A few weeks ago some of you may have noticed that I rather dramatically announced a move to Wordpress. Since then, although I have had time to toy with various designs, I simply haven't had the serious chunk of time required to design a brand new website and make it work the way I want it to.
Wordpress seems to provide so much for bloggers yet it is a darn site more complex than Blogger and, above all, although I favour a more professional design, I don't want to lose the 'Literary Relish' identity which, at the moment, my standard Wordpress template does! Is it worth investing a little money on the design? Does anyone have any advice/experience of moving house yet wanting to retain their identity at the same time?
I switched over from Blogger to Wordpress.com earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteI think Blogger is easier to get started on and you can do a lot more tweaking to the look of your site. I miss that. I don’t have a paid account and therefore can’t use CSS on Wordpress, and the basic themes are extremely inflexible. This was frustrating at first because, like you, I was attached to my “look.” But, in the end, I translated the concept as best I could and ended up with a site I actually like better. You can see the difference here:
Original: http://slywit.blogspot.com/2012/01/readers-choice-challenge-1-bonkers.html
New: http://slywit.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/readers-choice-challenge-1-bonkers-brilliant-rubbish-2/
Have you imported posts into Wordpress yet? I find it's easier to get a sense of layout and look once you have real post to look at. The importing of my posts worked okay, but I did eventually re-edit the html on each post for minor spacing issues etc. But I’m fastidious that way. I've also discovered a bug whereby editing old imported posts (to add tags for example) sends out the post again as if it’s new. But if you don’t want to fuss with old posts you don’t have to of course. I'm an editor so I'm always finding something!
That said, although the Wordpress dashboard was very intimidating at first, I've gotten used to it. I also like the WP combination of categories and tags for labeling posts and the comment system, which allows for specific replies to comments as well as some threading. I've had people have problems leaving comments on Blogger.
Plus, I find the move was worth it for the community alone. WordPress seems much more a blogging community than Blogger ever did. If you can find a theme that works for you, I highly recommend the move.
Hi Sylvie
DeleteThanks so much for the advice. You've actually given me a bit of a boost and it's really encouraging to hear that you were feeling perhaps a bit too attached to your 'look' before. The two blogs look great but your new and improved Wordpress version just looks really smart and professional which is exactly what I'm after. I know it's worth the move - now I'm bolstering up the energy to do it!
I have imported some posts - just to get a better idea of it like you said :)I don't have to be uber-computery and all au fait with HTML to move to Wordpress then? :)
If you DM me your email address on Twitter (@sly_wit), I can send you a brief html cheat sheet when I get home tonight. Some basic html gets stripped in WordPress and so I have a cheat sheet with how force an extra space or blank line as well as how to change font size, right justify, etc.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much you're a star I appreciate it :) Just sent you a message x
DeleteHey! I'm afraid I have never had anything other than Wordpress, so I'm not actually going to be very helpful at all... BUT, I do love Wordpress and once you've tweaked everything to look just how you want it, it's dead simple. I do pay for the customisation thing because my boyfriend understands these things. Together we changed the font, and that's about it really. Things like background colour, pictures and the general layout can be changed very easily without having to pay for anything. All you have to do is find the best template for you. I think there are a lot more since I started. There are some really tastefully plain ones that you can personalise and bring a bit of colour too.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck and hopefully see you there!
PS> Finished Bonjour Tristesse. Loved it!
Fantastic! Was it your first Francoise Sagan? She's so aloof and wonderful isn't she?
DeleteI'm going to try my level best I promise :) I'll get there eventually and I'm sure it'll be worth it. Even if it takes me a couple of months! I strive to be all smooth and sleek! Thanks! ;)
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