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When I started with WordPress a few years ago I was pretty exited to find some open source software that would let me to do things with my website that my HTML and CSS scripting couldn’t. But when I told others about it usually all I got back was a blank look and ‘That’s nice.’

Things sure do change in a few short years. Now when I mention WordPress people perk up; ‘WordPress? Everyone wants WordPress now!’ There’s so much hype I wonder if WordPress is being chosen for the right reasons.

So what is it?
In a nutshell WordPress is open source software that is used for building a blog or web-site and managing lots and lots of content too. WordPress is free, in the sense that there is no charge for downloading it and using it and it is often chosen by people who want to do things for themselves. It is very, very easy to use once the site is up and running. Not that hard to install either, but that’s another topic.

But to get away from all the recent hype, here’s what WordPress is and what it isn’t:

• WordPress is free software, relatively easy for most users, but not exactly effortless to use. Expect to put in some time learning how to set it up, style your site, then add content and maintain your site. It helps if you understand a bit about how web hosting works and know a little HTML and CSS. If your time is at a premium, consider hiring someone to set your WordPress site and maybe even backup and maintain the site for you. The bigger and more complex your site, the more possibilities for conflicts between themes, plugins and other bits of code. Yep, just like any other software on the ever-changing web WordPress works until it doesn’t***, and then you need time to search the forums (the help you need is almost always out there) and find a fix or you will need someone to do it for you.

***Note: This is not a complaint. There are scores of programmers who donate their time to make this and other open source software possible. I can’t thank them enough.

• WordPress is a great choice for many people. That’s what I think. But while it is the software I use, I know there are a lot of other choices. Then too, not everyone needs a content management system. A good WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor might be more than enough to put up a website that only needs a few static pages. Templates can do the trick sometimes too. Much as it pains me to say it, WordPress isn’t always the best choice.
• WordPress is blogging software. Yes it is and if what you want is to get an idea of how it works or to put up a personal blog go to wordpress.com and sign up. This is also free, it will let you work within the WordPress admin panel, try out some themes (style your pages) and share your blog with the world. But what WordPress isn’t is only blogging software. It is a powerful and ever-changing tool for website development. So if you want or need your own URL (web address), you will need to get that, and hosting for your site on your own. Then you can download the software at wordpress.org and get started.

Keep WordPress simple. That’s my best advice to anyone who wants to set up a blog or a website with WordPress. It’s the old KISS rule. Over and over again.

For myself, I can’t seem to do that no matter what. Today I’m tired, my right hand is sore from all the mousing around and I wish I could make myself follow that silly rule. All I’ve done since starting with WordPress is get myself in deeper and deeper. I’ve spent the last few days working on learning how to create my own themes for WordPress and hopefully it won’t be too long before I have a free theme or two to offer the world.

For anyone new to using WordPress I suggest keeping it simple. Stick to what your purpose of having a site or a blog in the first place is, if you can. There are lots of free themes to choose from at wordpress.org. if you want to change the styling of your site. Download one and try it, that’s usually pretty easy.

The 2010 default theme that comes with WordPress is beautifully stable as far as I can tell. A good reason to use it in itself. As for syling your site, don’t overlook the fact that even though this theme has just one side column there are several other widget areas to choose from. You also have the option to change the background, even use an image there instead of a solid colour and you can change the header image as well.

For the background, from your Admin Dashboard go to Appearance- ->Background. In that page you will have the option to upload an image and or to choose a color. There’s a preview of what you will see used as the background for your site before you save your new settings.

For the header image, go to Appearance- – >Header. You’ll see a selection of images to choose for the header image or

you can upload a custom header image. You’ll need a ‘sized for the web’ 940 x 198 pixel image.

Fonts are a big part of the impression a site makes on a viewer and with a plugin like ‘WP Google Fonts’ you can change the fonts on your site. I haven’t tried it yet myself but I will be soon. I have seen it recommended on the WP forums so it’s worth a try. There are other plugins that will give you more font options as well. (To be safe though, stick to plugins downloaded through wordpress.org.)

