diff --git a/content/posts/giana.md b/content/posts/giana.md index 9c7a955..d682596 100644 --- a/content/posts/giana.md +++ b/content/posts/giana.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ +++ -draft = true +draft = false date = 2019-12-29T18:55:07Z title = "Giana Boutique" description = "Developing an ecommerce website using WordPress and WooCommerce." @@ -11,13 +11,13 @@ series = ["Portfolio"] +++ Now, this site, is one of the earliest I ever worked upon. -It was my first time using WooCommerce and the second time using WordPress to build a site. +It was my first time using **WooCommerce** and the second time using **WordPress** to build a site. It is the site of [Giana Boutique](https://giana.rayelliott.dev/), a fictitious, online ecommerce store. This was done quite some time ago. Very early on in my career as a web developer. -Nothing special, for an ecommerce site, was required. I used the WordPress plugin **WooCommerce** along with a pre-existing theme with a few modifications. +For an ecommerce site, there was nothing special required. I used the WordPress plugin WooCommerce along with a pre-existing theme with a few modifications. {{< figure @@ -27,27 +27,28 @@ class="logo woocommerce" caption="" >}} -The main customisations were little bits of CSS to tidy some things up -- so a child theme was created. +The main customisations were bits of CSS to tidy some things up -- so a child theme was created. The parent theme is called **Exchange** and was obtained from [ModernThemes](https://modernthemes.net/). Now, why did I use the Exchange theme? -Well, it was pretty much entirely because it was free and I thought it looked okay. -It was free and I felt it was a reasonable looking theme that I could use to get started with setting up a WordPress site to use WooCommerce. +Well, I'm an honest guy and so I'll confess -- it was free and, at the time, I thought it looked okay! -Would I use it again? +Looking back now, not exactly the best of reasons. +But, it was free and I felt it was a reasonable looking theme that I could use to get experience with setting up a WordPress site using WooCommerce. -I wouldn't. -The main reasons being: +So, would I use it again? + +Now that I have a lot more experience develping for WordPress, I wouldn't. * I felt it was difficult to customise, although this may have been at least partly due to my inexperience. -* It doesn't really offer anything over Storefront, the WooCommerce theme from Automattic -- the core developers of WooCommerce itself. - The advantage of using a theme from the actual WooCommerce developers, is that we know it will be written to the same high standard without any compatibility issues and should always be up to date with the latest version of WooCommerce. - It does look a little different, but nothing substantial. Certainly nothing that couldn't be achieved with some customisation of Storefront. -* Doesn't do much to set it above all the other similar looking WooCommerce sites around. It looks clean and fresh, but nothing particularly stands out. +* It doesn't really offer anything over Storefront, the WooCommerce theme from Automattic -- the core developers of WooCommerce itself. + The advantage of using a theme from the actual WooCommerce developers, is that we know it will be written to the same high standard without any compatibility issues and should always be up to date with the latest version of WooCommerce. + This theme does look a little different, but nothing substantial. Certainly nothing that couldn't be achieved with some customisation of Storefront. +* It doesn't do much to set it above all the other similar looking WooCommerce sites around. It looks clean and fresh, but nothing particularly stands out. -So, I feel it is perfectly fine for someone wishing to set up a WooCommerce with an acceptable theme quickly with little effort. -But, not so good for developers, who will most likely want to customise and would be better off starting with an alternative such as Storefront. +So, I feel it is perfectly fine for someone wishing to set up a WooCommerce site with an acceptable theme quickly with little effort. +But, not so good for developers, who will most likely want to customise and, in my opinion, would be better off starting with an alternative such as Storefront. So, If I was to redo the site, I would almost certainly base it on the Storefront theme and include a lot more custom elements.