How to convert Dreamweaver site to wordpress

[Guest]

I created a website in Dreamweaver for a client, but they want the capability to edit the site t hemselves.  Is there an easy way to convert this html site to something that will work in wordpress? Are there any other sites that can do this? Help! I don't want to re-design this whole site that took me 3 months!

[MurraySummers]

Is there an easy way to convert this html site to something that will work in wordpress?

In a word?  No.  Maybe even NO.  Sorry.  Moving from a static HTML layout into WP is not easy, especially if you have a) no server scripting experience, and b) no prior exposure with WP.  Sorry....

Your best bet would be to get a really thorough understanding of what the client wants to change, and then build the administration pages yourself.  At a later date, when you have more exposure to these kinds of things, you could tackle the WP migration....

[Guest]

The site has events and festivals that this winery will be attending.  They want to be able to update the upcoming events and all of the festivals they go to.  At this point, I guess I have to tell them, I'll do it for them.  It will add another step to their process but it's easier than rebuilding everything.

Thanks for your help!

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

Sorry.  But there is no automagic way to convert a static HTML site over to WordPress.  Your customer should have told you upfront that he/she wanted a CMS. 

You could install WordPress as a blog (domain.com/blog/WP/).  The blog would be editable by your client in WordPress but the main site would be remain static HTML.

Another option is to reverse engineer your static HTML pages to work with another CMS product. 

Cushy CMS might be all you need (watch their video to see how it works). 

http://www.cushycms.com

Content Seed -

Available in ASP, PHP, or  ASP.net

no database needed. 

http://contentseed.com/

PowerCMS from Web Assist -

Requires PHP 5.2.3+

MySql database

http://www.webassist.com/dreamweaver-extensions/powercms-builder/

Best of luck,

Nancy O.

Alt-Web Design & Publishing

Web | Graphics | Print | Media  Specialists 

http://alt-web.com/

http://twitter.com/altweb

[Guest]

Nancy O. wrote:

Sorry.  But there is no automagic way to convert a static HTML site over to WordPress.  Your customer should have told you upfront that he/she wanted a CMS. 

I agree. A maintenance agreement should be included in any website design contract/agreement BEFORE any work is done. If the client wans to do it themselves, it chnages the format of the site. If they want you to do it, it changes the overall cost. But it should not be left out of the bid or negotiations.

[Guest]

Thank you so much for your help! Cushycms looks like the way I'll go.  This is the first time I've developed a website for a client.  It's a local winery and they just wanted to see an idea of what the site would look like.  They had a lot of concerns with their old website so I wanted to show them how I can make those concerns go away.  It turned into a 80% complete site. 

I'm new to everything that deals with price and contracts and all of that.  I've only ever done this as part of my regular communications job. What's an acceptable setup fee and/or hourly rate?

[John Waller]

What's an acceptable setup fee and/or hourly rate?

There really is no such thing.

Depends on too many factors (geography, scope of work, skill level, competition etc)

Plenty of guidelines online though

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/09/the-roadmap-to-becoming-a-professional-freelance-web-desi...

[Nancy OShea]

What's an acceptable setup fee and/or hourly rate?

Cushy shouldn't take you more than 1 hour to set up.  $65 to set-up. 

Nancy O.

Alt-Web Design & Publishing

Web | Graphics | Print | Media  Specialists 

http://alt-web.com/

http://twitter.com/altweb

[John Waller]

Your customer should have told you upfront that he/she wanted a CMS.

They often don't know that they do.

They just want a new website. Or an existing one updated.

Client expectations and/or requirements invariably change as the design evolves.

Client expectations must be managed throughout by the forward thinking web designer.

[mytaxsite]

created a website in Dreamweaver for a client, but they want the capability to edit the site t hemselves.

Tell them (or explain to them in polite terms) that a static site can be edited by themselves if they put their mind into it.  It is not rocket science!

Good luck.

[ALsp]

Actually, Nancy's answer was perhaps partially correct. If you really want to create your site in Dreamweaver (a great thing to do, imo) and manage its design in Dreamweaver, then look at a CMS that is a real CMS and not repurposed Blogware like WordPress. Two systems that will allow you to do precisely what you want are:

1. Concrete5 (free)

http://www.concrete5.org/

2. Perch (commercial)

http://grabaperch.com/

--
Al Sparber - PVII

http://www.projectseven.com

Column Composer Magic is here!

http://www.projectseven.com/go/ccm

[jithin101]

First download wordpress 3.3.1 from http://wordpress.org/. Then search for a wordpress theme which suites your requirement. Download the wordpress theme(It will be a zip file). Extract the zip file and copy it to the path "wp-content/themes/" inside the root directory. Open the index.php inside the theme folder. Now study a little bit wordpress function parameters. 1. bloginfo('url') , 2. bloginfo('template_url') , 3. the_content(),  4. the_title(), 5. the_post_thumbnail(); Function the_content displays the content of the page and the title displays the t respectively.itle of the page and the_post_thhumbnail() displays the thumbnail image.

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