Discouraged with WordPress

  • Don’t overreact to this post. This is a section for feedback and that’s all this is. I’ve spent 5 weeks trying to get a blog to look and work the way I want and am still a long way off. Progress is extremely slow. I am not a html, php or CSS programmer. I think WP’s greatest strength and weakness are the plugins/widgets. There are hundreds of them. Some work, some don’t, some interfere with others. It’s a very complicated situation. I’m trying to decide whether to throw in the towel on WP. ‘Thanks’ to those who have tried to help.

    Brooks

    Q: What do I really like about it?

    It has a built in comment system.
    The editor is pretty good.
    The category system is pretty good.
    Ultimate Tag Warrior is a good plugin.
    There are many themes available.
    The Executable php widget works.
    The Feedburner plugin seems to work.
    The Google sitemap plugin seems to work.
    The Search Everything plugin seems to work.
    Sidebar widgets seem to work.
    Smart Archive plugin seems to work.
    Subscribe Remind plugin seems to work
    Wordpress database backup seems to work.
    The Contact form plugin seems to work.

    Q: What don’t I really like about it?

    ShortStat plugin doesn’t work.
    SEO Title Tag plugin doesn’t work.
    Many other WP people don’t answer emails.
    Plugins are generally not supported.
    Plugin authors most often don’t respond.
    Questions at the www.ads-software.com forums often go unanswered.
    Kubrick has no graphics and looks somewhat boring.
    Kubrick doesn’t have a horizontal navigation bar.
    I can’t figure out how to get little RSS icons on the page.
    I have to go somewhere else to see traffic statistics.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

  • Thank you for your feedback.

    Sorry for your poor experience with WordPress.

    I see that some of your questions have been answered here on the forums and some have not had responses. I suspect that would be typical in an open-source environment where the software is free, the plugins and themes are free, and the support is free.

    I also sympathize with you on the plugin issue, but again most plugins are free, and a number of plugin authors just get overwhelmed with support questions. It is even difficult for all plugin questions to be answered by the volunteers on these forums.

    You expressed, in an earlier thread, your unhappiness with the forums and I directed you to the wp-pro email list–were you able to find satisfaction there?

    With that said, I wonder what other people have to say about their experience with other free software?

    I also wonder if WordPress needs to do a better job of addressing the expectations of new users?

    My take on this is that there is a laundry list of stuff that the OP is trying to implement. It would tax anybody in a short period. As to throwing the towel in – until Habari is fully up and running what other software could come anywhere near delivering that spec? The criticism of Kubrick – I just do not understand. Who cares? There are thousands of other themes. The OP can’t figure out how to put RSS feeds on the page? Whose fault is that? If you are not a web developer then you would not expect to do that. The forums are voluntary. And the WP devs are busy. Its a handful of guys and about 2 million users. Maybe you need paid for assistance?

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    www.ads-software.com Admin

    I’ve spent 5 weeks trying to get a blog to look and work the way I want and am still a long way off. Progress is extremely slow. I am not a html, php or CSS programmer.

    See, that’s a bit of a problem.

    If I went to an auto mechanic and said “I’ve spent 5 weeks messing around with my engine, but I can’t get it to work because I don’t know anything about cars”, then you’d think I was a bit of an idiot, no?

    If you don’t know how to do it, then learn. Buy books or read online and learn html, css, php. But, it will take a lot of time. Longer than 5 weeks.

    Or, if you can’t or don’t want to learn (which is perfectly understandable and a completely valid choice), then perhaps you should have somebody else do it for you.

    The idea that anybody can do it is a good idea and I support it, but the fact of the matter is that people do make a living and get paid for doing this stuff. If you want to take it on as a hobby, fine. There are plenty of amateur auto-mechanics out there too. But if you don’t want to take it on as a hobby, and still want it to get done, then you may have to bring in a professional.

    I say this both as a hobbiest in html/css/php/Wordpress and as a professional programmer of code that is a bit more complex than WordPress. Don’t think that just because it’s easy to learn that there is also no value in having it done for you by somebody else. Your time is valuable too.

    On the same line as finding a professional, how would I go about finding a wordpress professional?

    Are we allowed to offer our services on this forum?

    how would I go about finding a wordpress professional?

    wp-pro forums, automattic.com has a list of WordPress developers (I keep forgetting to send them my link – they asked for it *months* ago – I gotta do that) – search on Google for blog designers.

    *many* web designers handle blog designs. Find yourself a web designer, and chances are, if they don’t do blogs (or know WordPress), they are networked with someone who does.

    Why don’t you just go to wordpress.com and get a VIP account? This way you’ll get support, everything working, themes and plugins (not for all, but those vital for your blog) support, and whatever… this is off topic!

    Maybe the original poster would like to step up and offer their assistance here in the wp.org forums. I know we just had this discussion in wp.com land as well.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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