WordPress is a great tool for online writers. It’s simple and yet is such a pleasure to use. Yes, there are things that need to be improved but WordPress being an open source software, you can expect continuous improvements on it by the community.
The ease by which sites can be created and run through blogging software like WordPress allow writers previously without publishers to print their works online. The problem with using a blogging software to manage your website, however, is that the tool defines the character of your site.
Once in a while, I see blogs that seem better off presented as online magazines or news websites rather than as blogs.
WordPress, however, is an extensible website content management system that can be used to run magazine-type websites. Here are steps I took to turn this online magazine on Cebu from a blog into its current presentation. I’m still working on it, though, so you might encounter issues. (Update Jan. 9, 2008: I have redesigned the site. It’s now using an even better theme that I’m still working on. I will be releasing this theme soon.)
For those interested, I will be releasing this theme (based on Nautica05 of Open Source Templates) and in two flavors: one as one-click install blogging template and another as framework for a magazine-type website.
Categories as sections
Like any blog software, WordPress displays articles, regardless of categories, in reverse chronology, with the newest entries posted first. This publication format is what usually bugs site owners who want to produce a magazine website using a blogging software.
In Cebu Living’s case, site owners wanted to publish shorter news articles without these posts pushing down feature articles they wanted to highlight. You can, of course, highlight the feature articles by listing it in the sidebar but there’s an even better way of doing this in WordPress–by using categories to manage website sections and then fetching the stories by category in the homepage. (Click on photo to view larger image of how sections are managed in the site.)
What Cebu Living did was assign the biggest story (equivalent to a newspaper’s page 1 banner article) to a Banner category and the articles they want to highlight (to serve as the site’s second, third or fourth story) to a Feature category.
Technically, the banner story should also be in the Feature category since it is a post you want to feature but to prevent it being displayed twice in the homepage (one as banner and another as part of the latest stories section), the banner story isn’t assigned to the Feature category yet. It is only assigned to that category when there is a new banner story. In effect, it becomes the site’s 2nd biggest story and goes down in the news value hierarchy as you add newer banner stories.
Index page as portal
With the stories getting their category assignments, the index.php file is then edited to display articles in blocks of categories. In Cebu Living’s case, the site uses three blocks: one to call the banner, another to display the recent feature stories and the last block to contain news and link posts to articles about Cebu.
To display articles in category blocks, do not use the WordPress loop to generate the articles. Delete The Loop in your index.php starting from: <?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?> until <?php endwhile; else: ?>
<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.'); ?></p>
<?php endif; ?>
Replace it with category listings using this code by Rhymed Code:
<?php $posts = get_posts( "category=12&numberposts=4" ); ?>
<?php if( $posts ) : ?>
<?php foreach( $posts as $post ) : setup_postdata( $post ); ?>
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<?php the_content("Continue reading '" . the_title('', '', false) . "'"); ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
What the code above does is display the four most recent posts under category 12. Change the category number to your category’s actual numerical ID (go to Manage > Categories and list the IDs of your categories). If you only want to list the headlines, take out this part of the code: <?php the_content("Continue reading '" . the_title('', '', false) . "'"); ?>
Just change the styling of the post elements to reflect your website’s style sheet.
If you change your index.php using the steps listed above, you need to have a category.php file with the WordPress loop or readers will be presented with your homepage when they try to view category pages.
Category pages
According to the WordPress Codex, when WordPress displays a category page, it looks for a category-(numericalID of category).php template file and if it can’t find one, for a category.php file, and if there isn’t one, for an archive.php file and if all these aren’t present, it will use the index.php file. The stories under the category are then listed using the WordPress loop.
This hierarchy of files to be used to display the category allows you to control the layout of your category pages to mimic the display of website sections. Say your news category ID is 6, you can control how the News category page looks by editing the category-6.php file. You can even display a different header for each category by changing the <?php get_header(); ?> code at the top of the file with <?php include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/filename of header for your category.php') ; ?> to display a different header for a particular category page. Just copy your current header.php and then edit the part that displays header elements such as logos, menu items or images.
