Thread: Use with existing website?

Use with existing website?

First Question:
I have an existing website and want to use your product to "power" a directory within that website. So basically, I'm looking to add another Tab to our website that says "Directory" or something like that, and then the page for the tab would be a directory that is powered by the Vantage theme. Essentially, I want to use it similar to a plugin. Is that possible?

If so, do you have a demo or example site you could point me to that is using it this way?

Second question:
Can I use your API to integrate to various pages on my existing website? So for example, I have Blog pages on my current site, and at the bottom of each post I'd like to populate two boxes with info from listings contained in the directory. AND ideally, I'd like to do it by category. So for example, if I have a post categorized as "Sushi", then I'd like to pull from the directory two listings from the same category "Sushi" and populate the data in these boxes at bottom of post. Is one or both parts of this possible?
so option A would be: can use API to integrate and pull listing data AND can do it by category
and option B would be: can use API to integrate and pull listing data but CAN'T can do it by category

I realize this would require a developer, but wanted to see if it was possible. and if so, if you had some examples.

Thank You!

Jason B.

Vantage is a stand alone theme, so it is not designed to be used like a plugin as you describe. In order to use it with an existing website, you can easily install it in a subdirectory and simply add it to the menu of your existing site (potentially with restyling of the theme in order to "match" your existing theme).

e.g.
yourdomain.com <== Your existing homepage/theme
yourdomain.com/directory <== Your Vantage installation

You can find information about AppThemes API's here. Technically it's possible to do whatever you like given the relevant coding knowledge to implement it, as there is no encryption which would prevent you from doing so. AppThemes doesn't officially support customizations or offer these services, however if you're looking to hire a developer to provide more information and a quote about whether or not they can do this you can find them on our Certified Partners page. Thanks.

RE: using with existing website

Thanks. Very helpful answer.

So, just curious. Can you explain why you decided to build it as a full stand alone theme vs. a plugin? Are there particular advantages / disadvantages of the two approaches?

Thanks.

Primarily, we choose to create our products as themes rather than plugins just because that's what AppThemes is all about as a company, it's our purpose ;) It's not necessarily because we believe themes are better than plugins as such, although you could probably Google many opinions on advantages/disadvantages of each. Having our products as application themes allows us to provide an all in one solution to setting up a website, in that it's as easy as activating the theme to get the look and functionality you need from it. One issue related to with dealing with plugins is that you have to deal with compatibility, also the layout of a theme chosen may not suit that of a classifieds, directory, job etc site meaning additional modification is required in order just for fields and aspects of the plugin to look right. Thanks.

Thanks

Thanks for the excellent help.

You're welcome :)