another thread here or in a Library article or something.

Moving to WordPress. WordPress uses the "separate content from presentation" concept extensively. Since it's primary use is for blogging, WordPress basically HAS to keep the content separate from the presentation of it, otherwise bloggers would need to be HTML experts and that's usually not the case. WordPress uses CSS to control the presentation of the content, including themes. If you want to change how certain kinds of content is displayed on a given page, you'll probably need to edit a style sheet appropriately.

I don't know if or how well FrontPage supports CSS. You CAN put "raw" HTML into pages that WordPress will serve to visitors, it will work but could be problematic if that HTML somehow conflicts with what WordPress wants to generate. Remember, EVERY page served to visitors by WordPress is generated. There isn't a "static HTML file" that WordPress will simply send out. It will use PHP scripts and its database to generate the page that gets shown.

Your current workflow is probably to make edits to static HTML pages in FrontPage, save the changes to a static HTML file, and upload the modified file to a web server somehow, either using FrontPage itself or an external FTP application.

With WordPress, most content changes would be made WITHIN WordPress, itself, and you can preview them. Once you're happy, you "publish" the changes and they become available to everyone. WordPress also has a history of each page stored, so you can revert to older versions of pages as necessary.

I believe there is a WordPress plug-in/add-on/widget that supports editing content in Microsoft Word (and probably other word processors). I experimented with one while working on a WordPress site for a client. The idea was they would edit the page content in Word and use copy/paste to transfer that content to WordPress. This way, they wouldn't need to know ANY HTML at all, yet the WordPress CSS rules would apply.

For example, you create a Word document and you enter a title of the document, say "This is a title". Then, you hightlight that text and make it a "Heading1" styled text. The font size changes and other stuff happens. When you copied that and pasted it into the WordPress editor, the "Heading1" styled text would be AUTOMATICALLY converted into a HTML 
* element and the 
 style rules would then apply to that text and the user wouldn't have to do anything and wouldn't need to know what a HTML 
 element even was.

So, if it was a requirement that you use existing HTML from FrontPage directly in the WordPress pages, you certainly could do that. However, you risk possible page rendering issues based on incompatibilities with what WordPress generates and the HTML you inserted. Keep in mind, current WordPress engines generate HTML5 code and if the FrontPage HTML isn't HTML5 compliant, strange things can happen.

My advice is to wrap your brain around the "content is separate from presentation" concept and that should make working with WordPress easier. You might not like the editors it supplies, but that's a separate issue. 

Hope that helps! If you have more questions, post them. One last thing, NONE of what I wrote above is absolute. If you, or anyone else, wants to further explore the "content is separate from presentation" concept we should do that in another thread or maybe create a TSG Library article. 

Peace...*


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

Thanks so much! I guess one of my main concerns is that I really don't want to end up using two editors for different sites. However, the existing sites I maintain were done with Frontpage, ......which I know is a dinosaur and I really need to get with the times.  So, if I learn Wordpress (which I guess I need to because of this new site coming) then I would like to be able to use it with the other sites done in FP. .....with that Word add on,.....this should be doable, then?

And if "really strange things" happen......you could help me get it sorted out so I can have all my sites compatible with Wordpress?


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

LauraMJ said:


> Thanks so much! I guess one of my main concerns is that I really don't want to end up using two editors for different sites. However, the existing sites I maintain were done with Frontpage, ......which I know is a dinosaur and I really need to get with the times.  So, if I learn Wordpress (which I guess I need to because of this new site coming) then I would like to be able to use it with the other sites done in FP. .....with that Word add on,.....this should be doable, then?
> 
> And if "really strange things" happen......you could help me get it sorted out so I can have all my sites compatible with Wordpress?


I understand the position you're in. Depending on the kind of HTML code you would be bringing over to WordPress, you could probably be able to continue using FrontPage. If the VML code FrontPage generates is what we're talking about, I HIGHLY suggest NOT using FrontPage to continue editing the site and transition to using WordPress, for this particular site. If the other sites you maintain in FrontPage use the VML code it generates for graphics, etc., too then I would suggest migrating those sites out of FrontPage and into some other tool when you can. I'll look at the link you posted above and see what the HTML looks like.

