Wordpress Integration

[CathrynGray]

I've noticed there is a wealth of knowledge about customizing from Blogger in the forum, but I'm working with Wordpress.

I'm wanting to mirror my Wordpress theme (http://cathryngray.com) into my Smugmug, like Leo Laporte's site (http://leoville.com). However, I'm having difficulties doing this. Has anyone been able to do it that would have some pointers? Or does anyone know somewhere to find some?

Thanks in advance,
:) Cathryn

[Andy]

Hello. There's a reason for this... Wordpress is really, really hard to customize. I'm sorry abou that. I use Blogger http://blog.moonriverphotography.com to make my blog match my website.

The flaming mad icon? :rolleyes

[CathrynGray]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for responding. I actually have my header up and running now, but I'm lacking with knowledge of how SmugMug styles itself.

If you visit my blog, CathrynGray.com (http://cathryngray.com), I'm in need of styling the bottom of my SmugMug like this. With the dark blue border and light blue middle column. Seems simple enough when I type it out, but my brain has been turned into mush at this point.

Any advice?

(SmugMug: CathrynGray.SmugMug.com (http://cathryngray.smugmug.com))

..And yes the angry icon, I was getting very frustrated at the time. ;)

[FotoTrek]

Did you give up on SmugMug? I am still in the deciding stages of whether to join SmugMug or not. I currently photoblog using Wordpress, and am finding it difficult to get any helpful information as to how the two can be merged into one site. Nobody can even tell me what happens if I point the CNAME to SmugMug. Does SmugMug then take over my website and what happens to the current Wordpress blog I have there now?

[Andy]

Nobody can even tell me what happens if I point the CNAME to SmugMug. Does SmugMug then take over my website and what happens to the current Wordpress blog I have there now?
I can tell you :)

You'd do this, typically:

http://yourdomain.com cnames to domains.smugmug.com and that's your photos

blog.yourdomain.com goes to your blog :)

I'm sorry I can't help with wordpress, but Blogger matches up perfectly to my Smuggy site:

http://www.moonriverphotography.com
http://blog.moonriverphotography.com

[FotoTrek]

Okay, Finally someone making a bit of sense out of this... but not totally.

Would my homepage then be the Smugmug page? I have Wordpress loaded onto my server, it doesn't point there from anywhere else.

[Andy]

Okay, Finally someone making a bit of sense out of this... but not totally.

Would my homepage then be the Smugmug page? I have Wordpress loaded onto my server, it doesn't point there from anywhere else.
Homepage can be whatever you want - but in my example, yes, it'd be your smuggy homepage

[DrDavid]

I want to echo Andy.. Blogger is relatively easy to do. Wordpress is a lot harder.

Blogger takes us about 1-2 hours to do. Wordpress, well, depending on how fancy, can take dozens. We can do a 'good enough' job in a few hours, but, a real skin is a TON of work.

David

[TuttleImages]

I've given up on making the two sites identical and totally integrated - but my solution was to take the CSS from my WP site and customize the SM site using it - and I bought two URL's that are so darn near identical, that most people will probably not realize that they have gone to two different places.

http://www.tuttleimages.com - WP
http://www.tuttlesimages.com - SM

-frank

[jcdill]

Did you give up on SmugMug? I am still in the deciding stages of whether to join SmugMug or not. I currently photoblog using Wordpress, and am finding it difficult to get any helpful information as to how the two can be merged into one site. Nobody can even tell me what happens if I point the CNAME to SmugMug. Does SmugMug then take over my website and what happens to the current Wordpress blog I have there now?

You can do it the way Andy outlined.

But if you already have a lot of links going to your blog URL (at www.yourname.com) and you want those links to remain as is, you can keep your blog at www.yourname.com and cname your smugmug site to a different subdomain other than www. My smugmug site is at portfolio.jcdill.com rather than www.jcdill.com - I'm going to use www for the blog and some other stuff. (Right now it's a very boring placeholder page.)

It's a tiny bit more complicated to setup your smugmug site on a different subdomain because A) the tutorials assume you want it at www and B) you need to have a DSN host who supports other subdomains and C) you have to figure out how to setup the subdomain at your DNS host - setting up www is easy, setting up something else isn't usually quite as easy.

