Is WordPress wrong for us? (Calling WP “philosophers”)

Also – just a note – check to see if (under “Options > Writing”) the line “correct invalidly nested XHTML automatically” is *unchecked*. And make sure your WYSIWYG editor is turned off. That will probably also help out with auto-cleaning of stuff. I have both of those shut off, and every time I code anything, it shows up exactly as I coded it. (And for the record, I, too, *always* comment out the wpautop thing in the default filters file, as well. I can’t stand that.)

But from a “philosophical” standpoint, I think WordPress can handle anything, really. I’ve done a couple of “static” sites with it – I’m currently working on two that have ZenCart integration, but still keep the “static” appearance. I think WordPress is awesome (and take it from a girl who’s used *lots* of other systems – you name it, I’ve probably used it!)

Hmm. Interesting then.

I’ve never used HTML Tidy – I’m a strict Notepad user. “Old school” I guess – I don’t know if HTML Tidy might insert some code (something like Dreamweaver, I think? I don’t know – never used that before either!) or amybe *that* is trying to “fix” your stuff for you?

All I know is, when I do my think (setup described as above, and I use Notepad to code/edit in and just FTP it to the server) I’ve never had WordPress mess with my code – it always shows up exactly how I coded it.

Again, though, I know nothing of these programs (Dreamweaver, HTML Tidy) – so I may be completely blowing smoke up the nether-regions – but it might be worth looking into?

In any case, I’m a WordPress nut, so of course I’m biased and I’m going to tell you WordPress can do anything you want it to 😉

Good to know 🙂 I’ve just never really had any interest in using programs like that – I did once, a long time ago, but I’ve found it’s much easier to just hand-code. I can find and fix and edit mistakes and stuff so much faster when *I’ve* written it, rather than someone or something else.

And no, I don’t think it’s the end-all of stuff, but it sure does take the cake (IMO!). One of these days I might do a site that I’ll get stuck on and WordPress can’t handle – but I’ve yet to do one 😉

Good point – I know I wouldn’t install WP just because someone wanted a rotating graphic 🙂 I guess it depends on your clientele – most of mine *need* CMS (which I love to use WP for), but my *real* client base is bloggers. So I guess that’s why I like it so much – all my clients actually need it!

So putting this together with the original question – I’d say it would actually depend on what it is that you *do* want the site to do. Looking at the site you’ve mentioned, I’d say maybe WP *isn’t* what you need. I see a lot of static pages that don’t really need a lot of content management. I would think this thing could be done with simple PHP includes (for stuff that *doesn’t* change – like naviagtion, header information, footers, etc. – or you’d like to just change one file and have it change site-wide) and static pages. So maybe WordPress is a bit more “sports car” than “Jeep”? 🙂

I mean, unless you plan to actually have some dynamic content in there, and have a need for preventing someone from messing up the “template” when they enter content, then no – I would think that you could go straight php includes and static pages with no worries. But if you just want the ability to update or add new content (without worrying about someone inadvertently messing up the template), and maybe have some neat dynamic things happening, then sure – WP can easily be used for this.

Hi Jerry –

Generally, I insert “normal” php calls using something like this:
<?php include 'menu.html' ?>

I’ve never really had any trouble with it working that way. You can’t use the wp specific construct <?php get_* ?>

how do you upload content into WordPress with FTP??

You don’t. I was saying editing *files* and uploading them. You can’t upload content with FTP because all of your posts and content reside in your database – they are not files on the server.

when I’ve tried to insert PHP code in my WordPress pages, the server doesn’t interpret it

You could use a plugin like “runPHP” to run PHP within your content area. However, if you want to use PHP or include your sidebar, footer and header form WordPress into your static plages (that are outside of WordPress) you can add “wp-bog-header” include to your pages. For example, I have a contact form that’s outside of WordPress, however I want to include everything so I dont’ have to change those files separately should something else within the site change. Before *any* code starts on that file, I insert the line:

<?php include("/home/sitename/public_html/wordpress/wp-blog-header.php"); ?>

(You have to use the correct path for your server though – this path may not be the one for your site. You have to go to your host to find out what the correct path is from the server’s root.)

Then I put in my get_header() and everything to include the WP stuff.

Saerch functionality won’t work on rgular static pages not residing within the WP database. However, you can create Pages within WordPress that *can* be included in the search with a plugin. You can also give static pages a “different look and feel” and still have them reside in your WordPress database by using conditionals.

Does that get you a little further?

Well…. try it on your dev site – AFTER you make redundant backups of the database!

I’m not averse to dinking around in my databases at all…. but I wouldn’t do what you’re thinking about doing – because it’s likely that wp will choke and die on it at some point….