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Idarac

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Why use WordPress?

I am considering a PHP website I have heard about WordPress. Why would I want to use Wordpress in my PHP website. What advantages does it give if any? How is t different from just using PHP?
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Dave Baldwin
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You should go to wordpress.org and look around.  First, Wordpress is a complete web site, you do not have to do any coding to make it work.  Second, there are many themes and templates available for it.

If you want to do your own coding, you should realize that Wordpress is designed to be coded a certain way with specific files in specific places.  To do your own coding, you should find out how Wordpress is intended to work so your code will work with it.
For starters, Wordpress is the most used content management platform on the Internet. As a matter of fact, 1 out of every 5 websites is made with Wordpress. This means that there is a huge WP developing community out there making all kinds of templates and plugins, and making it better every day. There is a plugin for virtually everything you want to do, and a template for any way you may want your website to look like. And in the rare case that you can't find a template exactly how you want it, or a plugin for a specific functionality you may need, you could buy it or hire a WP developer to make it very cheap (or maybe even do it yourself, if you have the right knowledge).

Even many seasoned PHP developers use Wordpress for their websites, since you can have it up and running in a matter of minutes. Plus the WP dashboard makes everything easy to manage. And the way it is designed, it's very Google-friendly so if SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is something you'll be doing on your website, then WP will also help you on that.

Oh, and it's open source... a.k.a. free.

That is what comes to my mind right now, feel free to ask any other questions you may have.

Hope this helps,

Eddie
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Idarac

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So do you use Wordpress by itself or in conjunction with php?

Do you make calls to Wordpress inside the php code
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Dave Baldwin
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Thanx guys for the info. Both of you gave great answers and I would have liked to give you both 500 points.
You're welcome, glad to help.
Just let us know if you have any other questions
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ASKER

I have 3 more questions I thnk t hey are easy answers.

What is custom theme development in WordPress?
What does it mean to write the themes and templates from scratch.
The client is thinking of transitioning our site from Codeigniter to Wordpress. What does that mean?
Please read about theme development here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development   There are many standard items you must include.  Moving from Codeigniter to Wordpress is probably a complete change in development methods.  But here is an experimental Wordpress plugin for using Codeigniter: http://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-code-igniter/