“Why is this so complicated?” is the one question that has been running through my mind this entire week. To be completely honest, WordPress is not difficult to use or navigate. If you compare this to writing HTML and CSS code for your website pages from scratch, it’s a breeze. The coding is essentially already done for you. All you need to do is put the content in and customize the visual aspects as you’d like. As Campbell (2009) describes, these technologies are “template-driven, plug-and-play, turnkey web applications.” So, why is this so complicated?
Overcomplication of a simple task
I think I was expecting everything to come together overnight, for my entire website to look and feel complete in its design, content, and accessibility. The truth is: I got a little too excited and didn’t even know where to begin. So here I am, enjoying the overcomplication of simple tasks.
Creating Pages and Posts
Like I mentioned earlier, navigating WordPress is fairly straightforward. If I want to create a new Page, I head to my Dashboard, click Pages > Add New, and I have a new Page that I can edit. Same thing goes for Posts—off to my Dashboard, click Posts > Add New, and I have a ready-to-edit Post. Simple, right?
My ‘About’ page
Putting together my ‘About’ page only required the two clicks listed above and a paragraph or so of content. I will say, once you get the hang of adding Posts to your Pages and Pages to your Main Page, you’re all set! As for the content, it was summary of what I hope for this site to be—a new and practically endless space for me to think.
It’s not about looks… for now
Could my site use a photo or ten? A pop of colour? Maybe a serif font in there too? Very much so. Though again, I’m taking everything back a bit. I’m trying to avoid overcomplicating these processes any more than I already have. So, for now, let’s just enjoy the practice of writing posts like these. With a bit more time and some research, I’ll have the aesthetic all figured out. Like Campbell (2009) notes, “Sometimes progress is linear.”
References
Campbell, G. (2009). A personal cyberinfrastructure. Educause Review, 44(5), 58-59. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure
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