Summary blurbs
Many magazines have one-paragraph summaries of or introductions to the article. You can do this in your WordPress-powered magazine by including a summary or introduction in the Optional Excerpt just below the Upload window in the Write Post interface. You can then display the summary by using the <?php the_excerpt(); ?> code in your single.php file.
You can style it as a floating div if you want, with a different background color to make it stand out. For this to work, however, you need to write an excerpt for your article. If you do not specify one, WordPress will print as excerpt the first 120 words of the post-so you’ll end up with duplicate text in your article page if you use article summaries and intros using the excerpt.
Those familiar with more portal-type or publication-oriented CMS may say that you’d be better off using another package like Props or Drupal but hey, you can do it with WordPress. I can’t say how this compares with Drupal because I haven’t tried using it extensively. I’ve long been planning to experiment with it, though.
Compared with Props, however, I see the above setup as a better solution if you’re a small group that wants to put up an online publication. Props is more rigid and handles content by issue dates. Last time I checked (and it wasn’t an extensive test although I’ve also been meaning to try it for so long), you handle all stories by publication staging.
Props is a solution for more traditional publication companies with teams of editors and reporters and with specific publication cycles like daily newspapers or weekly news magazines.
(Note: I used a webzine as an example for this article. I am currently creating a news website using the techniques I listed above. When I finish it, I’ll write another blog post about it. Sign up for my e-mail alerts or RSS feed to be notified when I post it.)
154 responses so far ↓
Tim Germer // Aug 6, 2006 at 2:42 am
This is one area I’m excited to see gain momentum. I have a site running Textpattern, primarily because it makes the distinction between section and categories, etc. really easy. The problem with Textpattern (among others) is that the development seems to have slowed, when compared to Wordpress.
Dominic // Aug 7, 2006 at 5:43 am
Great post Tim!
I run several news/portal sites that I originally started with Joomla but then ported to Wordpress because I found Wordpress much easier to manage.
Milo Riano // Aug 7, 2006 at 2:52 pm
Thanks man,
Been looking around for a similar post…
Max Limpag // Aug 7, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Dominic,
You mean Max?
I agree, content is easier to manage and produce in WordPress.
Tim,
It has a TextPattern import script.
Why not transfer to WordPress?
Milo,
Thanks for the feedback. It’s great to hear that you find it useful.
Greg // Aug 7, 2006 at 4:56 pm
Great Post there - i never realised it was so easy or i would have set my blog up that way years ago!
jhay // Aug 7, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Cool! Would do some tests to get the feel of it. Then, I would adopt it to be used in my organization’s site. Thanks!
Ryan Opaz // Aug 7, 2006 at 7:09 pm
I’ve tried to do this on my site, somewhat in a similar manner. In the end I agree, Wordpress can be more of a CMS software tool rather than just a blogging tool.
jhay // Aug 7, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Just one minor detail…where’s the download link to the theme?
Max Limpag // Aug 7, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Jhay,
I’ll post the first version of the theme (for bloggers) as soon as I finish the news pages tonight. But you can preview it at http://sandbox.limpag.com/ there’s a theme switcher there if it’s not the default theme. The theme version for magazine-type sites will be released later.
Lorelle // Aug 7, 2006 at 10:45 pm
Max:
I’m sure you saw 4.5 WordPress Category Templates - The Custom Category Template in the WordPress Codex, but I thought I’d point it out for others as it features a LOT of customization code for really styling your category.php template file. I use it.
Weblog Tools Collection » How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website at Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments // Aug 8, 2006 at 3:15 am
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website at Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments Here are steps I took to turn this online magazine on Cebu from a blog into its current presentation. [...]
The White Blog - The Personal Weblog of Oliver White » Why do it yourself… // Aug 8, 2006 at 3:52 am
[...] I had a similar ‘what if’ idea a while back that centred around changing the frontpage of a WordPress blog so it looked and functioned more like a magazine. It would be really useful for a project I have started recently (don’t get your knickers all twisted, we’re talking of at least six months here) but was only an idea lurking in the back of my mind. And now it has been done - http://living.cebunetwork.com/. You can view the authors notes here, including a screenshot of why Cebu Living is slightly different to a normal WordPress blog. Tags: WordPress, blog [...]
