conert site to use wordpress?

[lukeurtnowski]

I have,
http://nikelantiquedolls.com/
and want to convert the whole thing to WP,
here's what I have so far,
http://nikelantiquedolls.com/wordpress/
The problem is I have a bunch of php on three of those pages.
I gather I need exec-php (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/exec-php/) for this
The question I have is did I set this up right (in creating pages (or should I create a page template and have those pages use that template so I can do away with the meta information on the pages and the leave a comment thing) and how would I even do this

Thanks...

[IRL]

For anything "special", I would definitely go for using custom page templates. That way you can practically throw anything in there.

I am however starting to wonder if you are maybe looking at the entire conversion to WP a bit wrong. I am not sure what php you have you'd like to put, but my guess is that you are loading items that are then displayed? My point is that maybe you should also build the base for all those items in the wordpress structure. In other words, you'd use articles (in their own specific categories) to act as for example doll profiles. It would seem to me you might be making a partial Wordpress conversion here?

[lukeurtnowski]

I'm pretty new to WP so I really dont know what you mean by special. I use PHP to grab pictures/info of about 15 dolls from a database (MySQL), am trying to update her current site so everything links together (right now, her blog links to v whioch is stupid as the site seems to change format (navigation) , wheras Id like to keep that uniform so Im going to try and duplicate everything on the old site (http://nikelantiquedolls.com/) to a fresh one (http://nikelantiquedolls.com/wordpress/ where I have a fresh copy of WP installed and made the menu reflect that of the old site, but for all those pages I just made it blank using the default template.
2 of those pages (Doll Collection, Doll Profiles) use PHP (to grab stuff from the DB, plus each doll uses a PHP page to display stuff in more detail). I think the default template is fine as all the menu items will have the same sidebar/header/footer for them.
So I'm sort of slow and can you explain to me how I should go about doing this? (the way you were explaining earlier)

Thanks...

[IRL]

I would say that especially since you have so few items to add, make it all based on WP. I.E. drop the old DB stuff. In the long run this will definitely be a better option. I've done this process (drop old PHP/MySQL system and reproduce in WP) for a site that had close to 500 items...

For images, I very warmly recommend the plugin NextGEN Gallery. You can create a gallery per doll, and these galleries can be placed into posts which you'd also make one of per doll. Then, just create a category for these posts, and change for exaple the Doll Collection -link to be a link to that category. It will then list all the articles on the page, and each with it's gallery.

If however you want to retain the old DB stuff, then really I suggest you look at the custom page template link I gave earlier. It has all the info to get you started, i.e. create a page template (that you choose in the page edit on the right) into which you can put your own PHP stuff.

[lukeurtnowski]

ok, I will do what you recommend and drop the old DB stuff and make it all based on WP, how do I even get started with this (Do I make a post for each doll? what about Price?)

[IRL]

Yes, one post per item whatever it is. As to the question about price, is it something that you would need to use later to e.g. order the items from cheapest to most expensive? If so, adding a custom field to a post is very simple. However, note that if you do then use custom fields, you will have to look at custom post/page types again. What I do in these custom field cases is that I create a custom page template. In this custom page template, I define that the content area pulls posts according to my variables. Then when it pulls those posts, I can write a template underneath specifying how the content of the post is presented.

Naturally if price can just be a bolded text or something of the like at the end of the post, no custom fields are needed and it gets real simple. No custom pages/post types are required either.

[lukeurtnowski]

wow, didn't know wordpress would let me do this, but let me know if im on the right track.
Ill have three categories,
1) General and 2) Antique Dolls which would be nothing more than blog posts.
3) id have a special Dolls category to add each of the 25 dolls (where id enter each dolls name (post title), the content, and lastly the price in a custom field.

Is this right?

[IRL]

Correct, and then just shove the gallery (NextGEN adds a button for it in the editor) in the content. The separate price field will allow you to for example make a list on another page that is ordered by price, and has maybe just the title in addition to the price.