Gone are the days when making a website was a nightmare for non-techy people. Because you needed to write long markup scripts, so it was not easy to make the websites.
Thanks to all the creative CMSs that have made life much easier.
I have listed some of the easiest steps that can help you convert your site from HTML to WordPress.
A. Manual conversion of HTML to WordPress
If you have a little experience in coding, you can use this method to convert your HTML to WordPress. All you will do is pick up your HTML, CSS, and PHP code and paste it into WordPress theme files.
This way, you can get your HTML website converted into a WordPress theme. But this theme will not be customizable as regular themes. Any change you want will be done through custom CSS or PHP.
Moreover, you can’t enjoy all the benefits of a WordPress theme, so this method is not highly recommended, and we prefer other methods.
As it requires a lot of technical skills, so it is not everybody’s cup of tea. If you aren’t well aware of HTML or PHP hire a freelancer to do it for you.
Following steps are taken if you want a manual conversion of HTML to WordPress.
1. Make a new theme folder
Making a theme folder helps you to save all of your files that were created in HTML, CSS, and PHP. You make the files to scrape all the coding data from the HTML database. In this step basic five files are created to segregate the data for header, footer, style, index, and sidebar.
2. Copy CSS code
The next step is to copy all the CSS code from your HTML site to your new WordPress site. The code will be copied to the WordPress style sheet. It is the style.css that you created in the last step.
You will also create most parts of your WordPress site header in this step. These parts include the name of the theme, its URL, its author’s URL, and other important information like what is the version, how will you describe it in the description box, and most importantly the license of your theme.
3. Separating the HTML code
You can’t just copy and paste your whole HTML website to WordPress because of database restrictions. WordPress processes the database information via PHP. So you need to make many different PHP files of your HTML code that WordPress can string together.
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4. Changing the PHP files for WordPress
Having done all the work, the next task is to change header.php and index.php files into WordPress compatible files.
The easiest way is to find a focused guideline and you will have the exact code that you will be copying into these files.
5. Take a screenshot of the theme and upload it
Till now, you have successfully made your theme. All you need to take a screenshot of the theme. This is what your WordPress site looks like now.
Save the screenshot and crop it to the size of 880×660 pixels. You will save this file as screenshot.png. Add this screenshot of your created theme in the theme folder.
Now you will upload this theme to WordPress. Follow these steps to convert the site to WordPress ultimately.
- Make a zip file
- Open the WordPress
- Go in the appearance, select theme, and add new.
- Upload the theme.
- In uploading the theme, choose the zip file and press the button Install now.
After doing all this, activate the theme now.
B. Taking benefit of WordPress child theme
Another easy and frequently used method is to use a WordPress child theme. It takes the least of your efforts and money and gives the required look of your already existing
HTML website. Moreover, you don’t need to do any kind of technical coding for this conversion. As the method is highly recommended for non-techy people, one must give it a try without fear of failure.
All you need to choose a WordPress child theme and build your website in accordance with your HTML site. This option can help you create the looks of your website while giving you all the benefits of WordPress.
A short brief can help you understand the process in an easy way.
1. Select the theme you like the most
Selection is the most important part of this method. You should look for a theme that is eye-catching, modern and resembles your existing HTML site.
You can take this information either from the WordPress library or simply Google to have a top-notch free
theme for your website.
After you have selected the theme, just install it. No activation should be done at this point, your job is the only installation.
2. Creation and activation of the child theme
Other steps include the creation of a folder which you will name as a child theme. This will be done on the desktop and the name will not include any spaces.
After this, the third step is to make a CSS sheet. This style sheet is named as a child theme of the parent theme you used in 1st step. It is necessary for the activation of the teme.
After having it done, create functions.php to inherit the parent theme by using PHP input codes. These are generic codes and you can find them easily on the web. Now the rest of the process is the same simply activate it, take a screenshot and upload it to WordPress.
C. Import HTML content via the WordPress plugin
If you don’t want to have your HTML design on a WordPress site, you can opt for the easiest conversion method. You can easily install a WordPress plugin and import all the HTML code from the site to WordPress. It is a fast, easy, quick, and most reliable method.
All you have to make a new website from scratch. Simply create a new website and install WordPress on it.
You can choose any theme, either free or paid, to give your website your required look. Installing HTMLimport2 can give you the liberty of importing HTML sites to’ WordPress. Import the HTML files and have your WordPress site ready.
Conclusion
I have written in detail about the methods you can choose and follow to convert your HTML website to a WordPress site.
However, if you have a budget, a full-stack developer can professionally do the job. You can also do this job on a hit and trial basis. Of Course, it brings a lot of accomplishment when you do it all by yourself.