1. Create your own content
2. Download and then install the latest version of Wordpress - I used 1.5 in this example. I created the database on my server, updated the config.php file in the wordpress folder (which I renamed to blog) and then uploaded the whole deal. If you have fantastico available through your hosting provider, use that
.
3. Check and make sure 'sall good - I viewed my /blog directory and yup, there she is.. the wordpress installation in its full untouched glory. Hehe.. not for long
. The installation is good to go, I've updated my admin password and saved it in a secure location, and I'm ready.
4. Time to mod! - Alright, lets get down to it. What we're going to do is create our own Wordpress theme. Wordpress runs on themes and I've gotta hand it to the boys and girls who built wordpress, its done VERY well. So, this is what we're after:
A blog that looks like its a part of our site
A blog that integrates seamlessly with our site
A blog/admin interface that's cleaned up of alll the extra features we (or our client) won't need
With that in mind.. our goal is to develop a Wordpress theme that will "include" the rest of our site into it. Because we're using PHP and because this is all dynamic, it can all be done.
Alright, back to work!
5. Setup our theme workplace - Browse locally to wp-content/themes and copy/rename the "classic" theme. This is going to be our work area. Give it a name that reflects the site you intend to integrate it with. Edit the .css and change the "theme name" in the comments (not sure if this affects the installation, but it seemed to for me).. Then, upload your folder into your remote installation (your server). Finally, login to your Wordpress admin and then on over to "Presentation" and themes. "Install" your new theme. If its not there? Make sure you finished uploading it and that the folder has a unique name. Set your new theme to default, test it by visiting your blog (Your website and then /blog) and we're ready to roll.
6. Scary stuff: Modifying the theme - Alright, you've got the default working and that's great.. but we want it to look like OUR site! So, time to get messy.. For this, I'm using my own HEADER and my own CSS sheet. Alright, lets open up our theme's header.php (located in our theme's folder) and get busy. You should see all the lovely code. For this tutorial we only care about a few things. First, lets fix that CSS sheet:
Original:
<style type="text/css" media="screen">
@import url( <?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?> );
</style>
Our Mod:
<link href="http://www.yoursiteurl.com/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
Great! Now lets keep going! Next we've got some CSS stuff to play with.