How to use WordPress to Run a Magazine News Website by Blogging Pro // Aug 8, 2006 at 4:11 am
[...] How to use WordPress to Run a Magazine News Website Max Limpag has posted about his work converting WordPress to run a magazine/news website. WordPress, however, is an extensible website content management system that can be used to run magazine-type websites. Here are steps I took to turn this online magazine on Cebu from a blog into its current presentation. I’m still working on it, though, so you might encounter issues. [...]
Dominic // Aug 8, 2006 at 4:32 am
Yes I do mean Max. Sorry
jhay // Aug 8, 2006 at 6:55 am
Oh, okay. Thanks, will watch out for it soon enough.
tim boucher // Aug 8, 2006 at 7:35 am
Oh cool, this has been the same sort of goal I have been trying to implement in a somewhat different way at one of my websites: Pop Occulture Magazine. The main page has just the synopsis of the latest articles, but you can get a whole host of other features on the “Articles” page and I pulled in RSS from other sites I run on the “Network” page. It’s great to see other people moving WordPress in this direction!
Poldo // Aug 8, 2006 at 9:13 am
Ooohh…Max, this is featured in the wp-dashboard of wordpress. Way to go! Congrats and goodluck with the theme!
Akkam’s Razor // Aug 8, 2006 at 9:23 am
[...] I blogged for this via my del.icio.us account, and lo-and-behold, the lazyweb delivers - here's a theme that makes your Wordpress powered site appear like a magazine. Via WeblogToolsCollection. Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Nautica05-WordPress theme released at Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments // Aug 8, 2006 at 1:24 pm
[...] I’ve released the nautica05-wordpress theme, a template based on the open source Nautica05 design posted at the Open Source Templates site by Studio7Designs. I used the Nautica05 template in turning this Cebu blog into a webzine, which I discussed in my previous blog post. [...]
Max Limpag // Aug 8, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Lorelle,
Hi. Boy is it great to see you comment here :-). Yes, custom category template is great for presenting different categories as “website sections” by changing their layouts.
Dominic,
It’s ok
Jhay, Poldo,
The theme version for bloggers is now released. I’ll have to add the PSD of the header image as I forgot to upload it last night. I’ll be releasing the version for webzines later.
neon // Aug 8, 2006 at 7:21 pm
This came exactly in the right time. I am thinking about news portal for one of my sites. Never thought about the WP. Thanks for a tip.
nonimage » Blog Archive » links for 2006-08-08 // Aug 9, 2006 at 6:20 am
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website (tags: wordpress hacks tuitorials magazines) [...]
जà¥?गाड़ी लिंक|Cool Links » Daily Links // Aug 9, 2006 at 11:18 am
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Note To Self - Using WordPress To Run A Magazine Site // Aug 9, 2006 at 12:02 pm
[...] Max Limpag has written an interesting article about modifying WordPress to run a magazine-style website, with distinct sections for different subjects, as an alternative to a linear chronological weblog. [...]
Note To Self // Aug 9, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Using WordPress To Run A Magazine Site…
Max Limpag has written an interesting article about modifying WordPress to run a magazine-style website, with distinct sections for different subjects, as an alternative to a linear chronological weblog.
A lot of the techniques should be familiar to se…
ruthnb.com » Blog Archive » links for 2006-08-09 // Aug 9, 2006 at 12:27 pm
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website at Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments (tags: wordpress magazine howto design blog tutorial webdesign) [...]
How to run a magazine on WordPress at backwhack - tech news web 2.0 style // Aug 9, 2006 at 6:25 pm
[...] It’s no secret that with a little elbow-grease and know-how, popular open source blogging tool WordPress is a pretty versatile platform for web publishing. To that end, writer Leon Kilat has written a nice guide called How to use WordPress to run a mazine, news website. He describes the process of building Cebu Living, an attractive webzine powered by WordPress. Like I said, a little elbow grease is required, so this isn’t for you if your knees shake at the sight of a little PHP code, but if you want to know how to turn your blog into something more than a blog, Kilat’s tutorial is a good starting point. [...]
