Starting with WordPress
I’ve chosen to use WordPress for this site basically because I feel a bit ignorant about what can be achieved with publishing systems that are categorised as blogging tools, and this is one way to learn what they can achieve.
I’m aware that publishing systems are distributed across a spectrum, without rigid divisions, and that blogging tools – despite being at the light end of the spectrum – are actually pretty flexible. I’ve never seriously used one, and this seems a suitable occasion to put that right. I hope I’m also going to find WordPress simple to use.
I have to say my immediate reaction is that it’s less simple than I hoped. My shared hosting firm does one-click installation, so that was, indeed, simple. Configuration took a matter of seconds. But an immediately recommended upgrade to the latest version (2.7) was pretty cumbersome. And now I’m getting to grips with posts, pages, tags and categories, not aided by an online documentation system that is doubtless comprehensive but seems to take me in circles. What I would like is a downloadable pdf that covers the basics, but there doesn’t seem to be one.
However: as I say, the online stuff does seem to be comprehensive and thorough. I’ve never really done blogging before, and WP’s stuff for complete beginners includes a clear explanation of such mysteries as trackbacks and pingbacks.
Since starting this site, I have started another site about weather in the Alps where I plan to use a magazine-style theme and invest a bit more in design angles while I leave the design of this site as it is and focus on the content.