Editing a website that was previously built with Wordpress

[travism94278263]

Hello,

I got asked to edit a website that was previously built with Wordpress. When i enter Dreamweaver and set up the site and FTP, I get all the files and when i go to the index.html file it seems to bring up a different page that says "Website is currently under construction" but when i visit the site that is up and running its different than that? Am i missing something?

[Jon Fritz · Accepted solution]

The index.html file isn't used in a WordPress installation. It's likely just the default one from the hosting company that was never deleted from the server.

WordPress constructs the pages of your site on the fly from numerous includes and a database.

Without expert level PHP coding skills, you really can't do much to WP sites from within DW. Usually, once a WP site goes live, you no longer use DW for anything and stick with the Admin interface of the WP installation.

[B i r n o u]

to edit your website, you'll have to go online at

http://www.domain-of-your-site.com and add /wp-admin at the end of the URL

there you'll got a form to login... except if the previous developer block this access by an IP adress... in that case you'll have to unprotect if rom the .htaccess present in the wp-admin folder (from FTP)

[B i r n o u]

the you'll get all the back end, where you can edit all the entire content and layout...

• menus,
• pages,
• articles
• custom post... etc ... etc...

[travism94278263]

Seems like i cant access that page?

Thank you for the replies!

[Jon Fritz]

There are no pages per se.

Everything is built up of include files and database info, then fed to the viewer's browser by the server when requested.

If you're not a fairly advanced PHP coder, none of what downloads from FTPing a WordPress site will look much like a typical Dreamweaver website at all.

[B i r n o u]

what is your domain ?

[Nancy OShea]

WordPress uses PHP files not HTML.

The only code you can SAFELY touch in WP is inside your Theme's folder.  Themes deliver appearance as well as site functionality.

wp-content

    themes

         twentysomething [your-theme's-name]

               see screenshot.

File names may vary depending on which WP Theme you use.  See link below.

Anatomy of a Theme – Make WordPress Training

Nancy