How to Accomplish Similar Layout to WebMD - 100s of Custom Pages

[onepace]

I'm currently developing a hearing site (since my wife is a hearing doctor) and we're looking to do something similar to WebMD where each topic has a custom page devoted to it.

URL: http://www.earacademy.com/

My dilemma is the site structure. Right now I've set up the entire site using Parent/Child categories. I like how it is set up, but I'm trying to figure out how to create a custom page for each Parent category.

Is there a way to customize the sidebars AND feature image (or slider) for each Parent category page?

Or should I re-structure the site using pages (not categories) for my main subjects and just use a plugin or hook to have the blog posts for that category show on each page?

Would appreciate any input. Thanks guys!

[justme]

I believe traditionally Pages have been meant to be used for more “one off” static content purposes such as About, Contact, etc. although there really isn’t any reason you can’t use them for other things. Until recently there was a performance issue if you had more than a few Pages on the site but that is no longer true.

Posts are of course organized into Categories which can be beneficial depending on what you want to do. Ultimately it’s really up to you. If you want blog posts for a category to display on a page as per the default Category page, then you should probably just stick with that.

You can certainly customize a Category archive page. At Advanced Options > Custom Layouts, create a Custom Layout. Then on the Edit page for a Category, select that Layout. You can then create a Custom Widget Area or Custom Hook Box at Advanced Options to add specific custom content such as an image, text, slider, etc and assign it to that Custom Layout.

My two cents.

[onepace]

Thanks justme.

Quick question.

Are there any concerns with creating a lot (say 50 or so) custom widgets or hook boxes? So that each category page has its own layout with its own widgets?

[justme]

No, shouldn’t be any problem. We know of no practical limit to the number you can create and use. You can see an example on the site in my sig.