WordPress WordPress WordPress

I’ve been using WordPress for what, 5 years now? More probably. In fact, I don’t really remember how I got into making sites with WordPress, it’s just what I do these days. Maybe it’s worth going down memory lane and having a look. Especially now since I need a distraction after a missing ‘#’ in some of my code has made me look like a fucking idiot. Although worryingly, as soon as I started writing, WordPress has started showing me a Connection lost error. I assume that’s just coincidence, right?

Anyway, WordPress was never the first content management system (CMS) I used. I tried a bunch of them, almost all of them being niche and confusing and stuff like that. Originally, all the way back in what, 2013 or something, I just wanted to put a blog on my website and I didn’t want to mess around with databases and stuff. Most of the CMSs I tried were from Softaculous, a weird thing that comes with some cPanel installations (depending on your hosts and stuff like that). Softaculous allows for easy installations, creating databases and stuff for you. Back in 2013, when I was only slightly more of an idiot, that seemed like a handy feature.

I’ll be honest though, most of those CMSs were kinda lame. They didn’t have any real features apart from pages, posts and maybe the ability to add a contact form. Occasionally a CMS would present a handful of theme options, but if you wanted something in particular you’d have to make it yourself. WordPress caught me by surprise because it’s almost always had a massive collection of plugins and themes available.

That being said, I did try Joomla before I ended up using WordPress more regularly. But I very quickly stopped using it and for a while I had no idea why. I remembered why when someone asked me to help them do something on their website and realised that the Joomla interface is just… ugh… It’s just small and foreign and I didn’t like it. There’s probably plenty of Joomla fans who would say the same about WordPress, but I dunno, I like the pretty clear dashboard and admin menu down the left hand side of the screen.

Weirdly enough though, I never actually used WordPress.com. Like, I ran into WordPress.com long, long after I had started playing around with WordPress.org, the self-hosted version. And by the time I did, I didn’t want anything to do with it. WordPress.org may all be on me when I fuck things up (which I do a lot because I’m a massive fuck-up at times) but self-hosted WordPress means I can tinker with pretty much everything. With Worpress.com, you kinda don’t have that flexibility.

Are there times where I hate WordPress though? Oh definitely. Sometimes things just don’t work. And when you’re building your own stuff or modifying things or just working on your own theme, things can go to heck quite quickly. Thankfully though, with WordPress being as popular as it is, there is very often someone out there who has or has had the same issue, so you’ll eventually find an answer to your problems. Eventually.

There are other things that I hate about WordPress as well, but over time I’ve slowly gotten over them. Like Gutenberg for example. Yeah sure I didn’t like WordPress 5.0 when it came out but I got over it. By getting the Classic Editor plugin so I don’t have to use it. I still have problems with Gutenburg’s usability (although they have made improvements) but I can choose not to use it and leave Gutenburg to people who do want to use it. The thing with Gutenburg is that it could be a good page builder if you want to build a website, but if you just want to write and make blog posts, it’s a pain in the ass.

Still, WordPress, despite its flaws, is wonderful. So much potential. So much wonder. So mu-

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I’m not having a good day today.