As for using WordPress for the other sites, you can't use WordPress as a "generic HTML editor" because the content you edit is stored in a database. You could convert the other sites to be WordPress sites, if you find you like working in a WordPress environment, but that would be a different kind of project.

When dealing with a CMS, you wouldn't be able to use one tool to maintain different sites stored on different servers. The CMS wants to manage the content you enter in it, itself, which means that content lives in the CMS, itself.

I can provide some WordPress assistance as I have time. WordPress is VERY popular, so you should be able to get answers to questions fairly easily, if I'm not around. 

Peace...


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

> When dealing with a CMS, you wouldn't be able to use one tool to maintain different sites stored on different servers.


But I WANT one tool for everything! _*wails*_


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

LauraMJ said:


> But I WANT one tool for everything! _*wails*_


Ok, then talk to valis. He can help out here. 

Peace...


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## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Laura, You need to get a test WP site up to see the differences. Once you have the look and feel of a website nailed down anyone who can use a simple wordprocessor can create content for a WP site. The WP has a backend that includes an editor for creating pages and content, the theme that you use decides on the look and feel. Administering a WP site take much less time and effort than a conventional site. There are some great themes for Wordpress and my favourite is Suffusion which is extensively editable and configurable again just with a simple user interface.

My suggestion would be to take one of your small existing sites and convert it to Wordpress. This will help you to understand the differences between creating a site using CMS and creating one by coding HTML. The only thing that you would need from the old site is the page text which can be a simple cut and paste job.

From the above I guess you can work out that I am a fan of WP and have converted most of the sites that I look after over to it. It has significantly reduced the amount of time I spend administering the sites and I can let the site owners create the content and even let them upload it if they want or just email it to me for me to paste in to the editor.


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## mpchekuri (May 20, 2010)

Building page content in wordpress is very easy because it has it's own editor. When you open wordpress dashboard you will have option to add a new post or page to create a page. But coming to the design of the page you need to learn how to build the wordpress theme. Building wordpress theme files can be done even in notepad or notepad+. But you need to learn a bit of php programming to build the theme. Of-course many predefined themes(free and paid) are available on the web if you don't want make much hard work.


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

Well, I did try to copy and paste the code for the home page of one of my smaller sites.......but it totally did not render correctly. If I give you that code, could you take a look at what would be involved in changing it over to WP? Tomdcat was kind enough to give me access to a WP test site/interface, so I could experiment. If I knew how to convert the sites (if that will be possible with mine), then I could play around with them on Tom's testing area.

Also, I'm assuming I will have to download the WP program to my computer in order for me to use it on my various websites, correct?


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## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Laura, Wordpress is stored on your webserver and you access all the configuration of the site including adding content to the site. WP is *NOT* a PC application like Frontpage. You access the WP application through your browser. If you give me a url to one of your sites I can take text from there and put it onto my dev WP site for you or PM it to me if you prefer. If you want to chat via Skype it may be easier let me have your id but bear in mind I am in Spain so we would have to coordinate time.


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

Let's just have you take a look at one of my sites, first, and then go from there. Here are two sites.......the first one is my personal site and is finished....the second on is one that I'm currently working on and it doesn't have all the content in it, yet. These two were both built with FrontPage.

http://www.wildwoodfarmva.com/

http://www.nrbch.com/

The one that I will eventually be maintaining that is being built using WP won't be up for another two weeks, yet.


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## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Laura, Here you go, just a 10 minute cut and paste and upload of your images and this is the page I created all in a browser window.

http://dev.orba-design.com/?page_id=431

This is just a simple development test site with nothing fancy done for look and feel, I just use it as a test bed for new functionality etc.

Have a look at http://macameraclub.com or http://keyweddingphotography.com/ for a couple of completed sites.