Basic Thinking Blog » mit Wordpress ein Online-Magazin realisieren // Aug 9, 2006 at 6:48 pm
[...] Bei Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments gibt es einen prima Praxisartikel: How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website: WordPress, however, is an extensible website content management system that can be used to run magazine-type websites. Here are steps I took to turn this online magazine on Cebu from a blog into its current presentation. I’m still working on it, though, so you might encounter issues [...]
Lorelle on WordPress » Using WordPress to Publish a Magazine or News Site // Aug 9, 2006 at 8:13 pm
[...] Max Limpag of Cybercafe Experiments explains how to use WordPress to run a magazine and/or news website. Once in a while, I see blogs that seem better off presented as online magazines or news websites rather than as blogs. [...]
Hacer de Wordpress una Revista Virtual at Blogultura.com // Aug 9, 2006 at 11:51 pm
[...] Hacer de Wordpress una Revista Virtual Published by AkUzZeR 14 hours, 51 minutes ago in Wordpress. Tags: Wordpress. Gracias a la facilidad en el manejo del código de Wordpress podemos realizar cambios a nuestro gusto y poder hacer de Wordpress lo que mejor nos plazca. Ahora, en Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments, nos muestra en un pequeño tutorial (inglés) como realizar los cambios para convertir nuestro Wordpress en una Revista Virtual o Webzine. Enlace: How to Use Wordpress tu run a magazine, news website Via: Download Squad [...]
Abhijit Nadgouda @ iface » More Interesting Uses Of Wordpress // Aug 10, 2006 at 1:09 am
[...] href=”http://max.limpag.com/2006/08/05/how-to-use-wordpress-magazine-news-cms/”>using Wordpress for online magazines. Max says: WordPress, however, is an extensible website content management system that can be used to run magazine-type websites. Here are steps I took to turn this online magazine on Cebu from a blog into its current presentation. [...]
Markus Pezold // Aug 10, 2006 at 1:24 am
Thanks for your Post about running a magazine with Wordpress. There are a view points to think about. For my magazine Mysteria3000 (www.mysteria3000.de) I use Wordpress since 2005. With some tricks Wordpress is a great and fast CMS.
Mark Boudreau // Aug 12, 2006 at 12:18 am
This is very cool. I have been unhappy with the design of my site The Rock and Roll Report on Typepad for some time now and I have been planning on implementing a development server with WordPress to experiment with. This gives me something cool to shoot for.
gabinetedeinformatica.net » Blog Archive » Cómo utilizar Wordpress para que sea una revista online // Aug 12, 2006 at 1:50 am
[...] Si quieres montarte un diario online con un CMS como Wordpress tienes un interesante artÃculo en inglés de cómo hacer los cambios necesarios para transformarlo en una revista online. [...]
AK47 | IT风月 » links for 2006-08-12 // Aug 12, 2006 at 9:19 am
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Using WordPress as CMS | blogHelper // Aug 13, 2006 at 12:29 am
[...] And if the coverage a recent post on using WordPress to run a magazine or news website got is indicative of the interest people have in pushing the limits of WP, then there’s still a whole bucket load of it now. [...]
links for 2006-08-09 at super hanc petram // Aug 13, 2006 at 1:27 am
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website at Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments (tags: blog magazine media) [...]
Marek // Aug 14, 2006 at 3:59 am
Hi, great text. Can I do something similar in blogspot service? This idea to prioritize posts through the post category is clever.
Max Limpag // Aug 14, 2006 at 4:05 am
Marek,
The last time I worked with Blogger, it wasn’t implementing categories. Does it have categories now?
Markus Merz // Aug 14, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Nice article how to tweak WP to do the same what is possible out-of-the-box with Textpattern. For beginners setting up a new domain I would really recommend to have a look at Textpattern before hacking WP.
In Textpattern it is possible by default to use sections. Each section can use it’s own CSS and page template. Another nice effect is that you have a new clean URL for the section which shows up as a sub-folder.
Listing articles in separate i.e. CSS boxes is easily accomplished by the wonderful article_custom tag in Textpattern.
And of course you can always add a new section whenever you have the desire to do so.
Marek // Aug 15, 2006 at 5:05 am
Max, that’s right: no categories in blogspot
Max Limpag // Aug 15, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Markus,
Thanks for the feedback. I have been planning to try TextPattern to check its features out.
