#19 – Why Wordpress?
Some interesting questions from a fellow Wordpress enthusiast:
Why do I use it? I have tried many other blogging platforms – the only other one I kept for a bit was Serendipity, but it was very limited in what it could do, and I prefer to have complete control over every aspect of my own site, as I own my own domains, and therefore, I love having that access clearly visible for me. I’ve been using it off and on for so long that I remember having to manually install it when now, I have a host who has it as a one-click install, which makes it incredibly easy and fast to just go in and begin modifications.
The sheer depth of customizable templates is enough to entice the novice user… but where it really gets fun is the unending amount of plugins, which you can also design yourself if you are tech-savvy. I am tech-savvy, and I program as well as do design, but I’ll admit, it isn’t the easiest install by manual FTP, so I prefer this one click simply because I run several Wordpress blogs and it saves time and frustration. I can’t even recall how many strings of errors I got at first when I was doing manuals, but if you check, and you have your own domain and host, you may have it as an option. Just don’t go with Globat, nothing works with them… Personally, I host with webhostingpad, and have no issues. Got a great rate, everything actually WORKS, which is rare for a host, so I am happy and have moved all but one domain here – the other is a LiveJournal, due to the communities I need to stay in to make sales and do promotions.
Who have I learned the most from? I can’t name just one person… as a community, trying out various things and looking at the configurations and coding, and the layouts, I have found out a great deal about what works best for me. I have picked up subconscious css tricks, and have a list of plugins that do not play nice with one another.
I design my own sites. At the moment, yes, this is a free template – a gorgeous one, I believe, but I will be replacing the pictures and links up top at first, and then making other changes. It hasn’t been completed because this site has secondary priority, and I am still drawing the graphics in Manga Studio. I had to move this from another server, because Serendipity looked… atrocious.
As a team (because there are four sites and one involves a circle of writers and artists for profit), we have started branding across all the social networking sites, which is time consuming as well. I can only do so much tech work in a day if I want time to draw, sadly. Sleep? Eh, not usually an option. ^_^
I have to add that I completely love the option to password protect, and the cut line ( Continue Reading… ) which keeps it uncluttered and also gives only those who are authorized the ability to get into certain posts. LJ has it’s uses, but is not as customizable as Wordpress on your own domain. And while it does allow you to friends-lock, ALL friends can see those posts, not just the ones you’ve given a password to. That’s not exactly how I want my yaoi doujinshi downloads site set up, you know?
Tags: hosting, installation, plugins, wordpress