Stuck! WP Tech Issues

[Caroline DePalatisParticipant]

Hi there!
I have designed some websites in the past and have participated in a group blog on wordpress.com. But wordpress.org is a new animal for me. I’m going through the Intentional Blogging course as well as the WP101 but am not finding the tech help I need for the theme I’ve chosen. I’m working with the support forum, but am still running into glitches. Any idea of what to do? Generally speaking, I understand tech stuff relatively well (for a non-digital native), but I feel as if this part of the course – and getting started from scratch – is really slowing me down. I know TW is self-paced, but I’m concerned that I’m going to lose the momentum & flow of the community.

I’m finding wordpress.org vs. other websites/blogs I’ve used (Wix, Weebly, WP.com) the equivalent of using a PC vs. a Mac. I’m a Mac user all the way – much more intuitive to me.

Thanks to any who might have advice!
Caroline

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living, loving and serving with intention

[Caroline DePalatisParticipant]

Yeah! Answering my own post. I persevered and think I have figured out the problem that stymied me. This is just a great big learning experiment!

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living, loving and serving with intention

[NicoleParticipant]

Hey Caroline! It looks like you solved your own issue, but I wanted to jump in a bit on this topic you started anyway. Just wanted to let you know that I completely relate to your issues getting used to WP design- actually I’m a graphic designer myself, but I’m not used to WP codex, and understanding the design of it is really a separate monster project of its own for me that I don’t feel fits in the time frame of this course. I don’t know what other approaches people are using, but my angle is to use a “placeholder” theme for the time being while I’m honing my content, and then really seriously address the design aspect of it later, when I feel I have the leeway and it’s not conflicting with the content and pace of the course. If you can manage to have it all ready before then, that’s excellent! But I would say that if you ever feel like developing the design aspect is slowing you down, shelf the design temporarily while you do the course work, and then get back to it when you have the chance.

This is my approach until Module 3 at least…to be honest I may have to pull back on this course once I get to Module 3, so that I may focus on honing the design properly before we get into expanding the reach of our blogs and building audience/readership for it. My angle for this is to stay in touch with the community and keep progressing, even if it is at a pace behind most others at that point. I would say that as long as you are still progressing consistently every day, it’s okay if not everyone finishes at the same time!

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The fool thinks he is wise; the wise man doth know he is a fool.

[Abby FlynnKeymaster]

Hi Caroline, glad you may have found some resolution to your issues!
But definitely agree with Nicole. WordPress is SUCH a powerful tool, the options you have with it truly are limitless, but it can take a lot of time to get used to the backend.
If you are starting from scratch during this course, I do advice using one of their simpler starter themes so you can really focus on your content. But I definitely promise that the longer you work in and move around in the back end the easier it gets.

Abby
Goins, Writer Team

[Caroline DePalatisParticipant]

Nicole and Abby,

Thank you so much for sharing all you have. I agree that we should not get too hung up on the technical side and allow that to block our progress. I think I did that for about 24 agonizing hours (during which time I wrote the first entry here). And then I hit some breakthrough, after a good night’s sleep (something to be learned here, too). Fortunately, this time I got a hint of what to do and followed my hunch (plus a response through the support forum for my theme), and got it to work – YEAH!

For Abby – I think where some of us newbies get hung up is when we hit 1.4 or maybe 2.2 and need to get ourselves set up with a blog we don’t have yet. All of a sudden, not only do we have to squeeze the Intentional Blog course in (which is great, btw), but if wordpress.org is new to us, we need to fit that in as well. The videos are not long, but the sum total takes some time, especially if you want to make sure that you really “get” it, often through practice. Then you start feeling behind in the course…. I do think that this three-day weekend should prove helpful in regaining some ground. I know the course is “self-paced,” but I think many of us want to keep up with the overall flow to get the most out of the experience and the community. Not sure how to resolve this – maybe a questionnaire for those who sign up, so Jeff & team can get an overall feel as to where people are on their writing and blogging journey from the start?!? – but it might be something to consider for future versions.

Thanks to you both, and have a lovely, relaxing weekend!
Caroline

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living, loving and serving with intention

[Abby FlynnKeymaster]

That’s a great idea Caroline, thanks so much for sharing!
And yes definitely understand everyone coming at different levels and stages of their blogs. Will definitely talk with Jeff about it!

Glad you were able to work something out

Abby
Goins, Writer Team

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