The clean URL for the section, however, can also be implemented in WordPress by specifying that categories be included in the permalink. Sections can also be implemented in WordPress by using custom category pages and you can use a different CSS by calling a different CSS file.
Attack of the Rob Bot! - proof that I use the internet » links for 2006-08-09 // Aug 19, 2006 at 2:09 am
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine (tags: wordpress projects) [...]
raj // Aug 21, 2006 at 12:14 pm
In answer to Marek’s question above, yeah, I believe you can pull this off in a similar way in Blogger.com, but not with category-based distinction. On the other hand, visit beta.blogger.com to see the new “labels” that Google is trying for the next version of Blogger.
While there is an easy to used Ajaxified interface, I’ve only breezed through it, so I’m not sure if you can pull off what Max is doing above. You can, however, put emphasis on a “permanent” section at the top. This section could be manually changed to emphasize an abstract for whatever post, and link to other important posts. It’ll be similar but not precisely the same.
Rudd-O // Aug 21, 2006 at 9:16 pm
You may want to take a look at the Main categories for WordPress to make your sections configurable and dynamic instead of having to hack the theme, and it supports widgets!
http://rudd-o.com/projects/wp-list-main-cats/
Maybe a followup to this post using this plugin would be good?
Soojus Ja Valgus » Blog Archive » hoi // Aug 23, 2006 at 7:30 am
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Silent Lucidity » links for 2006-08-29 // Aug 30, 2006 at 1:52 pm
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website WordPress, is an extensible website content management system that can be used to run magazine-type websites. (tags: blogs howto blog-project diy e-zines wordpress) [...]
kyantonius.com - daily babblings! » Blog Archive » Links Collection // Aug 31, 2006 at 4:25 pm
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website (via Weblog Tools Collection) posted by Kemas Antonius on August 31, 2006 @ 5:32 am | Add comment [...]
links for 2006-09-05 at Duane Brown’s Blog // Sep 5, 2006 at 1:23 pm
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website at Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments Using wodpress to launch an online magazine (tags: magazine wordpress howto tutorial community DIY) [...]
Utopia Parkway » Blog Archive » links for 2006-09-06 // Sep 7, 2006 at 11:08 am
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website at Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments (tags: wordpress) [...]
SS // Sep 11, 2006 at 10:24 am
Hi Max,
Just wondering if you’ve made the theme at your Sandbox site available yet? I am a re-thinking the design of Cinephile Magazine right now and the Sandbox theme you’ve ported seems right for me. It is more CMS oriented and not so much a blog.
Thanks for any help.
Best Regards,
SS
SS // Sep 12, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Correction: Hi Max, I actually meant the newsportal-wp. When will that be ready for distribution?
Thanks!
Best,
SS
Wordpress als CMS - ein Fallbeispiel » die Netzspielwiese // Sep 12, 2006 at 6:25 pm
[...] Leon Kilat: How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website. Er benutzt hierbei eine frisierte Index.php und arbeitet vaD hauptsächlich mit den Kategorien. Da man aufgrund der Eigenheit von Wordpress Artikel je nach Kategorie ganz unterschiedlich darstellen kann. So könnte man zB eine Category-18.php Templatedatei erstellen, dann eine normale Category.php und eine Archive.php. Ruft ein User die Kategorie 18 auf (die Datenbank-ID dieser Kategorie, nicht die für den Leser angezeigte Kategoriebezeichnung), versucht Wordpress, die Templatedatei Category-18.php zu laden. Findet es keine, checkt es nach der category.php, dann nach der archive.php und wenn keine dieser Dateien gefunden wurde, wird eben die Index.php (Muss-Datei) geladen. Der Category-18.php kann man ein eigenes Layout (zB ein anderes Headerbild, 5 statt 10 Artikel in Vollansicht, zusätzliche Sidebar rechts…) verpassen. Und darin liegt bereits der Trick verborgen, auf dem Leon aufbaut. (via basic thinking) [...]
Max Limpag // Sep 13, 2006 at 1:16 pm
SS,
I’m planning to finish it in a few more weeks.
