How to convert existing site

[JAME5C43]

How i can convet my existing website from dreamweaver to different design. what are the steps that i should take care of and how much time it would take to convert my simple squirrel site to other design without losing speed.

[BenPleysier]

Please explain what you mean when you say that you want to convert. 

There is no such thing as a Dreamweaver site, all static sites consist of HTML with, most likely, CSS and JS. Dynamic sites will be coded using serverside coding language like PHP. These sites can be coded using Dreamweaver or any other text editor.

[B i r n o u]

to complete what say Ben, the first point you have to verify is ... "how your web site is build"; actually, is there is any use of CSS et good structure of your HTML.

In that cas you will have to remove entirely your CSS, and get a naked HTML web site, where just the HTML is use for rendering as browser see it by default... and from there you will rebuild your own design using CSS

there is a very very very old web site that was proposing to developper to express their own vision of design based on the same HTML for every start... http://www.csszengarden.com/ but I never saw such a verbose structure... ID and CLASS everywhere... on each TAG... any way that will help you to get the idea.

for exploring CSS, you will find plenty web site out there... but personnaly, I often recommand these links

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/CSS_basics
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS

but, that's not just it,  you also will have to explore the responsive aspect to your web site to adapt the design (still using CSS and Mediaqueries) depending on the device... here too... you will find a very old web site to reflect this idea... well, here it's about different HTML on each case study... https://mediaqueri.es/ but again, that will give you idea.

where to start.. well, here some links :

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Media_queries
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Media_queries
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Media_Queries/Using_media_queries

Now as Ben previously said, all this can be coded using any code editor, including of course Dreamweaver

[Nancy OShea]

how much time it would take to convert my simple squirrel site to other design...

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Hi @JAME5C43,

How long is a piece of string?   I have no idea what a "simple squirrel site" means and no one else does either. 

• What's the URL to your current site?
• How much responsive web design experience do you have?
• Are you able to work with modern code in HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?

[JAME5C43]

Here is the url: [spam link removed by moderator] which is a website for squirrels diet and other amazing what they eat or what they do not like eat everything is covered in details. Website design is simple not so much good looking and yes it is responsive at the same time. You can check recommend any soluttion to make it more attractive. To attract more readers.

Thanks

[Ben M]

Being that this is a Wordpress site I would just recommend you look at investing in a new theme. While DW can help with Wordpress, it is meant for development of custom themes, plugins, etc. which takes extensive coding knowledge.  What you need is a new look/feel, but if you are not comfortable with coding, a theme is the way to go.

[B i r n o u]

personally I like this creamery, https://themeforest.net/category/wordpress, which is in fact a super market place, well followed and offering quality products, but there are many others, here a comparative table that can give you an idea https://webmetools.com/themeforest/alternatives

[Nancy OShea]

@JAME5C43,

See my reply to this related question from June 26.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/dreamweaver/want-a-new-website-design-wp/td-p/12140454#M212403

Good luck with your project!

[B i r n o u]

well the first question from this present thread is about redsign a web site, dreamweaver ones,... so the use of template can be fine, as the move to WP too...

the link that you point at (different thread) is about redisign a web site already made under WP... so as far as I undesratnd, that should be the second thread that should point to this one... don't you think ?

[Nancy OShea]

@B i r n o u, 

The OP posted a URL a few hours ago.  His site is made with WordPress, not Dreamweaver.

@JAME5C43, my reply to a related topic 2 days ago still stands.  Find a new WP Theme  --  either free, premium or custom design one with code in Dreamweaver.  Your choice.

Good luck with your project! 🙂

[B i r n o u]

@Nancy OShea ... sorry.. I probably missunderstood what was asking, and describing the OP, I thought I understood that his site was currently in Dreamweaver and that he wanted to change the design, but my English is often a problem

How i can convet my existing website from dreamweaver to different design.

By @JAME5C43

[Nancy OShea]

It was a confusing sentence that was not well written.  🙂  It should have been:

"How can I convert my WordPress site to a different design using Dreamweaver?"

[B i r n o u]

Thanks @Nancy OShea , I hadn't seen the source code of the OP who actually works on a WP site.

so @JAME5C43  you can, as we advise you, use a theme from a marketplace, opt for a premium theme, which are often better manufactured, and especially well maintained.

However, be careful, if your old theme relies on shortcodes, or internal editors (fusion core, page builder ...) make sure, beforehand, of the portability between the old and the new themes.

On the other hand if you want to create your own theme, using Dreamweaver, it is important to respect several steps...

• first be sure to understand the structure and the how to use and build methods... https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development
• any how the codex will be your only first friend... https://codex.wordpress.org/
• getting a basic step by step tutorial coule be helpfull, just for a first read... https://blog.templatetoaster.com/create-wordpress-theme-scratch/
• but using a starter template or plugin could be somehow a nice idea...
  • https://wordpress.org/plugins/astra-sites/
  • https://afterimagedesigns.com/wp-bootstrap-starter/
  • https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-themes/21-best-wordpress-starter-themes-for-developers/

keep in mind that there is never a unique solution, but whatever it is, it requires a large reflection beforehand and to be able to weigh the pros and cons of your choices

As said @Nancy OShea , good luck in your project

[B i r n o u]

without losing speed.

By @JAME5C43

what do you mean ?

[Nancy OShea]

I assume he means slowing down the site's performance.

But that usually begins at the hosting level.

[Ben M]

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@Nancy OShea wrote:

I assume he means slowing down the site's performance.

But that usually begins at the hosting level.

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Depends on what you are using to measure performance. I've come across this lately at work debating this with an SEO expert because they rely a lot on Google's Lighthouse for their speed analysis, and we have one site working in Drupal and no matter what is done on the site, changing hosting setups, etc., it seems that their speed test definitely penalizes Drupal over other CMS platforms.

[Nancy OShea]

@Ben M,

I hear you loud & clear.  Drupal can be a behemoth compared to other CMS platforms. 

For WordPress users, managed WP hosting from Bluehost costs more but it's optimized to provide better performance than ordinary hosting with WP.

GeneratePress is a WordPress Theme that's optimized for speed.

Putting assets on Content Distrubutution Networks (CDNs) is another way to lessen the load.

[JAME5C43]

Means site speed should remain fast as usually. As in future there will be lots of animal images would be there.

[B i r n o u]

Means site speed should remain fast as usually. As in future there will be lots of animal images would be there.

By @JAME5C43

to optimize the images, there are several approaches... Bridge Script, Photoshop, Fireworks batch, Lightroom process... etc. All of them are valid and have their advantages and disadvantages.

For my part, I'm still using the TinyPNG API which really works miracles. https://tinypng.com/ what is most surprising is that transparent images preserve their transparency even in JPG format. Amazing.. isn't it ????

There is also a developer access https://tinypng.com/developers that allows you to process using Node... 😉 and also a plugin for Wordpress https://fr.wordpress.org/plugins/tiny-compress-images/