Best CMS for implementing school logos and sidebars?

MarcLister · 18 Jul 2013 at 20:59

I will shortly be responsible for the website at the school I work at. We know it needs a massive update and we've been looking at other similar kind of schools and their websites to seek inspiration. My boss has found a school's site that he likes the look of. I need to be able to include our school logo at the top of the page as well as have sidebars linking to term dates, school newsletters, events and so on as well as identify what awards (and logos thereof) (Ofsted, Sportsmarks, Unicef Rights Respecting Schools etc) we are allowed to display at the bottom.

The main site we're taking inspiration from, in terms of school logo at the top, sidebars and awarded logos at the bottom is a school called Pield Heath.

I have checked the source and it is a Joomla page. I was thinking of using Wordpress for our new site. Can anyone tell me what, if any, Wordpress plugins there are for Wordpress that would allow me to create sidebars and a logo section at the bottom of our page? Failing that, or if Joomla is better, perhaps someone can give me hints on what Joomla plugins Pield Heath have used?

TIA.

dekez · 18 Jul 2013 at 21:19

Most wordpress themes have sidebars and footer areas, then they have "widgets" which can be placed in these areas. A widget can be from a free or paid for plugin or just a space to put html.
I've only briefly played around with Joomla but it seemed more complex and a much steeper learning curve than wordpress. If you know html and css it's pretty easy to tweak wordpress themes, of which there are plenty of free ones.

MarcLister · 18 Jul 2013 at 21:23

Hi dekez. Yeah I have lots more knowledge of Wordpress than I do Joomla so I think it makes sense to stick with what I have more knowledge of.

I did try Joomla, and some other CMS', at University for my final year project and I never got on with Joomla, that was 5 years ago mind!

My HTML/CSS is fairly good but probably a bit rusty. So I could use a widget to store a pice of HTML with some logos arranged in a line? Any particular recommendations on a good widget or theme to look at with lots of customisation available to me?

dekez · 18 Jul 2013 at 22:23

Yeah I've used wordpress to create a few sites now and find it very easy to use.

Yes there is a standard widget called "Text" where you could put in some html images. Then add some css to the main style.css if needed. There is probably a plugin somewhere that does the same thing for people who don't know html, there seems to be plugins for just about everything! Plugins are very easy to search for and install from with in the wordpress admin.

In terms of themes personally I use the genesis framework and child themes, these are paid for, I don't know what your budget is but they are pretty reasonably priced. Or there are tonnes of free themes out there, if you google free wordpress theme with sidebars loads will come up.

If you have any web hosting it's worth installing an instance of wordpress in a subdirectory as a test site, then you can play around with different themes and see what you like.

Feel free to message me in trust if you get stuck with anything

MarcLister · 18 Jul 2013 at 22:29

Cheers for the info. Most helpful! :cool:

Genesis is $60 or about £40. I think I might get it if it helps me to do my job and make all the stakeholders happy. I might not get the money back but if £40 saves me getting stressed out and allows me more freedom to meet the requirements I'll be set then I don't mind paying it.

I do have a website, that I don't really use at the moment, and I have a dummy site for our school set up in a /wordpress folder on my hosting.

I'll spend some time this weekend researching the 'Text' plugin and Genesis framework so I get some idea of what I can do with them.

dekez · 18 Jul 2013 at 23:07

Yeah have a look and see what you think, the text thing isn't even a plugin just one of the standard widgets, it really is very basic just put whatever HTML you need in there.
Genesis is good as it acts as a base framework, then the child theme goes over the top, so if there are any security updates these are made to the genesis theme, and the child theme which is mainly style is untouched, so the look or any modifications you have made don't get overridden.