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

Colinsp,

What about the colors, the backgrounds, the blocking.....the cute link buttons that change.....will all that sort of thing transfer? I really like the way my site looks right now. I'd hate to loose all that.  Same with the other one, we love that old wood back ground, and the wood-looking links.....will things like that transfer?

I guess what I'm wanting is to be able to have EXACTLY the same look as what they are now. I also built and maintain a business site, and I built it pretty much according to what they want:

http://www.poolguyconstruction.com/

I'm not sure what they would say about it if things had to be changed, you know?


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

LauraMJ said:


> I guess what I'm wanting is to be able to have EXACTLY the same look as what they are now. I also built and maintain a business site, and I built it pretty much according to what they want:


That's possible but requires a custom WordPress theme to be created (which isn't too hard) and the proper style rules created to preserve the current site's look and feel.

One thing I've found when converting static HTML sites to WordPress sites is if I can convert the static HTML site to use modern web development techniques, meaning CSS for styling and not using HTML tables for page layout, helps ease the transition to WordPress.

Peace...


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## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Laura, As I said look at my other site links to show you some simple changes that you can make. Anything is possible using as Tomdkat says by using CSS and theme configuration. The Pool Guy site would be a very easy conversion.

NOTE it is a conversion NOT a matter of copying your existing code if you move to Wordpress. The content is copyable though. The theme is what does all the styling in WP and you just add the content to the design that you have created in the theme.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

colinsp said:


> NOTE it is a conversion NOT a matter of copying your existing code if you move to Wordpress. The content is copyable though. The theme is what does all the styling in WP and you just add the content to the design that you have created in the theme.


Thanks for pointing that out. :up:

Peace...


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

Okay.....well, it seems, then, if I can get someone to convert my old sites, I could probably use Wordpress to then maintain them and whatnot, correct?

But, since that will take time, I'll work on something like that later, and just continue to use FP for now with them. In the meantime, I will work on learning the WP interface with Tom's, since I'll need to be comfortable with it for simply maintaining this new site which will already be built. I just need to learn how to add and remove existing elements and to change things around.

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions, even so.


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## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Laura, the easiest way imho will be for you to do the conversion. You will then understand Wordpress and how to configure it.

The way I have done it in the past is to put WP in its own folder on the webserver and then develop it there copying and pasting content and configuring to get the right look and feel and then when everything is looking right just make the WP site live with a redirect and delete the old site.


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

Well, you have to keep in mind that I am self-taught on everything I've done so far. I figured out FP all those years ago by being given a site (which is now defunct) and buying a FP CD from eBay for $50.00 without any instructions......I studied the site code and how it displayed using the "split" feature of FP and that's how I figured out how to do things......and I was somewhat familiar with Word at the time, too. 

So I don't expect I will figure much out until I've had a chance to look at a finished site using WP to see how things work.....I am pretty sure I won't be able to do a conversion and THEN understand WP and how to configure it....I just don't seem to work that way. I don't know how to put WP on a server and I've never done a redirect. 

I'm still struggling to do anything in Tom's interface.......there seems to be VERY little tools or anything on the toolbar and I have no idea how to make things work like I want them to for building something. The only things I see are simply text formatting tools (like what one sees on these reply boxes), but nothing to help me lay out elements or sections, or anything......I also don't see any "split" feature, so that I could highlight some code and see where in the actual site it effects.....instead it seems I have to click on things like the "appearance" tab > theme options and then only have a couple of choices there, and then "save" and then I have to backtrack to "pages" to click on the "view page" which opens in ANOTHER tab in my browser and often isn't even the page I was trying to edit!! 

It all seems so very clunky and confusing.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

LauraMJ said:


> I'm still struggling to do anything in Tom's interface.......there seems to be VERY little tools or anything on the toolbar and I have no idea how to make things work like I want them to for building something. The only things I see are simply text formatting tools (like what one sees on these reply boxes), but nothing to help me lay out elements or sections, or anything......


Yep, and you won't. Why not? Because of the "separate content from presentation" concept I described above.  The editor you're using will allow you to do things like make text bold or italic or insert a photo or image. Those deal with the actual content. The layout of the content is the "presentation" and something that should be done using CSS.

