IIRC, one or more GC members have their own wordpress made website, yes? I have a friend who wants me to make them one but I have no idea how...everything I find on wordpress looks like it is a blog, not a website. So...can anyone tell me how to use wordpress to make a multipage website? Gimp of course would be used for graphics, but that comes later.

That is a very...VERY broad question. WordPress is such an involved platform these days. Are you planning on actually hosting a domain, or are you simply using a free wordpress account? I can tell you what I did to create my website (which is currently down, but I'll show you when it goes back up.)

First off, I want to say I know almost no HTML, and no CSS at all. All I did was find a free wordpress theme that had the same general layout as what I wanted my website to have. I downloaded the theme, and then replaced all of the images that the CSS and HTML look to with my own take on each image. Once you get the general look of your wordpress website, it's pretty smooth sailing from there. You just go into the WordPress dashboard and add pages, blog posts, etc. If I ever have anything I want my wordpress site to do, I just do a google search for a widget that will do that, and then install it.

Good luck! If you have any specific questions about WordPress feel free to ask me. I just may know the answer.

Wordpress is a blogging platform but you can install a theme that supports a single column and define multiple static pages, which would give you a "standard website with multiple pages" look. It's probably a good idea to use a current and supported theme that features multiple layouts. You can then select a layout with only a footer area and put a few widgets down there. That should look pretty nice.

If you want to customize the theme, you'll need to tweak the css and maybe make a few changes to the PHP code. Many themes have their own website where you can find support from the theme developer. I'd recommend using one of those.

There are may ways to skin this cat. If you take the time to learn how to use it, Joomla is one of the best content management systems I've come across. There are several others in this same general category, Drupal is another good one, I just like Joomla better.

If this is something you need to do quickly you can just use Wordpress and do as others here are suggesting. Another alternative is to use one of the free website builder sites like WIX and others. They are extremely user friendly, but they either have that annoying banner about being created in WIX or you can opt to pay for a "Premium Upgrade" to get rid of it. BTW they do the hosting so if you go that route don't double dip yourself by getting a Godaddy accout (or whtever) and then using WIX. You'll end up paying double for hosting and it's apain getting one to point to the other.

Here's a site I built a while back using WIX. They have some cool features you can include in your design. http://www.coolingtoweradhx.com/ this site is also linked to it's sister company
http://www.omniroc.com/ which is a static site I've been involved with and am still working on getting some interactive forms created and uploaded. I could use some help with that if anyone knows how to get that done.

If you need any help with coding 2-ton just holler.

same here, i am not the best in designing in gimp, but im very knowledgable with html, css, and somehwat of jquery.

Wow, lots of help here! What I am needing to do is find free hosting, that's why I thought of wordpress. I also wanted to be able to do the drag and drop type of page building since I do not know coding. I did take an online class in Dreamweaver but have no idea what I did...I have forgotten it all. This site needs to have an index page with some pics, some text, some links, and navigation. It will need to have several other pages and they are hoping to have a members only area. I don't care what website I use as long as it is very easy and free. I just discovered that I have iWeb on my computer and tried to make a page. Major Fail. I can't figure out how to do what I want. When I clicked on text box icon and drew the box, and it disappeared as soon as I moved my mouse, I gave up after several tries. I guess one of my problems is wanting to tweak the templates with different colors and box sizes.

What are they wanting to do with the "members only" area?

[quote="2-ton"] This site needs to have an index page with some pics, some text, some links, and navigation. It will need to have several other pages and they are hoping to have a members only area. I don't care what website I use as long as it is very easy and free. quote]

Sounds like you need to give WIX a try. Drag & Drop interface, many gadgets that are easily insertable, simple learning curve. You can probably live with the little "This site was created using WIX" banner. It only took me a few days to create and tweak the ADHX site. Piece of cake (I don't know HTML code either)

AND DID I MENTION IT'S FREE?

Sounds like they want a website with a Blog, Forum, and simple web navigation.
What are they going to be blogging about?

afaik, they just want a non-public area to post information and videos.
And no, they do not want a blog or forum.
Draco...Wix sounds like I need to give it a look!!

[/quote]Draco...Wix sounds like I need to give it a look!![/quote]

Let me know if you need any help. Good luck!

and for the site.. try using webs.com. I have never tried using wix, but webs is great for a free service(minus the ads). Set one up and its easy, you can sort all of the files into folders and what not, make sure to set it up as a html only web site though. LEt me know if youre interested in it...

Wordpress dot COM is a free blogging platform whereas Wordpress dot ORG is a blogging platform you can use if you own a domain name and have hosting.

You can use the free platform but there are restrictions. It is strictly non-commercial so promoting products/selling is prohibited. It also does not support plugins. There are many free themes that you can use and you do not need to know coding to post anything. Most themes support both posts and pages and many themes are customizable. If you just want a website, use pages instead of posts. You can also password protect certain pages so only people with the password can view it.

If you use the hosted version, there are tons of plugins you can use to customize the site and even make it a membership site.

(Hope that helps...holler if you need me. I have 15 Wordpress blogs going right now...:-) )

I have checked out Yola, Wordpress, Wix, and my iWeb so far. The main trouble I have is altering a template. This chorus group doesn't need a lot of fancy widgets etc but does want it to have certain colors and layout. Of course none of the templates have the right combo of layout and color, lol.
I am not really sure how to make a Wordpress blog site into a Website!

For my portfolio site I use GetSimple http://get-simple.info/ which does not use a SQL databse. It is light and quick and simple to adapt pure CSS/html themes for use.

Not ideal if the focus is blogging, but there is a news-manager plugin for it.

The only drawback* is that it does not have built in commenting. There is a plugin (I wrote) to provide external comment support, however, so you can embed facebook, disqus, or intense debate commenting in the pages.

*I personally don't feel it is a drawback as these third party systems tend to provide more features, authentication, and span control than many built in commenting systems...

-Rob A>

Wix does have a lot of widgets due to the fact it is a "Flash Website" builder. I didn't use any of the templates for the same reason. It's easier to start from scratch, use your own background, insert your own banner (built in GIMP of course) then create the "areas" as you like them and buildf the rest of the content. The only widgets you really need is stuff like navigation buttons, links and a few others. Simplifies things quite a bit

and honestly, if you can embed facebook commenting you're probably better off anyway. You'll get a lot more comments because blog Commenting has slowed down a lot with SocMe's rise.
Related Blog Post: http://www.dailyblogtips.com/are-blog-comments-dying/

there would be no commenting or blogging needed, which does make it easier. They would like the members only by password page and an email contact page or box. The rest is just text info and photos with captions.