WordPress API Integration

It would be great if BSS could publish to the WordPress API, as an alternative to publishing to your cloud service.

This would allow users to manage WordPress content locally in BSS, then push the content to WordPress. Each page in BSS would be associated with a WordPress post ID, so each time you publish, it would update the corresponding post for each page. Since you'd be publishing just the content area of a page, it would only publish the content within the <body> tag.

The advantage is that you'd be able to create complex Bootstrap layouts in BSS, rather than being limited to the TinyMCE editor built-in to WordPress. Presently, I'm doing this manually, creating my layout in BSS, then copying the HTML elements from inside the <body> tag and pasting them into the WordPress HTML editor. It works great, but it's a pain to have to manually copy/paste each time.

I realize there are dozens of WordPress plugins, like Beaver Builder, that allow you to create advanced layouts in WordPress, but quite frankly, they all suck. They're slow, awkward to use, require extra steps and none of them are Bootstrap-based. Plus, it's much faster and more reliable to create content on your desktop, rather than doing everything online.

In addition to pleasing users such as myself, I believe this would open up a whole new market for BSS that you're currently not touching. The WordPress market is enormous and there are many WordPress users who are frustrated by the limitations of the built-in editor and not satisfied with the approach of using an online visual editor plugin.

For anyone who's reading this post and skimming it, I want to clarify that I'm talking about using BSS to create WordPress content, NOT to create a WordPress theme, which is an entirely separate discussion.

Hello and welcome to the forums!

Just to be sure I understand the idea, your suggestion is to use Bootstrap Studio to design the content of posts? Like dragging paragraphs, images, blockquotes etc? Isn't it easier to use WordPress' WYSIWYG editor for this?

Hi Martin,

The built-in WordPress editor is TinyMCE, which is OK for simple blogging tasks, but useless for creating complex grid layouts and doesn't support advanced components like tabs, accordions, panels, etc..., An entire industry has evolved, to develop plugins that replace the built-in WordPress editor with more advanced editors. The most popular one at the moment is Beaver Builder. One problem with Beaver Builder and all these other plugins is they're web based, which slows down your workflow, compared with a desktop product like BSS. Another problem is they all use proprietary frameworks, rather than Bootstrap, which means you're locked into that tool and the generated code is often messy. Additionally, if your theme is Bootstrap-based, it's much cleaner to use Bootstrap within the content area as well, rather than combining it with some proprietary framework.

I actually hacked together a script that parses the pages generated by BSS, extracting just the body content and then posts it to my site via the WordPress API. In each page, I insert a custom meta tag containing the WordPress post ID, so the script knows which page to update on the site. It works incredibly well. I perform my edits, press the Export button in BSS and my WordPress site updates instantly. I've been looking for something like this for years and it was made possible by the BSS option to run a script on export, so thank you for that!

The scripting workflow I developed is probably too advanced for the average user to implement, but I think you guys are missing out on a huge market by not marketing BSS to WordPress users. I get the impression you think of WordPress as simply a blogging tool, but nowadays many large corporate websites run on WordPress and it's probably the most popular platform for e-commerce. It took me less than a day to create this script, so I'm sure it would be incredibly easy for you to build this functionality right into BSS, making it accessible to everyone and allowing you to market BSS as a WordPress editor. If you're interested, I could post my script here, so you can see exactly what I'm talking about.

It certainly is a clever idea. And also good for marketing purposes, as you say. So +1 from me!

So what you are asking is for BSS devs to create a plugin for creating pages and posts etc.

I would be down for that to happen.

But..... have you thought about using something like elementor? It was suggested to me by another forum member as it's awesome plugin

Hi Chris,

If you're serious about doing web development, there are lots of reasons to NOT use Elementor or any similar plugins, like Beaver Builder, Thrive Content Builder, Visual Composer and dozens of others.

The first problem is all these plugins are (obviously) web-based. Web technologies have come a long way over the past few years, but anytime you're doing live editing over the Internet, your efficiency is limited by the speed of your Internet connection. If you have a stable and fast connection, it may not be that noticeable, but it will never be as fast as a desktop application like BSS. When I'm editing a web page, I often try out a bunch of different layout concepts and it's frustrating to be slowed down by my Internet connection.

The next problem is these tools completely disable the built-in WordPress editor and replace it with their proprietary interface, This means you no longer have access to the HTML code for your web page. Most of the time, this isn't a big problem, but good luck doing anything custom, that falls outside the parameters of the editor. A more important consequence is that your website becomes dependent on the plugin. If you disable the plugin, the page will no longer render. Instead you'll see a bunch of programming code, WordPress shortcodes, etc... This is because these plugins don't store the page as HTML, they store it in their own proprietary format, which gets converted to HTML on-the-fly, each time the page is viewed. This is problematic because software companies come and go like the wind. Plugin developers are constantly going out of business, being acquired by other companies, or sometimes they stay in business, but start to neglect their product. After a plugin has been neglected for a while by its developer, customers start to look for other alternatives. Inevitably, you find a new plugin that you like better, but since neither the original plugin, nor the new plugin store the page as HTML, it's extremely difficult to transition to the new plugin, as there's no simple migration path. You'd have to start over from scratch, manually re-building each page in the new plugin. By contrast, BSS exports as standard Bootstrap HTML, which can then be pasted into the built-in WordPress editor. Thus it's compatible with any editor that supports HTML, including the built-in WordPress editor. If you ever decide you want to stop using BSS, you can continue editing your page content in the WordPress editor.

