Author Archive
Formatting Issues in WordPress
Question
I have a client who put up his own WordPress site. It’s nice and functional – the problem is he copied and pasted all his content into WP pages from another site we built about 2 years ago where we had put everything in from Dreamweaver or Word (and that worked – it was a Sitesell site). So the formatting is askew in some cases since he’s not allowing the css built into his template to do its job. His other site did well with some tables we had set up – WP not so much. Most of the pages are ok because they are static.
There are a few pages that we change monthly based on his upcoming teleseminars. Every time I update those pages, the formatting goes bonkers again – bolds show up where they shouldn’t, font sizes change and things that were left justified are centered, etc. Every time it’s something different and the page keep morphing like a bad Sci Fi movie. I’m thinking it’s because everything originally came from another site and wasn’t entered into the page allowing for css to do its thing. Is that the case, oh WordPress Wizard?
I have to fix this page and I’m thinking I will just do it from scratch and manually put the content in a new page using the WP formatting. If I do that, how do I get that page to be named the same as the old one without removing the old one (in case he decides he wants to go back to the crazy page)? Also, I assume if I change the font style and size in the css for say the paragraph format or the Header 2 format, that will filter through the entire site, correct? (He seems to think if I do it will change for THAT page only – he’s a dabbler and drives me crazy cleaning up after him.)
Thanks for your advice, Denise – I appreciate you and value you very much.
Blessings,
Answer
Hi Brenda,
YES – copying and pasting content from an old site is the problem and I would recommend rebuilding that page (or those pages) from scratch.
As for creating a new page (without removing the old one) – what you will need to is change the permalink for the OLD page, then publish a NEW page and make sure the permalink is set to be the same as the old one.
And yes, any changes made to the main theme stylesheet (style.css) will apply to the whole wordpress site, not just an individual page.
Hope this helps!
Denise
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My Website Does Not Bring In Virtual Assistance Clients
Question:
Denise, I have looked at all of your websites and understand that you are a professional web developer as well as a virtual assistant. Very impressive!
My question to you is this. My website is not professionally built but I did what I could with the limited resources that I had at the time. It is an HTML site. Do you recommend that I move to WordPress.com?
Thank you in advance for your answer.
Monica, San Diego, CA
Answer
WordPress.com versus WordPress.org
Hello Monica and thank you for stopping by. If you could send me the URL to your website I will be happy to look at it and make recommendations for you.
I can answer your WordPress question though. You NEVER want to have your business or professional blog on WordPress.com. The distinction between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is a very important one and one that tends to confuse a lot of people. WordPress.com allows you to build a blog but you are hosting your site on their servers, meaning that you cannot upload critical plugins, or post links to affiliate programs. Without the ability to upload plugins you will only have a blog. You cannot make it look or behave like a true website. There are also many miserable stories of people having long-time blogs hosted on WP.com only to have them shut down for a program violation. You do not want somebody else to be in charge of your business presence.
What I recommend you do is to do is install WordPress on your own server and use your own domain name. WordPress.org is free blogging software that you should be able to install directly from your C-panel. You will need a solid web host and for this we recommend HostGator.
If this is a project that you will be undertaking on your own, there are many great WordPress tutorials and forums available on the internet. Ben Cope, “The Internet Genius” offers a great FREE WordPress Tip of the Day series that are very helpful.
I hope this answer helps you and please visit again and often to submit questions about the Virtual Assistance Industry.
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