CODEWITHSUNDEEP
wordpress
skb
skb

Reputation: 31094

Can a WordPress site be made to be more than a blog?

I want to use WordPress for my personal website, but it isn't going to be structured like a blog. Can someone help me with a few concerns I have before I get too deep into it?

  1. I want it to have a main page, and a hierarchy of content pages. Can I make the default page be a home page, and not a big chronological listing of posts?

  2. I see that the DotNetNuke CMS has built-in support for auto generating your menus based on the pages you create. Does WordPress have anything like this?

  3. Can I make the blog post section come up in a sub-directory like mysite.com/blogposts?

  4. Is there anything about WordPress that makes it an obvious bad choice for a general purpose website? Does it have extensibility for thinks like shopping carts or whatever in case I want to add them in the future? I just want to make sure I am not doing something stupid by choosing a blogging software for a general purpose website with future requirements that aren't yet known.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 410

Answers (5)

Phil
Phil

Reputation: 3648

  1. Yes, available by default, configurable via control panel
  2. Yes, it's usually on by default on modern templates (unless you're using something extremely exotic)
  3. Yes, you can do pretty much everything with permalinks
  4. I really don't see a reason why wouldn't you choose wordpress... many plugins available for this platform can do almost everything - even more than standard cms solutions. There are SEO plugins, e-commerce plugins, security plugins, forum plugins, modern anti-spam protection, design enhancements, advanced templates with easy to use control panels...

Upvotes: 0

markratledge
markratledge

Reputation: 17561

2: Multi-level navigation plugin: http://pixopoint.com/multi-level-navigation/

4: Some e-commerce plugins: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/search.php?q=e-commerce

Upvotes: 0

Curtis Tasker
Curtis Tasker

Reputation: 11495

I've set up Wordpress for several non-blog sites without issue.

  1. Yes, you can create a static Page in Wordpress and set it as the default page. Read more about Wordpress Pages here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Pages

  2. Yes, you can generate menus of Pages, both flat and hierarchal. Most themes will include a Page sidebar that will show Pages you have created. You can of course code and style your own to your liking. For example, this bit of php will pull out the top level Pages in your hierarchy and generate html for a series of <li> elements:

    wp_list_pages('meta_key=page_title&depth=1&sort_column=menu_order');

  3. Yes, you can have the blog section come up as a subdirectory.

  4. Wordpress is a fine choice for a general purpose personal or even small business website. It only takes a little effort to convert your own custom layout into a Wordpress Theme, or you can choose from thousands of ready made Themes. You can do a lot with the base install, and its always being updated. Plugins and Widgets allow you to add all sorts of new functionality to Wordpress with ease. If all else fails, you can always write your additions own with a little effort.

That said, Wordpress is primarily blogging software. It has some decent CMS features, but its not the core focus. If you aren't going to do any actual blogging, Drupal is a solid option.

Upvotes: 1

dave
dave

Reputation: 11975

I'm not a heavy user of WordPress but my feeling for it is that it is primarily a blogging tool. It sounds like you want a full CMS. I'd have a look at Drupal (as PSU_Kardi suggests) or Joomla. Both have built-in support for or add-ons for blogs, e-Commerce, ...

Upvotes: 0

davidcl
davidcl

Reputation: 1189

  1. Yes, current versions of Wordpress support designating a content page as the home page.

  2. Yes, Wordpress will generate a set of nested lists that represent your content pages; it would be the job of the theme to style this into an appropriate menu (and most themes do not).

  3. You can set up your permalink structure to do this, yes.

  4. Wordpress is a good choice up to a point for many kinds of web sites, but if you want to integrate with a shopping cart or other complex application, I'd suggest looking at Drupal instead. Wordpress's developer ecosystem is mostly set up around extending its existing capabilities (blogging and content management) not on adding other unrelated functionality. Drupal is much more of a general-purpose framework for any kind of application or site.

Upvotes: 5

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