Clair // Sep 18, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Here’s something I am not quite sure how to do: have an excerpt of the latest news in one category of the blog show up on the front page sidebar. In this case, I am using WordPress as a CMS in general, not really as a news portal. Maybe you have an idea?
I am fairly new into using WP as a CMS 
Thanks!
Max Limpag // Sep 19, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Clair,
You can do it by using the code to grab posts by categories and replace the content in the WordPress loop with the excerpt. Just place the code in the sidebar. If you just want it to appear in the front page sidebar, you can just use conditional tags.
Mike G // Sep 22, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Guru, you are a genius with this theme. I have worked my site around your theme and am pleased with the results. Although, I am struggling on 2 issues. 1) How are you able to place posts in other pages other than the main page? (ie. the four links under the header image) 2) How do you link the left side pics to posts? http://www.az3sixty.com. Thanks.
Max Limpag // Sep 22, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Hi Mike, I’ll answer you in a few hours. It’s crunch time in the newsroom right now and I’m still chasing a few page deadlines
Big Bad Reviews » Blog Archive » links for 2006-09-22 // Sep 24, 2006 at 12:37 am
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website (tags: wordpress design) [...]
Craig Hartel // Oct 1, 2006 at 3:52 am
Is the newsportal-wp theme available for download? It rocks!
Mike G // Oct 3, 2006 at 1:45 am
Max, as busy as you must be, I figured I would drop you one last email summoning your powers. I remain at a stand still, struggling on the same 2 issues. 1) How are you able to place posts in other pages other than the main page? (ie. the four links under the header image) 2) How do you link the left side pics to posts? Thanks for your assistance.
Max Limpag // Oct 4, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Mike,
I’m sorry. I’ve been downed by flu these past couple of days. On your questions.
1) How are you able to place posts in other pages other than the main page? (ie. the four links under the header image)
—Use categories. In Cebu Living (living.cebunetwork.com), for example, the links under the header image are for stories on Food, Places, Events. What the site does is assign stories any of the three categories and they will be displayed there. You can then replace the link under the header image with the respective links to their categories.
2) How do you link the left side pics to posts?
–Just choose a post you want to highlight and and a small image to go with it and then edit the link in the thumbnail ul classes in leftbar.php thus:
Lete me know if you need more help.
Dan L // Oct 7, 2006 at 2:08 am
How do I point certain articles to the pages linked below the banner? I can’t seem to figure it out!
I know it has to do with categories, but Im not sure what I should be doing in the code versus what I should be doing in Wordpress (creating pages, etc)
Please help!
Best,
Dan
David Newberger // Oct 12, 2006 at 7:06 am
Max,
You have me holding my breath that newsportal-wp will be out soon. It fits with 2 projects already that I am planning plus a few others that are done already.
I can’t wait to get my hands on that template.
How to use WordPress to Run a Magazine News Website « Wordpress Updates // Oct 17, 2006 at 4:30 am
[...] Max Limpag has posted about his work converting WordPress to run a magazine/news website. WordPress, however, is an extensible website content management system that can be used to run magazine-type websites. Here are steps I took to turn this online magazine on Cebu from a blog into its current presentation. I’m still working on it, though, so you might encounter issues. [...]
PYM // Oct 19, 2006 at 10:20 am
I spent a good part of the summer transforming one of my company’s websites. It’s now a wordpress-powered news/editorial and marketing/membership site. It’s still growing, but I’m impressed with WordPress’ abilities and the community that surrounds it. I use slightly different code (query posts) to generate multiple loops as needed.
» links for 2006-10-19 // Oct 24, 2006 at 2:12 am
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website | Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments wordpress magazine (tags: wit, worpdress magazine) No Tags [...]
Craig Hartel // Nov 9, 2006 at 5:31 am
Hi!
Any possibility that the newsportal-wp theme will be made available in the near future? It’s a work of art!
Jam // Nov 14, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Hello Max!
I think the newsportal-wp theme is very cool. I am planning to run a news site for Pinoy Music and I need a theme for it. It would be cool if I could use that one. Is it available for download?
Thanks
Craig Hartel // Nov 30, 2006 at 7:03 am
Max,
Would you be willing to pass along the files you have and allow others to work on the theme in order to get it finished? I would dearly love to do this and share with the WP community.
