Advice for setting up your blog

  • stephenwiggs

    #1268

    If you are new to WordPress, Graphene, or to blogging or webhosting in general, there is a way to flatten out the learning curve a bit.

    I know you want to set up your site and install a lot of widgets and plugins right away, but please don’t. Not every widget and plugin will work with every other one, nor will they always work well with Graphene or even WordPress. Some never get updated, and others are just knock-offs of other, better, plugins.

    If you have a lot of extras installed, it can be difficult to figure out what is going wrong when something does go wrong (which it will–that’s the nature of the game).

    So first, install WordPress, and learn what it does and doesn’t do.

    Second, get to know the Graphene theme, and learn what it does and doesn’t do.

    Then, install plugins and widgets, but install them one at a time. Play around with each one for a day or two before you add another one. Then, if something goes wrong, it probably has something to do with the last plugin or widget you installed. The same holds true of making changes to the theme (which you should do through a child theme or custom CSS).

    I know you all want a fully-functioning web site right out of the box, but really, there’s no such thing. It’s a matter of tweaking and adjusting, and that is best done one step at a time. (And you can always make a sticky post telling your readers what features will be coming in time–it gives them a reason to keep coming back to your blog.)

    This will make your life easier, and it will make it easier for others to help you in this forum.

    When you do ask for help here, be sure to read the forum rules first. (And you might want to take a look at this external post as well.)

    Thanks for reading this.

    Ken

    Admin

    Syahir Hakim

    #15075

    Good post, Ken! I’m sticky-ing this.

    Mod

    Kenneth John Odle

    #15076

    I learned this after many hours banging my head against my computer desk. Slow and steady wins the race!

    jlfh

    #15078

    Thet’s the first thing to know, but some of us learn the hardway XD

    Mod

    Kenneth John Odle

    #15079

    There is definitely some value to learning things the hard way, if only that you now know what not to do. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything

    I have thought about writing some tutorials for WP, Graphene, HTML, and CSS, but GIYF.

    Admin

    Syahir Hakim

    #15080

    And some would argue learning things the hard way is the only way we learn 🙂

    GIYF – another acronym added to my (excessively-long-for-the-average-person) list of acronym. Thanks Ken!

    Mod

    Kenneth John Odle

    #15081

    And all that “tweaking and adjusting” is part of the fun. I know it’s a bummer to try something and find a 404 or to see that all of your widgets have seemingly gone round the twist, but these experiences aren’t failures–they’re a chance to learn something. Without falling down, I’d never get a chance to get up again.

    Mod

    Kenneth John Odle

    #15082

    another acronym added to my (excessively-long-for-the-average-person) list of acronym

    You have one of these too? Cool.

    tphillips

    #15083
    Quote:
    If you are new to WordPress, Graphene, or to blogging or webhosting in general, there is a way to flatten out the learning curve a bit.

    I agree as well. You should always go slow and take it from day to day. Not just setting up WordPress but even before that choosing your webhosting should be thought through properly. Then you can go on installing everything and add extensions every other day. Its good advice that people should take to heart.

    Mod

    Kenneth John Odle

    #15085

    And one other thing: take notes. Simply write down what you did and when you did it. This helps immensely when you need to undo something.

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 17 total)

  • 1
  • 2
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.