Wordpress..

Hi guys,

Ive never considered using Wordpress, or to that matter any CMS.. but after seeing a few websites its starting to appeal to me.

I was just wondering how easy it is to theame, and if anyone is able to offer me some advice/help on how to use the damn thing :)

Tom

Do you know PHP?

If not I'd strongly recommend simply purchasing a theme and tweaking the CSS or minor cut and paste to relocate code within the theme.

Even if you are a strong PHP coder it's probably easier to use one of the development themes out there (basic vanilla layouts for you to customise) and adapt it for your needs than start from scratch.

I've used wordpress and it is extremely easy to theme - there are many customisable themes out there - mine has a randomly selected banner etc There is a fairly big upgrade coming soon (Wordpress 3) which could make wordpress more usable as a CMS but could also affect the way some existing themes work?

Fiddling with it is the best way to become familiar with it as the previous poster says. Run a local WAMP server and install yourself a copy and play.

Wordpress is nice and simple to get a quick, easy to maintain site published. It's quite a good introduction to CMSs before you step up to the big boys like Jooma and typo3. There's an extensive theme gallery: WordPress › Free WordPress Themes

I'm using Wordpress for my blog (shameless plug - www.gattancha.co.uk/wordpress)
I think its really good as a blog, but not sure about as a CMS - will wait and see what v3 looks like

Another +1 for Wordpress here, installed it locally at home, with XAMPP, had it up and running in minutes, and the theme tweaked and looking completely fresh and new within about 15 minutes.

I currently have only a basic portfolio site, but as soon as the need arrives, i will be using wordpress :)

*Edit, very simple instructions added*

Basic (local machine) Wordpress installation

Download both of these :

http://wordpress.org/download/
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

Install Xampp, choosing a dir to run from etc.
When finished, put the unzipped wordpress folder inside the "htdocs" folder, of the dir you chose in installation.
open XAMPP, start both MySql and Apache, in mysql, make a database, and a new user, note the details (click admin on the CP)
run http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php and then follow the guide, entering in the details for the Sql Database.

Done! :)

(please don't take those instructions as patronising, I'm sure you don't even need any help, but just in case :))

There is a IIS plugin that installs Wordpress in 1-Click (Literally!) too.

Just install WebPI, select WordPress and go. You will need the PHP5 package for IIS and MySQL though.