Creating this website was a fun exercise, as I learned a lot about how to integrate my knowledge of XHTML/CSS design into the well-known WordPress blogging engine. WordPress can be used for pretty much anything with the right amount of customization, and converting an existing design to the format WordPress understands is fairly straight-forward. I fore-see a lot more WordPress in my web design future.

If anyone else is a strong XHTML/CSS designer and is interested in moving toward WordPress, I highly recommend this article (jestro.com) by Drew Strojny. It is a step-by-step approach to converting an existing layout into WordPress. If you understand PHP already, the process will be even easier. The article is very simple and doesn’t go in depth, but I think it covers exactly what is necessary to move past that barrier between everything else and WordPress. Trust me, once you figure this theming stuff out, you’ll never want to develop a normal PHP site again.

An obvious question would be: Why use WordPress for a website that isn’t a blog? Well, if you’ve ever tried to make your own PHP and MySQL-driven site, you will know that, while it is easy, it is ridiculously tedious. Who wants to constantly construct their own SQL queries and format it using the same old while() loops? WordPress takes care of everything for you. But simplifying it for the developer is not even the half of it. The real strength is the fact that it makes it easy for clients. You can make a site and then let the client add their own “Pages”. WordPress makes this so easy, and that is why it should be used whenever possible.