CSS/Template Help

[tngraphix]

Hi I need help with css/worpress theme. I want to create a newsletter in wordpress for SEO and content management reasons (already exists in html/css format but is updated manually..such a pain). I have changed many templates in wordpress and am somewhat familiar with css. The issue I run into is I have a 3 column layout. The newsletter is archived by month. The main content is in column number 2 but column number 1 and 3 have standard components (i.e: subscribe box, archive links) but also components that need to change per issue (monthly issues have polls, in this issue menu and anchor text, etc). I may be overthinking (usually do...) but what is the best way to go about this so that when the archives are clicked or searched, the visitor gets the appropriate column 1 and 3 contents pertaining to the archived issue? Most templates I have run into have column 1 & 3 standard and the center column 2 content is what changes (usually the article or main content). This has been racking my brain for some time. Any help will be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks, Gracias, Danke Shane

[bj]

This would be better posted on the wordpress forum, or dealt with either by the theme's author and/or the newsletter plugin's author.

[tngraphix]

It is a custom template im looking at. Its CSS related as opposed to wordpress related. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[weegillis]

Can you clone index.php and revise in a /newsletter folder? The clone would be a CC of the generated page at the time of the newsletter. Allow current components and plug-ins that don't interfere with the hard coded archival content. You could preserve column 1 and 3 in their snapshot view into perpetuity.

The only issue would be link rot. Every one of these pages will need to be link checked regularly.

[tngraphix]

Thanks I was thinking of that. The only roadblock I saw with that would be how to add the Poll per month (archive ) and other features thru the content managment end of the application. I am thinking I could do so from the custom fields?

[weegillis]

Wouldn't each poll be a separate instance of a plug-in? Perhaps you could isolate each instance with each archived newsletter to keep the poll alive. You would probably have to include additional php components in the newsletter folder, such as header, body, footer. The portion that contains the call to the poll plug-in would need to be isolated and cloned for each archive, the rest could be generic. The CMS would need to create a separate table, or perphaps only a new row for each poll. This seems quite possible with a little tweaking.

If the above is not possible, then what you could do is keep one active poll alive for the duration of the newsletter time span, then CC the results in hard code in the archive. Who wants to take part in a months-old poll anyway? The results will be skewed.

[tngraphix]

Im sure it is doable and that sounds like something that would work. Ill need to readup on the custom fields option in wordpress. I have been playing with joomla and am debating on giving that a try. I like the SEO capablities of Wordpress though. A little more research and Ill have this one down...lol. Thanks for your help and any further assistance would be appreciated... to anyone with ideas.

Thanks