WordPress as a platform offers near limitless options for website customization. A new user can stroll through thousands of themes, and a pro can custom code a theme to suit their taste.
That’s all good and helpful, but there is an easier way for newbies and pros alike to create a custom design for their website.
In this post, I’m going to discuss creating a WordPress site with CloudPress – an application that makes creating new websites a real breeze. Read on for the lowdown!
Getting Started With CloudPress
CloudPress takes away all the grunt work in creating a website, enabling you to concentrate on what’s most important: form and function. Start with a theme to go quick or build on a blank page; the basic process is pretty fast. This means it’s possible to have a stunning WordPress website running instantly.
The design is cleverly divided into three basic areas – header, page content and footer. These areas can be filled with basic building units called “blocks” to create a complete webpage. CloudPress claims that you can get a complete WordPress page in under three minutes – pretty much true once you get to work.
Here’s an overview of CloudPress’ major features, presented in a handy video that’s also available on their main page:
Custom Designing Quickly with Blocks
Even a basic user can rapidly prototype a design by deploying blocks – making designing a website intuitive and incredibly easy. All you need to do is select the block of your choice from the left-sidebar and drag it to the intended area on the page. Once the blocks are in place, you can customize the blocks down to the last detail and pixel.
All blocks and elements on CloudPress are responsive out of the box. A ribbon at the top of the editing area offers a quick peek at the way the website will look on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. There’s room for dabbling with media queries for specific devices, enabling greater control over the way your content appears on different devices.
The right sidebar enables fine-tuning of the webpage via three sections – Options, Styling and Structure.
Options enables control over visibility of any specific object on a device. For example, you may want to show a widget on a smartphone or tablet, but hide it on a computer screen. All you need to do is click on the device, and the visibility parameters change.
The Styling section enables greater control over many elements of your site including typography, background, transforms, color and skins. Finally, the Structure tab enables you to view the HTML structure of the document, something that is extremely helpful for developers who want more direct control.
Once you’re done creating the webpage of your choice, a few clicks can have your website going live. A sync plugin ensures the website uploads to the server with ease, and stays synchronized to enable changes in design to reflect on the website quickly.
Conclusion
All in all, the options and settings offered by CloudPress are pretty helpful, especially to a WordPress beginner. You can create a customized, professional site without ever having to write a single line of code. Even if you are comfortable with coding, taking the grunt work off the table is a reward in itself.