I've been working on converting the "Pool Guy Construction" home page into a WordPress theme. When I'm done, I'll upload it so you can experiment with it.

I've started out by saving a copy of the original home page on my computer and changing the HTML to use CSS for the layout and I've managed to cut the file size of the home page in half. Once I'm done with this, I'll have the CSS style rules identified, that you can use to control layout, and I'll have the "parts" of the page that go in the various PHP files identified as well.

Again, the sooner you're able to wrap your brain around the concept of "separation of content from presentation", the easier this will get. 

colinsp, I set LauraMJ up with a stock WordPress 3.3 installation. She's an administrator and has full reign of her "sandbox". So, she's able to see the full dashboard, etc.

Peace...


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

> I've been working on converting the "Pool Guy Construction" home page into a WordPress theme. When I'm done, I'll upload it so you can experiment with it.


Oh, bless you! That will be very helpful, I'm sure.


> Yep, and you won't. Why not? Because of the "separate content from presentation" concept I described above. The editor you're using will allow you to do things like make text bold or italic or insert a photo or image. Those deal with the actual content. The layout of the content is the "presentation" and something that should be done using CSS.


Hmmmm......so it seems I'll have to learn CSS, too? 



> Again, the sooner you're able to wrap your brain around the concept of "separation of content from presentation", the easier this will get.


Have you noticed that I don't like change? 

Does WP have any sort of "split" option where I can see the code and the effects at the same time?

And just so you know.........I was brought into this whole situation at the last minute when they had already contracted with this company who had already decided on WP and built most of the site and they've already been paid......so it's a done deal that I just have to live with. I would have rather used something like Druple rather than WP. But I was brought in at the last moment when the Office Administrator decided it might be a good idea to have more than one person capable of accessing the site.......because she's just found out she's pregnant.

So, if it were up to me, we wouldn't have went with WP, but it wasn't, so now I have to learn it.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

LauraMJ said:


> Hmmmm......so it seems I'll have to learn CSS, too?


Yep, that would be a good thing. It's actually something ALL web designers and web masters should learn and know well. CSS can help a LOT and make things far less convoluted and easier. Like the navigation menu on the Pool Guy Construction site. Rather than using JavaScript to swap the images when the mouse pointer hovers over them, I created TWO CSS style rules which control the behavior of the images when the mouse hovers of the links and the remaining rules simply loaded each image for each menu item.

Here's a snipet of the new nagivation menu:

```
<a id="home-button" class="navigation-button" href="index.html" title="Go to home page"></a>
<a id="pool-construction-button" class="navigation-button" href="pool-construction.html" title="Pool Construction"></a>
<a id="pool-diagrams-button" class="navigation-button" href="pool-diagrams.html" title="See pool diagrams"></a>
<a id="finished-pools-button" class="navigation-button" href="finished-pools-gallery.html" title="See finished pools"></a>
<a id="ask-for-quote-button" class="navigation-button" href="ask-for-quote.html" title="Request a quote"></a>
```
And here are the CSS style rules which make the "magic" happen:

```
/* This positions the navigation image properly */
.navigation-button {
	background-repeat: no-repeat;
	background-position: center top;
}

/* This handles the "mouse-over" effect */
.navigation-button:hover {
  background-position: center bottom;
}
	   
/* This sets up the navigation menu images */
#home-button { background-image: url(images/home-sprite.gif); }
#ask-for-quote-button { background-image: url(images/ask-for-quote-sprite.gif); }
#pool-construction-button { background-image: url(images/pool-construction-sprite.gif); }
#pool-diagrams-button { background-image: url(images/pool-diagrams-sprite.gif); }
#finished-pools-button { background-image: url(images/finished-pools-sprite.gif); }
```
To add a new navigation menu item, you simply:

Make the image (I'm using Sprites to save bandwidth)
Add the link to the page
Add the loading of the image for the new link to the list above



> Have you noticed that I don't like change?