Another downside to WordPress plugin editors is that none of them are Bootstrap-based. Instead, they all use their own proprietary frameworks. Since Bootstrap is the most popular front-end framework, there are massive amounts of resources available to enhance Boostrap development. When you work with something like Elementor, you're locked into the Elementor ecosystem, which is minuscule compared with the Bootstrap ecosystem. Also, if your WordPress theme is Bootstrap-based, the code you export from BSS will be fully compatible with the theme, since it uses the same framework. Conversely, if you use Elementor inside a Bootstrap theme, the results may be unpredictable. For instance, you may get strange results when you scale the page down to a mobile screen size, since you're literally using two different frameworks on the same page. Some of these effects may be subtle and perhaps many people wouldn't notice, but in my view, using multiple frameworks on the same page is sloppy and amateurish.

Finally, I want to state that BSS is a GREAT editor. The developers have done an incredible job creating this product, which in my view is far superior to Elementor or any other WordPress editor plugin. For this reason alone, I'd prefer to use BSS when creating my WordPress content areas.

I literally bought BSS just for this very purpose, so great to see this in the forums. Also really nice to see boostrapstudio.io built on WP!

@bkonia

One that is Bootstrap based is "Bootstrap Building Engine". I'm not sure if would meet your criteria or expectations however, as its not as polished as most builders.

If you’re interested, I could post my script here, so you can see exactly what I’m talking about. Blockquote

This may be beneficial for the BootStrap Studio developers to evaluate if they wish to integrate something directly into the Export UI or general workflow in some way or even expand upon the idea further. It might come in handy or be interesting for some advanced BBS users also, as is.

  • They’re slow, awkward to use, require extra steps and none of them are Bootstrap-based. Plus, it’s much faster and more reliable to create content on your desktop, rather than doing everything online.

  • … all these other plugins is they’re web based, which slows down your workflow, compared with a desktop product like BSS. Another problem is they all use proprietary frameworks, rather than Bootstrap, which means you’re locked into that tool and the generated code is often messy.

  • By contrast, BSS exports as standard Bootstrap HTML, which can then be pasted into the built-in WordPress editor. Thus it’s compatible with any editor that supports HTML, including the built-in WordPress editor. If you ever decide you want to stop using BSS, you can continue editing your page content in the WordPress editor.

Based upon those three comment excerpts have you by chance looked at “Pinegrow Wordpress Version” ? Also be advised that Version 3 releases next month and I am sure the general Wordpress workflow will be further streamlined and enhanced as part of the improved UI of version 3. I just thought I would mention it in case it can assist your workflow in some way. As it seems it may (at least to me) match most of your criteria and well beyond.

I've tried Bootstrap Building Engine. It might be useful if it was a plugin rather than a theme, but they force you to use their theme. I already have elaborate Bootstrap themes developed and managed in other tools, so have no interest in starting over with a plain vanilla theme in BBE.

I've also tried Pinegrow, but wasn't impressed. It's sort of a hybrid between a WYSIWYG editor and a code editor. In my view, it does neither particularly well.

There are lots of alternatives, but my point is that I love BSS and have no desire to switch to another tool. As I mentioned, I've already developed a script that integrates BSS with WordPress, so my workflow runs beautifully. I was merely suggesting this feature to the developers because I think they're missing out on a huge market and I think it would be highly beneficial to the BSS user base to be able to use BSS as a WordPress content editor.

I know I mentioned that I'd post my script, but upon further reflection, I'm reluctant to do so, because the initial setup is kind of complicated for non-technical users. I'm afraid of getting sucked into answering people's questions and providing support for something I really just developed for my own use. I'd greatly prefer that the developers integrate this feature into BSS.

Yeah I likewise was not impressed with BBE, like most of the others (many more than were mentioned here). As you are aware most all builders are generally limited in many ways. I would disagree concerning Pinegrow however, but keep an eye out for Version 3 perhaps it may prove to be more appealing or at a minimum interesting enough to review the trial.

