How to Add a Blog to a Web Site PART-1

The Sticking Point - Original Site Design

The sticking point for adding a blog to a Web site is the existing site’s original design. A lot depends on this. If the site was originally designed using web standards for the separation of code and layout/style and follows a vertically-oriented page layout, it will be quite easy for me to develop a blog design that matches it exactly or that at least bears a strong resemblance to the original.

Even if the original site is using an older code base and is designed using deprecated methods (deprecated is a term we use for methods which are no longer the standard or are acceptable), it can be done. It is accomplished by taking the graphics, color scheme, and fonts from the original site, and then using them to create a standards-compliant WordPress theme.

For sites which have been developed according to standards, the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) information is reused for the blog, with some changes and additions to accommodate the unique elements of a WordPress blog theme.
Integrating Web Site and Blog

I don’t want to get too technical here, but WordPress themes are made up of a collection of files and images inside of a folder. You upload the folder to your WordPress blog, and switch to the theme in your Presentation admin page. The files collectively are all the elements of a WordPress blog’s structural and visual design. They use special information called template tags, which are used to make your blog do its thing.

By taking your original site’s design and combining it with the CSS and template tags and files of a WordPress theme, I can create a blog design that matches (more or less) your original site. The theme can be created on my own system, so even if you don’t yet have a blog, I can develop the blog’s theme.

Because WordPress needs a database to hold all the information for the blog, a database needs to be created on your Web server. Then, the WordPress software can be installed and configured. Plugins, which enhance and extend WordPress’ functionality, are added. Then the theme can be uploaded and activated.

And now you have a blog added to your Web site!
Other Considerations

There are other considerations. One is that the original site and the blog have to link to each other so that the site’s visitors can easily go back and forth between the two. Often, entire navigation bars and other links are duplicated in the WordPress theme. A link to the blog is added to the original site’s design, and the circuit is complete.

Another is that there can be all kinds of technical glitches where the original site’s hosting configuration may not be very friendly to WordPress. The most common problem I run into is folder write permissions on the Web server. WordPress needs the ability to make changes, or, write to, the blog files. When this permission is denied, several important and necessary WordPress capabilities are blocked. So far, I’ve been able to resolve these issues every time by figuring out the technical solution or by working with my clients’ Web hosting companies.