WPforSale

How I Built This Site

If you are new to WordPress or just curious, you may be wondering how I built this site - wpforsale.com.

It’s not rocket science, but I wanted to share my experience with you so that you may find the tools and resources I am using helpful in your next project or website.

The Theme

It would be ironic if I were using a free WordPress theme for this site, but I am not. I purchased a developer’s license, now known as the Revolution All Inclusive License, for Brian Gardner’s Revolution Theme Series. While I now have eight different themes to choose from, I settled on the original Revolution Theme.

I chose this theme for its simplicity, and quite frankly I am familiar with it. I am also a big fan of Brian’s as he offers terrific support and turns out top quality themes.

The Changes

It’s quite obvious that my site does not look like the original Revolution Theme I purchased. I made some drastic changes to the template, but that is the beauty of a template — it is a starting point.

Introducing YAML

YAML stands for Yet Another MultiColumn Layout. It is similar to the YUI grid layout system, but I just prefer YAML. They have a online layout building tool know as YAML Builder, that is the best I’ve seen. Yahoo’s online builder is a close second, but it lacks many of the features of YAML Builder.

So what do I use YAML for?

The beauty of YAML is that it is a framework. Whether you want to create a new layout for your entire site or simply create a footer layout with 3 equal boxes, you can do it with YAML.

You can use the online builder to create various designs to fit your taste. For example on my posts page (look at this page for this example), I am using YAML in the template to split the page into two equal sections - each 50% in width. In the left section, I have added my Viva Thumbs code, to post the thumbnail, and on the right the content is displayed. Pretty slick. Therefore, I never have to actually insert a image into the post. Simply uploading an image while in the post is all that is needed to create that thumbnail.

YAML not only generated the XHTML but also supplies me the CSS I need. This is a very simple example, but once you start embedding divs inside of other divs, it can get a little complicated, and this is where YAML shines. YAML is standards compliant and works with all major browsers.

The Home Page

Featured Content

The first thing I want you to notice when you enter the site is the large featured series of images. This little beauty is a free plugin courtesy of the folks at WPelements. This plugin lets you manage five different images and their links within WordPress. I created all of the images in Adobe PhotoShop - that was the most time consuming part.

Viva Carousel

Just below the Featured Content element is where I am using the Viva Carousel Plugin. This plugin creates a thumbnail of the first image uploaded to your post and then includes it, with a link to your post, within the scrollable carousel. This makes updating the home page a breeze, and also adds some movement to the home page with an Ajax flavor.

Banner Ads

Who would have thought managing ads could be this easy! Not me! But I was proven wrong with OIOpublisher.

This amazing piece of software actually has more features and abilities than I even use. I simply wanted an easy to use tool to manage banner ads with WordPress, and this delivers. Not only can you sell ads (and it handles all of that for you - you just need a PayPal account), but you can place and manage all of your ads within various zones that you can create. For example, if you want a 2×2 square of ads in your home page sidebar, but a 1×7 row of ads on your posts, you simply create the 2 zones, set your dimensions and pricing, and add the snippet of code to your template. It really works like magic once you get is installed, and the support from Simon is excellent. This plugin has been the biggest seller on this site thus far and with good reason.

Plugins

All in One SEO Pack - Essential plugin for optimizing your site for the search engines

Post-Star-Rating - This is cool little plugin that adds the 5 star rating to the various products. I am uncertain if I will keep it, but if all goes well it will remain in place.

OIOpublisher - This is the ad management plugin for WordPress

Viva Thumbs - Easy thumbnail management within WordPress

Viva Carousel - Auto thumbnail generation to scrollable carousel

Maintenance Mode - easily take your site down for maintenance so visitors can’t see your site while making changes

Featured Content Gallery - the beautiful little scrollable slideshow by WPelements.com

I hope this information is helpful.

If you are interested in having a theme customized for your business, please visit our parent site, Bernadot Studios.