As I mentioned, I’ve already developed a script that integrates BSS with WordPress, so my workflow runs beautifully. [...] I know I mentioned that I’d post my script, but upon further reflection, I’m reluctant to do so, because the initial setup is kind of complicated for non-technical users. I’m afraid of getting sucked into answering people’s questions and providing support for something I really just developed for my own use. I’d greatly prefer that the developers integrate this feature into BSS.

o_Ok

@bkonia

It is such a great Idea ? Anyway, im interest with the script and could you send me by email? ardana.eleven@gmail.com If you could send me the script, it would be much appreciated

Thank you

I don't know what the deal is on this, I'm sure it's a good idea, but coming from one that has just done 2 sites using Visual Composer (also known as WP Bakery) I see no issue there with how that one works at all. It gives you both a front end and a back end setup (albeit all online, not an offline builder), and you can easily and I do say EASILY add any custom type of code setup you want to use with it. I added lots of external elements to those sites and think it was pretty easy considering I hadn't touched a Wordpress site in probably 15 years lol.

I personally would rather see BSS get more involved with actual "website" CMS setups rather than Blog setups which is what Wordpress is. It's so limited compared to others like Joomla and Drupal and such. Just my opinion there, but to me Wordpress was never meant to be a website setup, just a blog setup, and they've not ever really changed it up enough to accommodate real website situations very well without a lot of fuss and plugins. The others do this a whole lot better in my opinion.

Also would be the idea that if you're going to do it for one (Wordpress) you should do it for the other prominent web CMS's (Joomla, Drupal, etc.) as there are a fair number of people doing the other CMS's as well, if not more. Those that are really wanting a website and not a glorified Blog system, aren't going to be using something as limiting as Wordpress to build their sites, unless all they want is some basic pages with a ton of plugins having to be used to take up the slack of the lack of Website builder functionality that Wordpress doesn't include inertly.

I would also like to point out the amount of things that change on CMS systems that BSS would be subject to having to update accordingly on a constant basis every time they changed something. Could be a lot of hassle to do even just Wordpress ...

Jo,

Please stop with the attack on WordPress as you're extremely misinformed. If you haven't touched a WordPress site in 15 years, then you know nothing about what it has evolved into. No, it's NOT just a "glorified blog", it's easily the world's most popular CMS, with a user base far greater than Drupal, Joomla and all the others combined. Some of the world's largest websites run on WordPress and to give you an idea, WordPress enterprise hosting STARTS at $5,000/mo. Yeah, just a simple blog, right.

I was a Drupal developer for years before finally switching over to WordPress. Drupal started out as a more powerful CMS, but WordPress grew in both power and popularity, while Drupal failed to attract enough developers to keep up. Nowadays, the power of any platform depends on its ecosystem. The App Store and its large community of developers is a big part of why Apple is now the world's most valuable company. Likewise, the WordPress ecosystem blows away Drupal's and all the others.

To your last point about having to constantly update content, I'm not really sure what you're talking about. The whole point of a CMS is to separate the content from the structure. If you change something in the CMS template, that should have no effect on the content within the page area. If it does, then you as the developer are likely doing something wrong.

@bkonia just try Pinegrow + WP. BSS should stick with Bootstrap Framework only with Git, Gulp integration.

No need to. As I mentioned, I already created a script that fully automates BSS + WordPress and it works perfectly. I was simply posting the suggestion for the benefit of others, as most users don't have the technical expertise to implement such a script.

@bkonia please post your script, that will benefit others (not me included), also I agree Wordpress is not a toy it is for serious web development.

@bkonia how do I get the script? Really interested in seeing how you do this? Perhaps a YouTube video or a Medium blog post.

I've tried to post it several times and the post seems to automatically delete each time. Maybe posting of scripts is disallowed or something?

@bkonia

I’ve tried to post it several times and the post seems to automatically delete each time. Maybe posting of scripts is disallowed or something?

Perhaps depending on the script type, or attachment type?

Just post it as a Gist, or Bitbucket, etc., and link to it. Some way that if you need to update the script the referenced link source reflects it. As you stated previously that you don't wish to offer support -- So just outline it with an about & usage with a disclaimer that no support of liability is offered, etc., but at least people can use it.

Just my 2 cents. ;-)

I was reluctant to post this because the setup is way too complicated for non-technical people and I don't have time to provide tech support for a free script. This is why I was hoping BSS would integrate the feature into the software. Nevertheless, a number of people have asked for it, so here you go!

Bootstrap Studio to WordPress

The script requires the QueryPath PHP library which can be installed via Composer. QueryPath must be installed on your computer where BSS is installed, NOT on the server. On the server, you have to install the JSON Basic Authentication WordPress plugin and you may need to configure your .htaccess as described in the script comments. Once everything is configured, exporting a page will automatically publish the page to WordPress and upload all the assets to your server, including CSS, images, JS files, etc... It uses rsync to upload the assets, so the assets folder on your server will always remain synchronized with your BSS project. So, for example, if you delete an image from BSS, it will automatically be deleted from the server as well. The assets folder created by BSS is totally independent of the WordPress media library, so your media browser won't get cluttered up with images from your BSS project. Rsync uploads via SSH, so you must have SSH access to your server.

Good luck!