> Does WP have any sort of "split" option where I can see the code and the effects at the same time?


Nope, but there's a "preview" button you can use to see changes as you make them.



> And just so you know.........I was brought into this whole situation at the last minute when they had already contracted with this company who had already decided on WP and built most of the site and they've already been paid......so it's a done deal that I just have to live with. I would have rather used something like Druple rather than WP. But I was brought in at the last moment when the Office Administrator decided it might be a good idea to have more than one person capable of accessing the site.......because she's just found out she's pregnant.


Well, RIGHT NOW is the PERFECT time to work with the new company to find out how they are developing the new site. See if you can find out if they are making a WordPress theme, learn about the CSS style rules they are creating, etc. If you do this NOW, you'll be better prepared to support the site after it's been launched. Also, find out if they are using any particular WordPress plugins. If they are, you can install them in your "sandbox" and get familiar with them.

I'm not familiar with Drupal but I don't know if going with Drupal would have changed this drastically from WordPress. I mean Drupal will be serving dynamically generated pages, built from a combination of data from a database merged with a template of some kind, correct? If so, then Drupal would be similar to what we're discussing about WordPress. The only way for you to stick with FrontPage would be to stick with static HTML.

Peace...


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

> Well, RIGHT NOW is the PERFECT time to work with the new company to find out how they are developing the new site. See if you can find out if they are making a WordPress theme, learn about the CSS style rules they are creating, etc. If you do this NOW, you'll be better prepared to support the site after it's been launched. Also, find out if they are using any particular WordPress plugins. If they are, you can install them in your "sandbox" and get familiar with them.


The office administrator will the benefit of this.......because she's there where the office is located and where the design company is located, in Richmond. I, however, am on my own because I live 2 and a half hours from Richmond, so I won't be able to sit in on the tutorials when the design company works with the office administrator. So I'm on my own. That being said, I should have information about plugins and whether they made their own theme, ect from the Office Administrator when we talk (probably after the site goes live). But being as she, at the moment, doesn't know any more than I do about WP, I figured it would be helpful to at least have SOME knowledge of what's involved before she tries to explain it to me.  That whole blind leading the blind thing, you know.


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## colinsp (Sep 5, 2007)

Laura, go to YouTube and just put Wordpress Tutorials in the search box. There are loads there that should give you a good grounding.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

LauraMJ said:


> The office administrator will the benefit of this.......because she's there where the office is located and where the design company is located, in Richmond. I, however, am on my own because I live 2 and a half hours from Richmond, so I won't be able to sit in on the tutorials when the design company works with the office administrator. So I'm on my own. That being said, I should have information about plugins and whether they made their own theme, ect from the Office Administrator when we talk (probably after the site goes live). But being as she, at the moment, doesn't know any more than I do about WP, I figured it would be helpful to at least have SOME knowledge of what's involved before she tries to explain it to me.  That whole blind leading the blind thing, you know.


I understand. Still, contact the design company by phone, if you can, and talk to someone about having the designers send you info about their approach via e-mail. You could even send them a message with some questions, like:


Are you creating a custom WordPress theme for the site?
Are you using CSS extensively?
Are you using CSS 2.1 or CSS3?
Are you coding using HTML4 or HTML5?
Are you using many WordPress plugins on the new site?
Is there a prototype version of the site you could preview?

If you'll be doing maintenance on the site after it's launched, I can't imagine the design company NOT wanting to provide this information to you now. These are "high level" kinds of questions that will help you prepare yourself as best as you can. For example, if they will be using HTML5 to develop the site you'll know *now* that you'll want to learn HTML5. 

We'll get you into the 21st century of web design eventually....  lol

Peace...


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

tomdkat said:


> I understand. Still, contact the design company by phone, if you can, and talk to someone about having the designers send you info about their approach via e-mail. You could even send them a message with some questions, like:
> 
> 
> Are you creating a custom WordPress theme for the site?
> ...


Excellent! Thanks........at least now I know what questions to ask!  That's a start!


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