[DrDavid]

http://www.tuttleimages.com - WP
http://www.tuttlesimages.com - SM

You should have used:

www.tuttleimages.com
and
blog.tuttleimages.com

You're just splitting your page rank, and making it harder on yourself for *no* good reason.

Blogger: blog.tuttleimages.com CNAME ghs.google.com
SmugMug: www.tuttleimages.com CNAME domains.smugmug.com

It's not that hard. I swear!

David

[Tim Kamppinen]

David,

I have http://www.timkphotography.com (my smugmug site) and http://blog.timkphotography.com, which is my blog (through blogger). Someone on another forum told me that this was splitting up my page rankings because they're not actually hosted on the same site, even though the domains are the same. They basically said that the only way to get all the hits going to the same place is to host your blog on the same site, as with a wordpress blog (although this isn't possible as far as I know with a smugmug site). Is this true? Based on your reply to tuttle images it would appear not...

(BTW if you look at the sites and the headers don't match up, it's because I'm in the process of changing them... currently the old one is still on my blog)

[DrDavid]

David,

I have http://www.timkphotography.com (my smugmug site) and http://blog.timkphotography.com, which is my blog (through blogger). Someone on another forum told me that this was splitting up my page rankings because they're not actually hosted on the same site
Technically, it will be seen as two sites, but, logically, they really are two separate sites! So, it makes perfect sense to do exactly what you've done. If page rank is your ONLY concern, you might prefer to do it another way, but, with blogger and SmugMug limitations, you'll be hard pressed to make the logic work. You'd need access to mod_rewrite to do it, and honestly, you just don't have the type of flexibility.

So, the best option is blog. and www. Just make sure you're 301ing www.blog to blog. and 301ing domain.com to www.domain.com So, at least you're not splitting the two sites into 4 different domains. KWIM?

I'm going to be covering this in my SEO webinar. It's on sale until Sept 26, so, if you're serious about it, it's worth investing your time and money to attend. More info: http://www.SmugSchool.com/seo

The real bottom line is that using sub-domains just makes a LOT of sense, and keeps your site easy for the end user to navigate. If your users are happy, they'll link to you. Drive them nuts to find the info they want and you might gain a point with Google, but, you'll ultimately lose because no one will link to you.

I should also mention... You really need to ensure that the two sites link to each other. There should always be a way to move between the sites.

David

[Opps]

Why is Wordpress more difficult to customize?

As far as I know I have complete control over Wordpress and can create whatever design I want. I must be missing something.

[Andy]

Why is Wordpress more difficult to customize?

As far as I know I have complete control over Wordpress and can create whatever design I want. I must be missing something.
Do you host your own? Or you use the hosted version? It's also just not as easy to customize, for the average person, versus Blogger. Like Wolfsnap says, 1-2 hrs vs. dozens....

http://blog.moonriverphotography.com

[Opps]

Do you host your own? Or you use the hosted version? It's also just not as easy to customize, for the average person, versus Blogger. Like Wolfsnap says, 1-2 hrs vs. dozens....

http://blog.moonriverphotography.com

My own, in fact I find it so confusing to configure SmugMug so I haven't bothered :rofl instead I'm using a dead-simple clean theme on these blog and with the help of some custom markup I get a lightbox effect etc. For example http://mostrom.eu/photo/ and http://mostrom.eu/

[Andy]

My own, in fact I find it so confusing to configure SmugMug so I haven't bothered :rofl instead I'm using a dead-simple clean theme on these blog and with the help of some custom markup I get a lightbox effect etc. For example http://mostrom.eu/photo/ and http://mostrom.eu/
Yeah - we have a lot of options available to customizers :D The very cool thing is, you don't have to invent much new, just ask questions, let the helpers help. It's mostly copy and paste :)

[TuttleImages]

Yes, I made life "harder" on me and split my presence online, but it was worth it to me to have 100% control of what is going on with my site (and blog.tuttleimages.com ISN'T an easy thing to tell people to go see if that's where I want them to land) regarding ALL SEO tools.

I made the decision to have my primary web presence as being my "blog" site (the WordPress Powered one: tuttleimages.com (http://www.tuttleimages.com)) and the gallery holdings (now named tuttlesimages.com (http://www.tuttlesimages.com)) at a second URL.

I've gotten to the point that I am not 100% sold on SM being where I want my images, but it is paid for and works. I am still waiting for some abilities that other sites have.

