WordPress is a good base for a dynamic site, and not to hard to configure – once you know how, but isn’t that always the way? This post documents the initial steps.

So how did it start?
First I installed WordPress into a sub-folder of this site. Using the 2010 default theme, I created a Child Theme folder, and added only those files absolutely necessary – these files override the default 2010 files – if the Child theme is active. Must have the “style.css”, with the updated site info at the top of the CSS page. Also needed are the header.php, footer.php and functions.php. Each of these are tweaked as needed. The functions.php only has the code that is different from the default. No need to duplicate the entire file.

Once this was in place I started modifying the CSS according to the design requirements, and deleting some of the features not needed out of the header and footer files.

Next I decided to use this WordPress installation for the main site. How to “move” the folder was the next issue to troubleshoot. Turns out to be dead simple – move the main index.php out of the subfolder and into the main root. Ditto for the .htaccess file. Then correct the path in the index.php. Ok, not quite so simple, but well documented here:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory

Trying to learn WordPress and Drupal at the same time, does not make it any easier. I used to think they were similar, but far from it!