Need Help with Creating School(ASB) Site

[mbaaxx]

Hey there. I'm a high school student and my job in ASB (Associated Student Body) is 'webmaster'. I'm supposed to create a site for my school's ASB and the purpose of the site is to provide information and school news to students/parents as well as the ASB class. I talked to my ASB adviser once about the site and it seemed like he knew what the purpose for the site would be but not specifics in design and such. Next time, I should prepare a list of questions or something to get specifics. I'm looking for suggestions on how I should approach this task.

Ideally, I'd like to make this site from scratch so that I would be able to have more control over design and such but one thing my adviser wanted was a way for other administrators/officers to edit the site content, so it looks like that's not an option unless someone has another idea.

Since a login system is necessary, I'm thinking of using a CMS. Since a blog CMS would be useful for updating news, I was thinking of using Wordpress or any other CMS that's capable of doing this. What CMS would be good for what I'm trying to accomplish? I also don't want the site to look generic and plain like many educational sites out there but make it look interesting and a resource people would use maybe even daily.

This is going to be a big job, especially since I'm involved in a lot of other activities and I've got to create a site that will potentially be viewed by hundreds. I don't have a clear-cut deadline or anything but does anybody have some advice or insight for me on creating this site?

[sourfacedcyclop]

Wordpress is a great CMS, which a lot of people underestimate. With the ability to use custom fields, custom query's, and individual page templates, Wordpress is the CMS I use the most. To start off, do you have any web design experience? Are you proficient in Photoshop, GIMP or a similar program. If not, then you would probably have to look into a free theme, or buying one. If you have web design experience and want to make a custom theme, I recommend you make the theme, code it, and get the bare bones integrated into wordpress (or the CMS of your choice.) You also will need a domain name of some sort and some sort of hosting, if you don't have any.

[mbaaxx]

Yeah, Wordpress looks like a good option for me. I actually have experience with Wordpress because I've had a Wordpress.com-hosted blog for months now. I would say that I have some web design experience(like I know how to use HTML, CSS, some Javascript and jQuery, and code them to standards) but nothing on a large scale. I use GIMP and although I don't think I'm an expert at it, I definitely know how to get around everything. I'm very interested to get a custom theme onto Wordpress or whichever CMS to make the site unique but I think I'd need some resources on how exactly to theme it. I'll look that up but do you know any good resources/guides on how to create a custom Wordpress theme?

When I'm close to getting the site finished, I'll talk to my adviser about the domain name and hosting plans.

[sourfacedcyclop]

Wordpress is probably the easiest CMS to theme. I can offer some help if you need it, but I would look into This Site, they have a great series of screencasts to learn wordpress stuff and also the Wordpress codex as well. If you have anymore problems, most people here on the forum will be willing to help (so long as its reasonable).

[leafypiggy]

If you shoot me an email at hanlon.neil@gmail.com, I'd be happy to be a consultant throughout your design and coding of it. I'd also be happy to help you design and/or code your website for you. I have experience with coding Wordpress, and I am also a web designer.

I'm not very expensive, especially because I'm just starting out doing this as a job. So just shoot me an email and I'll be happy to discuss stuff with you.

Thanks,
Neil Hanlon