How to use WordPress as a CMS Part 1

Just a little semi-beginner information that assumes:

1. That you know what I’m talking about.
2. That you are considering using WP to build a website.
3. That you are familiar with the process of building a website.
4. That you know what a CMS is and why people need them.
5. That you are familiar with using WordPress.

But I’m going to try to explain it from the approach of someone with a limited working knowledge of php and I am not going to write about the WordPress Loop that much because there are already many very good WP how-to’s about the Loop.
If you’re used to WordPress but haven’t ever considered it as a CMS,I don’t blame you.
The language in WordPress theme’s codes “bloginfo this and bloginfo that, and if have posts while have posts” can throw you off at first…

what if you aren’t interested in creating a blog site? & WP is intended to be a blogging tool so it makes sense that the language of the code relates to blogging.

But I and a lot of other people making websites have discovered that it is pretty darned handy to use as a CMS and you only have to a few important facts about WP in order to make it work for you as a CMS.
Hint number one:
It’s easy use it to do what you want it to do, which is make it make a website that isn’t a blog.
The breeze that it is to make Pages and upload images with WordPress is the reason it’s a good CMS.
Tip:
If you want to use WordPress to make a website that isn’t a blog you’re probably going to want a static front page.
So you go to Manage>Pages, create a new Page called Home then go to Reading>Options and select it to be your static front page.
Problem with that is once you’ve done that to a theme that you downloaded is most free WP themes are coded a certain way to list pages in order make a navigation menu. And now because of your pretty new Page the links of “Home” are printed twice in the navigation,either in a horizontal menu or in the sidebar–where ever the theme designer thought the navigation should go. Darn it! Why?
It’s because of this bit of code (Found in Header.php of your theme) most free blog themes have to make a navigation menu:

I had to find a plugin to display this code as code so thanks priyadi.net.

If you’ve got a blog site in mind you won’t need a static front page because your front page will be your blog,your Posts page…. Most if not all free WordPress themes are created to be used for a blog and not a CMS, and that is why theme coders put that in. Which is why free themes don’t usually come with a Home page and rather an About page pre-installation.

All you have to do is remove this:(again in header.php)

And keep this:

Now your Static Front Page won’t double up the Home link.
Next I’ll talk about making your own template for a static home page.