**Note: I just tried the WP Google Fonts plugin and this one may or may not be a simple fix depending on the theme you are using. There is a warning on the plugin page that you may need to add custom css to over ride some of the theme’s style elements to get the font changes you want. I couldn’t get it to work at first and then I updated the plugin and presto it worked. After that I found myself spending way too much time trying out some of the more unusual fonts. Very nice to have more font choices even if it means some brushing up on the CSS!

Anyway, even with a few basic tweaks the 2010 theme can look like well, something else. Your site, your blog and you will have kept it simple.

And for those who like me, don’t want to or just can’t keep things simple, don’t forget the wordpress.org forums as well as the codex. Usually the answer to a question can be found there.

*This is an example of a banner image I am using on a club site I’m currently building using the 2010 theme. Remember you can add a logo, as I did here or words using the font of your choice, to the banner image before you upload it to your site.

By now most WordPress users know about WordPress 3.0 and the new features that have turned it into an even better content management system.

For anyone who is not familiar with WordPress this software, which started out as a blogging platform, can now be used to set up a network of blogs or websites which can run on just one WordPress installation. One ‘superadmin’ controls the whole system, while each separate blog/site on the network is managed within it’s own admin panel. Each individual administrator can choose from any themes that have been installed by the ‘super’ on the network ‘superadmin’ panel.

3.0 has a much more flexible menu system too. There is the option of creating custom menus and linking to pages outside of the wordpress installation, even to a page on another site in any menu including the main one. Best of all though, WordPress is an open source project so the software is free.

That’s 3.0 in a nutshell. If you have a website and you are not familiar with WordPress check out ‘wordpress.org’ to find out more.

What WordPress has done for me though is create a never ending learning curve. There are so many plugins to try out, so many design features to tweek. Every time I change something it leads to another change and then I want more.

This system can be dead easy to work with if you let it, or it can get incredibly difficult if you get compulsive about it like me and have to try out every new idea or feature that comes along.

This time I really wanted to set up the network out of one wordpress installation to save some administration time but my hosting provider doesn’t support it. That was a disappointment, but what I realized afterwards is that I don’t need every new toy that comes out just so I can have it.

There had always been another way to move my site in the direction I want it to go and all this trying out new things is only holding me up. That’s when I realized that I’ve been a little stuck and haven’t been nearly as creative with this very useful tool as I could be.

Now I can let go of a few other things I’ve been clinging to as well. And one of them is being way too serious all the time. That’s not me. Not just WordPress, but this whole digital world is constantly changing and in a kind of weird way, because of it, so have I.

Look out. There’s more to come.

P.S. – Thanks to all you kind, generous and hard working software developers out there. You sure have been keeping me busy!

The other half just walked into the computer room.

“Have you been geeking around all this time?” he asks before he says “I don’t know how you stand that stuff!” and disappears.

Some days the ‘geeking around’ doesn’t go so well.  A lot of days have been like some days lately. But then it works.  I find a hack around some insurmountable obstacle and it feels very, very good.

It happened when an image refused to upload into my WordPress pages.  It worked last week.  Easy peesy.  Then it didn’t. Then I worked out a way to do it using FTP (which I almost understand now). Felt good.

Today I did exactly the same thing that I did yesterday but it didn’t work this time. Then I found the button with ‘img’ on it, which I probably should have been using all along and yes, I’ve got it going again.

Wish me luck.  Maybe I’ll get into the studio tomorrow.  If I can tear myself away.  (I really do love this stuff!)  At least I do when it isn’t giving me a headache. Go figure. . .

Anyway there a good people out there who do this for a living.  Hire one of them, or beg a favor if  that works for you, find a WYSIWYG that lays those pages out exactly the way you see them there in front of you, (the reality=maybe) or just search for the right templates for the business you have. There are some easier alternatives out there – it’s just that some of us won’t use them!

Why I have to do it all by myself, I don’t know.  Some days it feels like a bottomless time drain.  On other days it flows, and I feel more like I do when I’m painting.  Virtual creation?  Just one more kind of computer art?  Why not? It feels like I’m being creative.

I started learning HTML at HTML goodies.  The nice people there helped me with my first web pages – even if they don’t know it. Thanks so very much.