Is this existing site just a bunch of html pages, or is it controlled by a CMS itself?

It's just HTML pages. There is no existing CMS.

Then why not turn the whole thing into a concrete5 template and use it to manage the content on the site? With the addition of the built in blog....

Well, that sounds good, and that also sounds complicated. This particular site was designed by the client (I needn't elaborate), and I created the code to make it responsive on all handheld devices. If the pages are easily adapted to a Concrete5 CMS, then I'll certainly consider it.

Be sure to read the About and the Documentation sections of Concrete5.org before committing. I really love using the structure and although it creates very capable blogs (also see the add-ons like Pro-blog in the marketplace) it was not the primary goal as a CMS.
A simpler and quicker method of using it on an existing site would be to install it on a subdomain for the blog only and have external links back and forth in the navigation bars. That way your main site is still unchanged other than the menu but SEO could still have the site viewed as one.

Adrian

This was really my question, that is, can I run Concrete5 on the site concurrently with standard pages and simply link them back and forth. Apparently you've answered the question, except that when I try to install using Softaculous, I get an error without an explanation.

So I would like to continue trying to install Concrete5, but first I'll need to get over this initial hurdle. Any ideas?

If you'd like, you can PM me and I could give you a quick tour on c5.
Turning a static website to c5 is really easy (in fact, there's a video tutorial on how to do it in 10 minutes).
It can coexist with anything, the only limitation being that c5 should be alone in a single database.

This means that you shouldn't install any other CMSes, forums, etc. in the database where c5 is stored.

I can imagine that c5 might look a bit complicated to someone new to it, but I actually find the most widely-adopted solutions, such as WordPress, inferior to c5 and more difficult to work with.

I've now successfully installed C5 on my existing site. My hope is to create a blog without throwing everything into a CMS. Once I feel comfortable with C5, it's very possible I'll create many of my sites as full-fledged C5s.

So my question is where do I start? All the documentation seems to start with editing, but I need to first get C5 running with its own URL. Then the documentation (and videos) will make more sense. Are you able to help?

Thanks very, very much!

BTW, I tried to PM you, but the CAPTCHA game wouldn't allow a pass, regardless that I did four of them.

Hi,

I am from the Softaculous team.

The error you are getting "MySQL connection could not be established" occurs when you have used all allowed databases. Please check if you are allowed to create any more databases.

If you can open a support ticket with us we can check this for you.

Hi:

Well, it turned out that the error was actually thrown because I wrongly presumed Softaculous would create the database as I specified in the fields. Turns out that I first need to create the database independently and then Softaculous performs its magic upon finding the database specified.

So thanks for your efforts nonetheless. I suppose this wouldn't have been an issue if the error message would just say "No such database was found" ... or whatever.

Cheers.

Hi,

It seems that you are using Softaculous Remote. In case of Softaculous Remote you will have to create the database as we only have the FTP details here and cannot create the database details with that.

If you are using Softaculous on cPanel, Directadmin, etc Softaculous will create the database for you.