Don't get me wrong, I like SM and recommend it to other photographers.

[Betz]

I've given up on making the two sites identical and totally integrated - but my solution was to take the CSS from my WP site and customize the SM site using it - and I bought two URL's that are so darn near identical, that most people will probably not realize that they have gone to two different places.

http://www.tuttleimages.com - WP
http://www.tuttlesimages.com - SM

-frank

I know you posted this a week ago but I wanted to compliment you on your website. I absolutely love the layout and the clean lines. Really nice work. :clap I'm working toward what you have now with my own site. I have 2 domains both hosted on one account through GoDaddy with a link to my Smuggy for my clients & for my portfolio. As for looking at other options I've uploaded photos to Zenfolio and Collages while on a free trial and had my pickiest client (she's also my favorite because she's so demanding) try them both out. She and my other regular portrait clients prefer my Smuggy site. So now I think that the anser for me is to combine the cool flash slide show available through SM with my WP design in a cohesive look to achieve website nirvana. I just haven't been able to bend my Smuggy enough to achieve the look I want for folks landing on my main page.

Yeah I've had too much coffee today but in my head... it made sense as I was typing it.

[capturedbymaggie]

So I don't want to integrate my wordpress blog and have it match my smugsite/website..

I just want a tab on my navbar for my blog.. and for another site i use as well for booking sessions.. and I feel like a dope.. I cannot figure out how to do that..

I'm sure it's simple and just a code.. or even a url pasted into my nav bar??

Oh. also.. I would love fresh eyes on my codes & css.. I've been having issues with it not showing my pics on mozilla (or so clients have told me).

I used to have a sweet drop down nav, but that wasn't working on both browsers either.. so now I"m simple nav.. (It's not that simple as there are so many tabs! I'd love to figure out how to do a drop nav that works correctly and clean up my site.. :)

But first things first is how to link to mywordpress blog and booking site.

[capturedbymaggie]

I figured out the linking part.. just trial & error.. doofy me..

However still concerned and trying to figure out the rest.. So I don't want to integrate my wordpress blog and have it match my smugsite/website..

I just want a tab on my navbar for my blog.. and for another site i use as well for booking sessions.. and I feel like a dope.. I cannot figure out how to do that..

I'm sure it's simple and just a code.. or even a url pasted into my nav bar??

Oh. also.. I would love fresh eyes on my codes & css.. I've been having issues with it not showing my pics on mozilla (or so clients have told me).

I used to have a sweet drop down nav, but that wasn't working on both browsers either.. so now I"m simple nav.. (It's not that simple as there are so many tabs! I'd love to figure out how to do a drop nav that works correctly and clean up my site.. :)

But first things first is how to link to mywordpress blog and booking site.

[denisegoldberg]

I figured out the linking part.. just trial & error.. doofy me..

However still concerned and trying to figure out the rest..
If you want help with smugmug customization, please post your request in a new thread or in an existing thread that focuses on the same issue. You're not going to attract help for customizing your smugmug site in a wordpress integration thread.

And please post specific questions. This really doesn't help me understand what you are trying to correct:
Oh. also.. I would love fresh eyes on my codes & css.. I've been having issues with it not showing my pics on mozilla (or so clients have told me).

I used to have a sweet drop down nav, but that wasn't working on both browsers either.. so now I"m simple nav.. (It's not that simple as there are so many tabs! I'd love to figure out how to do a drop nav that works correctly and clean up my site.. :)
There is a thread on drop-down nav bars. And you should be able to test yourself to see if your photos show on Firefox.

--- Denise

[DiverseImage]

I've been reading a while now about SM and WP integration and how difficult it is to customize WP. But what i would like to do is customize my SM to match my blog at WP because I'm happy with the theme that I have there.

I have tried copy and pasting the WP CSS file and pasting it to the advanced custom CSS box in SM, but that didn't work. (I really didn't have that much hope, because I'm sure that that code is WP specific? I dunno but I thought I would give it a go)

Anyway my question....is it just as hard to customize a SM site "from" a WP blog? If not can someone give me some pointers please?

My blog is my home domain at www.diverseimageonline.com and SM is linked through the "photography" link at the top. I would like to keep only the Banner at the top of my SM that displays at the top of the page when you click on
"photography" and that's it, everything else to match my blog especially the header nav bar.