I use wordpress as a simple CMS as much as possible. It’s so flexible and easy to work with. You can also use custom page templates and insert php code or html easily, freeing yourself from the template restrictions.
You can insert php code into posts directly as well with a plugin.
That’s a great article. I use WP for CMS/blog about 80/20% of the time. If I had to say I “specialize” in something it would be using WP solely as a CMS.
These lessons sometimes have to contain games that can be replayed or exercises of which the solution may not be revealed immediately (but after some attempts or after the right answer is given).
We’ve begun the process of moving our sites from Interwoven Teamsite into WordPress. At first they were using only pages but we felt having an integrated blog would eliminate the manual newsletters we were sending out saving us time and money.
I’ve used WP as a generic PHP framework, however alarming that sounds.
Eg. A restaurant menu system where each menu item was a wordpress post. The menu name (lunch, dinner) and the item category (appetizer, entree) were marked in the category system; prices were in the post meta. You could have the same item as an appetizer for lunch and an entree for dinner and the prices would be accordingly different.. the admin area was an ajaxified replacement of the /wp-admin/ thing. We hooked into admin_header to dynamically remove all the other admin page links (except for manage so they could update the static-style pages.) God bless WordPress.
I’ve been using WP for the back-end of my mom’s site for some time now… it makes life so much easier, especially with all of the things that plugins can do.
The listed URL is a good example of WordPress running a non-blog site. It does use the blog feature as a simple news feature, but it takes a trained eye to see that WP is running behind the scenes. Just one of many good uses for this brilliant piece of site engine.
I work with schools that want a “traditional school website” without the look of a blog… I tell them that there a million reasons to use wordpress for this, but I need more comfort with CSS to “break” a theme enough to get the look right (or I need to find the right theme)…
does anyone have advice on how to approach this kind of problem?
I definitely use WordPress as a CMS: for others it’s because the user interface is so intuitive (and the WYSIWYG editor works fine) that even non-techie people can handle it; for myself because it’s so customisable, and there are plenty of plugins that can add extra functions to the core.
I recently used WordPress to create a green products database of sorts. You can find it here. The entire site is wordpress, a couple plugin’s and some custom code from me. Amazingly powerful tool.
Hi Matt, we are loving WordPress! As our Red Block site expands we’re having to employ WP developers to build and release plugins back into the community.
You rule! btw, can you improve the presentation of search results in the next release? It’s in its infancy atm.
Thanks for the link! This is going to come in real handy.
I use wordpress as a simple CMS as much as possible. It’s so flexible and easy to work with. You can also use custom page templates and insert php code or html easily, freeing yourself from the template restrictions.
You can insert php code into posts directly as well with a plugin.
An example like that is Mediash City Hall webpage.
And the forum is bbPress.
Matt,
That’s a great article. I use WP for CMS/blog about 80/20% of the time. If I had to say I “specialize” in something it would be using WP solely as a CMS.
Chris
I agree! I use WordPress for my non-blog website about my artwork.
certainly did for us. couldn’t be happier with WordPress over at RedMonk.
I host 4 different websites with a WP backend that don’t get used as “blogs”.
They’re all static and use both posts and pages.
I love how flexible WP is.
I use WordPress to publish chess lessons.
These lessons sometimes have to contain games that can be replayed or exercises of which the solution may not be revealed immediately (but after some attempts or after the right answer is given).
All this can be done in WordPress.
We’ve begun the process of moving our sites from Interwoven Teamsite into WordPress. At first they were using only pages but we felt having an integrated blog would eliminate the manual newsletters we were sending out saving us time and money.
http://powertochange.com
http://truthmedia.com
I’ve used WP as a generic PHP framework, however alarming that sounds.
Eg. A restaurant menu system where each menu item was a wordpress post. The menu name (lunch, dinner) and the item category (appetizer, entree) were marked in the category system; prices were in the post meta. You could have the same item as an appetizer for lunch and an entree for dinner and the prices would be accordingly different.. the admin area was an ajaxified replacement of the /wp-admin/ thing. We hooked into admin_header to dynamically remove all the other admin page links (except for manage so they could update the static-style pages.) God bless WordPress.
My Site http://www.le-hiboo.com is under WP, but not in a blog vision … maybe the power of WP is the possibility to choose
I’ve been using WP for the back-end of my mom’s site for some time now… it makes life so much easier, especially with all of the things that plugins can do.
I use WP as a publishing site and love it. http://www.chimp-simple.com
I have been using it for a while now but it keeps getting more powerful with each release.
Creating a CMS site can be done in 5 steps now. Anyone can do it. Here are all the steps:
http://www.chimp-simple.com/2007/06/20/5-steps-to-making-wordpress-a-content-management-system-cms/
Also, don’t forget to use widgets. They add a lot of functionality with a drag and drop interface.
The listed URL is a good example of WordPress running a non-blog site. It does use the blog feature as a simple news feature, but it takes a trained eye to see that WP is running behind the scenes. Just one of many good uses for this brilliant piece of site engine.
I work with schools that want a “traditional school website” without the look of a blog… I tell them that there a million reasons to use wordpress for this, but I need more comfort with CSS to “break” a theme enough to get the look right (or I need to find the right theme)…
does anyone have advice on how to approach this kind of problem?
I just recommended a group use WP for a business site w/o a blog.
The points made at ifacethoughts are right on. The only thing I would add is the flexibility to add a blog later.
I already wrote about this a while ago on my blog.
I’ll link it as the blog is the website.
Thanks.
Great article, thanks Matt.
Been using WP as a static site for a while now, perfect for my needs, it’s so easy to change to your requirements, love it.
I definitely use WordPress as a CMS: for others it’s because the user interface is so intuitive (and the WYSIWYG editor works fine) that even non-techie people can handle it; for myself because it’s so customisable, and there are plenty of plugins that can add extra functions to the core.
I recently used WordPress to create a green products database of sorts. You can find it here. The entire site is wordpress, a couple plugin’s and some custom code from me. Amazingly powerful tool.
Thanks!
Hi Matt, we are loving WordPress! As our Red Block site expands we’re having to employ WP developers to build and release plugins back into the community.
You rule! btw, can you improve the presentation of search results in the next release? It’s in its infancy atm.
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