Visit the WordPress blog here: https://www.rubberhitstheroad.info/blog/
I design this client’s “main site” http://www.rubberhitstheroad.info, which is a custom data driven PHP/MySQL site with a back end that has administrative access. I work with a web developer who knows advanced programming to help with the custom database. I created the look and design of their main site, while consulting with the developer about how to bring everything together and get the look and functionality to work well.
After most of the design was created on the main site, the client wanted a blog. We determined that WordPress was the most effective choice. We could have continued with the custom data base, but WordPress made more sense because the client wanted to have comments on their blog.
I carried over the design elements from the original website, and matched the look as closely as possible. In the end, plugins worked best for this site. For the categories page http://www.rubberhitstheroad.info/blog/categories/#all, I used a plugin that pulls from the categories applied to each blog post.
I then succeeded in customizing the Archive page http://www.rubberhitstheroad.info/blog/archives/ to display the categories in the order the client wanted.
We then needed a customized subscribe form http://www.rubberhitstheroad.info/blog/subscribe/ that also works with a plugin.
After some WordPress training from me, the client now makes most of the changes themselves.