Dual WordPress Deployment: E-Commerce & Content Site

Two fully functioning WordPress sites—an e-commerce jewelry store and a newsletter covering issues impacting young adults.

Project Date: March 2025

Project Overview: This project involved creating two separate WordPress installs — one for an e-commerce site and a newsletter. The project’s goal was to gain a better understanding of WordPress’s flexibility by creating two distinct websites using separate installs on the same server. Each site used a unique theme and structure, showcasing how WordPress can support both a digital storefront and a media-rich publication. The build process involved theme customization, plugin integration, content population, and styling using custom CSS, all within WordPress’s CMS environment.

The Problem: For the content site, my goal was to reimagine how young adults interact with news by creating an informative and engaging platform that encourages media literacy and social awareness. I included news categories focused on social, political, and economic issues, and paired each with interactive trivia games aimed at users around the age of 19. According to the National Institutes of Health, the average human attention span has decreased from 12 seconds to 8.25 seconds over the past two decades, so it was my mission to make the site as usable and engaging as possible. For the commerce site, my project aimed to simulate a sleek and functional e-commerce experience, offering users a visually appealing and intuitive way to shop for jewelry. Having never built a commerce site before, I wanted this one to be a polished example of a professional online store. Both sites reflect real-world applications where digital storytelling and online retail must be thoughtfully designed to capture and retain audience interest.

The Solution: To begin my newsletter, Talk the Talk, I focused on designing an interactive, informative space that would resonate with young adults. I started by outlining my core objectives: improve media literacy, spark interest in current events, and present information in a way that felt both fun and digestible. I used WordPress as my CMS with the theme Minimalistix Newspaper by Themeeverest and downloaded the Elementor plugin for its design flexibility. I used Elementor as my primary tool for designing pages and adding blocks, especially after struggling with WordPress’s native block editor during my commerce site project. Elementor gave me creative freedom, letting me integrate features like an HTML-embedded newsreel on the homepage and interactive games using Genially. These design elements weren’t just visual flair — they were more so built to engage users with short attention spans and to make a site where more people want to have fun like Coolmath has learning games while being fun.

One of the biggest challenges was the disconnect between Elementor and WordPress’s default editor. They didn’t always play nice together, which led to layout inconsistencies, especially with content width. It took lots of trial and error (and a few moments of panic) to figure out workarounds. I ended up using columns, blocks, and CSS tweaks to maintain visual balance across pages and embedded features.

For my Games page, I designed interactive quizzes and news-based trivia that users could click through as a way to digest complex topics through play. These weren’t just add-ons — they were intentional educational tools. I also created a faux podcast using an AI text-to-speech tool to make my articles accessible in audio form, appealing to auditory learners and mobile users alike.

As for the Commerce site, I applied everything I’d learned (and struggled through) on the content site. I used the WooCommerce plugin within the WoxShops theme to simulate a real e-commerce experience. I wanted it to feel sleek, intuitive, and functional, so I designed a clear product layout and custom pages for each jewelry category. Since the default categories weren’t working as expected, I manually created new pages and inserted individual product blocks, and while painstaking, it was worth it for a smoother UX.

I customized nearly every page with a consistent color palette, embedded media, and user-friendly blocks. I added a customer review section, discounts, and even a video of gems falling to enhance the visual experience. The site structure was challenging because WordPress makes a confusing distinction between templates, the theme editor, and the page editor — but figuring that out was a valuable lesson in itself.

Results: Both projects pushed me to think critically about user experience and design functionality. Success for me wasn’t just launching the sites (although that was a huge relief) — it was seeing how interactive features like games, embedded media, and design elements came together to tell a story and sell a product. I learned how to troubleshoot layout issues, customize themes using plugins and HTML, and adapt to WordPress's quirks. Moving forward, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of WordPress and its differences in template customization versus the theme editor. I also plan to refine the responsiveness of my content site, update news articles, and experiment with more advanced plugins, because I would love for this to be a real site that adults can learn take advantage of. Overall, I left this project more confident in my ability to build and design purposeful, user-focused websites.

Opal & Ivy | Talk the Talk