If so, you could email them to me here:
nuclearmoose at gmail dot com.
Much appreciated!
blog.Firesnake.net » links for 2006-12-04 // Dec 5, 2006 at 2:14 am
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website | Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments WordPress, however, is an extensible website content management system that can be used to run magazine-type websites. Here are steps I took to turn this online magazine on Cebu from a blog into its current presentation. I’m still working on it, though, (tags: wordpress howto guide magazine design tutorial blog customize news tool tools layout) [...]
johnny // Dec 12, 2006 at 1:51 pm
We have used wordpress for ages now…and to be honest I do not know of another program that is as flexible as this program for building great sites. Real easy to use…wicked for adding content, effective in marketing… And great if you wanna bespoke your theme. Check out http://www.feedmecoolshit.com maybe it will give you guys some inspiration…and feel free to hit me up anytime if you have questions.
Run a Webzine at After Issue Crawler // Feb 5, 2007 at 12:00 pm
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website | Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments [...]
Andy Donnan // Feb 10, 2007 at 6:26 am
Max,
I have read through all of the comments seeing if anyone had continued with this magazine style project and made it available for the lazy. I am trying to get my school’s newspaper online, and our tv studio video content online. WP’s easy to use interface is why I want to stick with it. Is this modification going to work with Wordpress 2.1? What might I need changing before I go hacking up what we already have. Love any comment/help.
Max Limpag // Feb 11, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Andy,
Yes, it works with WordPress 2.1. I’m using it for a site that runs on the lastes WordPress release.
Kabir // Feb 26, 2007 at 11:37 am
Is it possible to get newsportal-wp theme? I saw several people have already requested it. I was amazed to see it.
wann.es » Blog Archive » links for 2007-03-04 // Mar 4, 2007 at 8:38 am
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website | Leon Kilat ::: The Cybercafe Experiments (tags: wordpress magazine blog tutorial media) [...]
Michael Thurlow // Mar 9, 2007 at 1:42 am
Max, can you contact me via email about using the your webzine template for my website? I think your template can make the site much easier to maintain and look good too. I’m looking for some help setting it up.
Connie // Mar 10, 2007 at 10:57 am
You are such a sanity saver, Max. I’m doing a site for my kids’ school, managed to install WordpressMU (we’re really ambitious with the project) then got stumped with the layout.
Now if I can just manage to understand the technical details you posted… hehehe
Max Limpag // Mar 12, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Hi Connie,
You can do it! But there’s an even better way of doing it. I’ll blog about it in the next few days, after I finish publishing my posts on the Sweep awards.
Connie // Mar 13, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Max, I managed to install a block on the index page for a few thumbnails of the latest “photo gallery” entry and another block for a “feature”! Yippee! Waiting for your new post.
WordPress 2 (Visual QuickStart Guide) at WPThemesPlugin.com - Wordpress Themes | Plugins | Blogs // Mar 15, 2007 at 4:01 pm
[...] How to use WordPress to run a magazine, news website [...]
latest news // Mar 30, 2007 at 1:18 am
Very nice designe and clean look , great for every news site with wordpress
Allan // Apr 1, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Hi,
I was wondering if you can help me out with a website link or so, that illustrates the steps that need to be followed inorder to add an Adsense advert, alike the one you have, right at the start of any post.
Thanks!
Allan.
So You Want to Make Money Online: An Extensive Guide to T-Shirt Affiliate Marketing // Apr 4, 2007 at 10:06 am
[...] can can be designed to look like a magazine or professional store. See this tip on tweaking [...]
Web Design & Net.Art » Blog Archive » Making a blog fit your webdesign // Apr 11, 2007 at 11:51 pm
[...] http://max.limpag.com/2006/08/05/how-to-use-wordpress-magazine-news-cms/ [...]
javi // Apr 16, 2007 at 1:33 am
where can i download newsportal theme? thankx!
