Back then, I knew two html codes, <b> and <i>, and thought I was so cutting edge. The site served me well for 10 years. Viewers could learn where I went to school and where I worked and what kinds of projects I finished. But, in 2010, it looked like a quaint relic from grandma’s attic. Making changes on it was not easy. So I didn’t do it often. And each time that I did, I had to try to remember what I did the last time, which might have been a year ago. Richard would have to go into some server, do some ftp-something, identify the culprit file, and then translate my writings into a secret code.

So the time had come. I went with WordPress because “everyone uses WordPress.” I learned that there are two species of WordPress: wordpress.com, where you run a free blog on the WordPress server; and wordpress.org, where you download some free software and install it on your own host server. I opted for .org because of the greater flexibility for adding cool-sounding features and having more control. I installed it (quite easily) on my goDaddy “deluxe” hosted server ($6.99/month).

First impressions. WordPress was not what I expected. It was not WYSIWYG. I found myself in a world full of codes, plug-ins, widgets, static pages, parent-and-child themes, php, css, and other scary stuff. Apparently, WordPress is easy if you just want to choose a theme (a pre-set pattern of layout, font, colors, etc.) and post blogs. But if you want to set up a “content management system” (fancy talk for regular old web pages rather than blog pages [I think]), you need to create “static pages”. If you want different things to appear in the righthand columns of your static pages (rather than the same thing on each page, as in a blog), you need to find and install a “plug-in” so you can mess with your “widgets.” (I used “Widget-Logic.”)

Design. I went with WordPress’ new default theme, Twenty Ten, because I really liked the clean look and simple fonts. There are thousands of themes out there. Many are free, some are not. (For example, I purchased one called ClassiPress [$69] for my other website. More than just a palette of colors, fonts and layouts, this “theme” has all the mechanics built in for posting ads, collecting payments, etc.) I customized my Twenty Ten mainly by changing the background color and adding a banner photo, which I purchased from istockphoto for $15. The other smaller photos were $1.50 to $2 each.

I never figured out how to do page layouts in WordPress—such as the 3-column layout on my Home and Services pages. Instead, I resorted to using WebPlusX4, a WYSIWYG web design program I had used earlier and liked. I inserted my WebPlus layouts into the WordPress pages as frames. Those-in-the-Know will gasp. Frames are so 90s! And search engines won’t find them. Well too bad. Maybe I’ll get to it later.

Getting help. There’s a lot of help available in WordPress forums and various websites. Whatever problem or question you have, you can be certain that someone else had struggled with it too. But I generally found that I needed help to understand the help. For example, I wanted to know how to remove the big fat word “Home” from the home page.  The answer was to put in some code that looked like a word scramble surrounded by brackets, question marks, and “php” or “css”. Put it where? How? Yikes. Back to help.

I know I am probably smart enough to dig deeper and could probably solve all my Wordpress problems on my own—eventually. But did I want to spend that much time? No. So, when I had 3 or 4 remaining problems, I gave up and turned to a Higher Power. I found a service called Professional WordPress Help. I filled out an online form describing my situation, and not-too-long later a nice guy named Jeff called me. On the phone! We had a nice chat, and for $85 Jeff fixed everything. Immediately. He removed the big fat Home, added a one-line footer and copyright, and fixed up some quirky stuff  that popped up only in the Internet Explorer browser (my bullets were fine in Firefox and Chrome, but looked like cannonballs in IE8). This could have taken me hours, if I had ever even figured it out. Thanks, Jeff. Well worth it.

My last task was to figure out how to write this blog from “Windows Live Writer.”

I think I did it.