As luck would have it my newest project for one of my internship/volunteer jobs is to become familiar with WordPress. They just recently made the switch over to using WordPress to host the blogs of their affiliates- the communities with whom they partner. This gave me the impetus to finally try out WordPress, and about two hours ago I dipped my toe in.
I started off at WordPress.org and read through all the little tutorials and overviews that they recommend you check out prior to starting a blog. A lot of it was a bit repetitive as it was basic information, but I wanted to make sure I was building a good base. From there I popped over to WordPress.com and started a trial blog. I chose a theme, put up a quick about me, and did my first post, including uploading a picture and making tags.
I know I have just now barely started with WordPress, but I thought I'd give my thoughts on the process as I went along in case anyone else has ever wondered if WordPress is, as the kiddos say, where it's at. I admit even I felt behind the times for having a Blogger account, when all I ever heard was how fabulous WordPress is. So, here are my first impressions...
WordPress kind of sucks. For one, every.single.time. I click on a new area I want to jump to, it takes fully 15-20 seconds to load. I know that doesn't sound like much, but Blogger responds instantly. It reminded me of when internet did not jump quickly to obey my every whim. In addition, I find their platform to be really clunky and kind of awkward. It just doesn't feel very intuitive to me. Of course, it also doesn't help that anytime I tried to navigate within my post editor I had the aforementioned problem of sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting for the page to load. I've noticed this happens when I try to visit any site affiliated with WordPress, including the blogs of my friends who use that platform. I would sum it up as saying that WordPress looks like it was designed by people who know how to code, who are very familiar with the nuts and bolts of website design, and who were coding and programming their own websites back before most people even had internet in their homes. Blogger, on the other hand, feels a lot less cluttered, and a lot more user friendly. And this isn't just because I have been using it for 3 years- I remember hopping on Blogger no problem, it all made sense to me in a logical, orderly way. Yet even with reading the overview on WordPress, I found myself clicking on certain tabs and getting lost in a random rabbit hole.
Again, I realize that I just set up an account, and I've done all of one post. I just wanted to chronicle this experience at each step of the way. And right now, in the stage of "I just started a blog, wheeeee!" I can say that I think Blogger wins this round. Now, next week I might be raving about WordPress, I'm not ruling that out. I'd also like to note that a lot of the "WordPress is soooooo much better than Blogger!" articles and blog posts I've read online are clearly written by people who have not been on Blogger in a few years. A lot of their complaints about Blogger aren't problems anymore, and with the recent updated editor I like Blogger a lot more. Honestly, the only thing I would change about Blogger is the way commenting works. I would love to have threaded comments, where people can reply directly to one another and get an e-mail notification of such replies.
I'm committing myself to learning WordPress inside and out because doing a good job for this organization is of utmost importance to me, so I'm certainly sticking with it. I'll keep the updates to a minimum from here on out, but hopefully they might be helpful to someone out there. I'd also like to take this time to apologize to Blogger, publicly.
Dear Blogger-
I didn't know how great you were until I stepped over to check out what I thought would be greener grass. Thanks for putting up with me all these years. You're the best.
XO,
Cortney
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ETA: After another hour or so on WordPress, I'm liking it better. Also, I found a way to fix my Blogger comment problem- DISQUS. You can patch it onto your blog and it has threaded comments, plus anyone with an e-mail address can comment on your blog. Purrrr-fect.
Interesting. I have had nothing but good luck with Wordpress. I think whichever you use first is going to be the one that you feel most comfortable. I switched to blogger for this round and I'm regretting it. Maybe I just need more practice but I hate how it takes me multiple tries to get the formatting on my posts just right. It keeps changing font sizes, page breaks and links on me. WTF Blogger?
ReplyDeleteGot any good Blogger tips to share?
p.s. I love your new banner up top. Goregous!
I find that certain things are better in HTML view, others are better in compose. I like to change text size, italicize, bold, center, etc. in the compose tab, but I always use the HTML tab when I'm inserting links or spaces. For whatever reason that takes care of the wonkiness..
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean though, sometimes it will randomly keep formatting the wrong way and I have no idea why. After a bit more time playing around with WordPress I'm liking it better, but I definitely prefer the way Blogger lets you upload pictures.
And thank you! I finally redesigned everything and upgraded to the new templates and I like it so much better than my old design. Bobby gets all the credit for taking such a great shot- I love how you can't even really tell that Machu Picchu is chillin' down there :)