Jen // Apr 22, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Well, I haven’t given WP a shot yet, but I’m thinking of adding it for the news section on my site. It has such a classy look. Thanks for the article and the info! Much appreciated.
the english guy // May 2, 2007 at 7:13 pm
You should try the News Print v2.0 theme then, three or four columns (you choose), featured post, newspaper look, very customizable.
telemac0 » Blog Archive » Wordpress come NewsMagazine CMS // May 20, 2007 at 7:38 pm
[...] da parte dell’editore; a questo proposito, i suggerimenti di personalizzazione presenti su questo articolo sono più che utili; si basano sulla “destrutturazione” del classico index.php che [...]
Showcase of sites using WordPress as a CMS » WebGrrrl.net // Jun 3, 2007 at 2:16 pm
[...] “The good life in the beautiful island.” I’m not sure if you can categorize Cebu Living as a CMS since the only customization was done on the first page to show the latest post excerpt on top, and 3-column layout beneath it; the rest of the site maintains a blog feeling, which I’m guessing is what the site owner wanted anyways. The site even has problems loading up the images in its post, which could be a frustrating issue for its site visitors. One part I particularly like about the site is its horizontal category menu, although I first thought that the subtext below each category name were sub-categories. Now if they WERE sub-categories and are individually linked, that would be cool. Leon Kilat described how he built this site as a magazine CMS. [...]
News website » SilentBits | WordPress, Themes, Plugins, News, Blogging, Design, theme wordpress, plugins wordpress, blog wordpress, template wordpress, tip wordpress, tag wordpress, free theme wordpress, tutorial wordpress, blog theme wordpress, ads // Jun 13, 2007 at 6:25 pm
[...] The link is here: max.limpag.com [...]
estan // Jun 16, 2007 at 12:53 pm
bai, nangita ko ug about wordpress as cms and stumbled upon your site. grabe, i was quite proud nga usa ka cebuano speaker ang gipanglink sa mga major pro bloggers! keep it up bai!
Don Ray // Jun 20, 2007 at 6:16 am
I know Terry over at Kineda uses Wordpress and it’s one of the best magazine looking blogs online:
http://www.kineda.com
telemac0 » Blog Archive » Piegare il WordPress engine ai propri scopi. // Jun 30, 2007 at 8:46 pm
[...] di essere stato sufficientemente dettagliato. La fonte di ispirazione iniziale è stato sicuramente http://max.limpag.com, che ancora ringrazio. Buon lavoro a chiunque si [...]
ChickTech.net » Run an Online Magazine With Wordpress // Jul 2, 2007 at 3:06 am
[...] How to Use Wordpress to Run a Magazine, News Website [...]
How to use WordPress to run a News Portal–Abhishek Kumar // Jul 4, 2007 at 3:53 pm
[...] is possible to launch a news portal or magazine type of website by using wordpress. Max Limpag has written an interesting article about modifying WordPress to run a magazine-style website, with [...]
Start your own Online Magazine or News Website using Free Content Management System Software - Wordpress | www.chalai.com // Jul 6, 2007 at 5:48 am
[...] got stunned to see the vast and great information, when I gone through Max Limpag’s Blog which won “The Phillipine Blog Awards - Best Technology [...]
5 things you may not know about Wordpress : Pingable.org | Blogging & Design // Jul 19, 2007 at 5:48 pm
[...] 3) You can organize posts and articles on your homepage/index page using category groups instead of just listing them in reverse chronological order like a standard blog. My homepage is organized this way. Using this method you can organize your Wordpress like like a news site or magazine. Investigate yourself using Max.limpag.com [...]
Wordpress As A CMS Links » Stunslinger.com Blog // Jul 21, 2007 at 12:52 pm
[...] Wordpress for a News/Magazine Site While I have not tried to run a news magazine site, and the example isn’t really a huge variation on traditional blogs, there are some useful concepts here. [...]
Robert // Jul 24, 2007 at 9:57 am
Hey, the post and comments have been quite helpful in messing around with some other themes, but I haven’t seen anything else quite like the newsportal-wp theme in your sandbox. It looks awesome so far, I was wondering if you have any plans to release it?
Darren // Aug 7, 2007 at 10:11 am
I found your site via StumbleUpon, ironic as I just blogged about creating magazine-style layouts for WP. Sounds like we were thinking along the same lines (though I’m twelve months behind you!).