Author Topic: WordPress - Is it ****?  (Read 3358 times)

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
WordPress - Is it ****?
« on: 14 March, 2021, 07:31:46 pm »
I log into a Wordpress site and marvel at the abject confusion.

I read up a bit and discovered that Wordpress has two personae and stuff can be in one or another. Blog or Pages, from what I remember.

Is it unintuitive?
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #1 on: 14 March, 2021, 07:52:59 pm »

Having a clear idea of what you want from what you're building will probably help, regardless of what platform you end up using: generally blog posts for things that are located in time (events, diary/news items) and pages for the more static stuff (about, contact, team pages, project indexes, things that keep the same relevance as time passes...)

Regarding the two personae: wordpress.org requires you to have your own server access, and you can tweak things a lot more as a result. Wordpress.com sits on their servers, you can customise things less but can still change theme options and how you organise the content on your site. Have a play with a wordpress.com site set to private whilst you figure out structure, content and your voice.

I started using it around 2004 sort of time and have had no reason to move away. I use it for my own projects, short-term schools projects, documenting commissions etc. I like how you can always get your content out of it should you choose to relocate. The writing interface is getting more annoying though (there are plug-ins to revert back to the old interface if you're using wordpress.org)

If you're doing e-commerce stuff then it might, er, pay to do your research about how to link different platforms up for money and sales handling.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #2 on: 14 March, 2021, 08:06:34 pm »
Thanks.

I've been tasked with updating some info on someone else's site. I'm sure a better familiarity would help, but I'm used to Concrete5, (which I chose because it seemed more intuitive than other CMS software!)

I've managed to get a new item up and appearing in the right place, but I can't find anywhere how to edit the footer of the pages. Not critical, just annoying!
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #3 on: 14 March, 2021, 08:13:36 pm »
It's a blogging engine (a very elderly one) with a load of other bits sellotaped on.

I've managed to get a new item up and appearing in the right place, but I can't find anywhere how to edit the footer of the pages. Not critical, just annoying!

Many things on Wordpress require hacking PHP templates.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #4 on: 14 March, 2021, 08:57:53 pm »
Oh dear.

I dislike doing that!
It is simpler than it looks.

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #5 on: 14 March, 2021, 09:06:13 pm »
Also depends on what theme you are using. Some are a bit of a mess, or out of date.
And some are easy to customise, others require more hacking. Maybe easier to find a new theme that works the way you want.

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #6 on: 14 March, 2021, 09:08:31 pm »
Can I ask why you’ve been tasked with this update, if Wordpress isn’t your area of expertise?

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #7 on: 14 March, 2021, 10:37:45 pm »
I think that answers the question nicely, thanks.  ;D ;D

The whole point of a CMS is to manage content, not to create a nice little industry that needs people whose area of expertise it is!

It is simpler than it looks.

Ben T

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #8 on: 14 March, 2021, 11:24:20 pm »
ALL CMSs are shit. Their whole purpose is to farm jobs out to people who have no idea what theyre doing, they lead to html and javascript being stored in database tables, and baby animals die every time pages are served by them. Should be rounded up and burnt.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #9 on: 14 March, 2021, 11:33:33 pm »
Is this why all computer programming is done in machine code  ???
It is simpler than it looks.

Ben T

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #10 on: 14 March, 2021, 11:46:31 pm »
Is this why all computer programming is done in machine code  ???

CMSs theoretically have their place in the world if they are used 100% correctly but in practice they always get used wrong.

So if you implement it yourself you are either the sole person on it or you are getting other people to work on it.
If you are the only one, you have no reason to use a CMS in the first place, but as soon as you introduce others, you can guarantee at least one of them will use it wrong.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #11 on: 15 March, 2021, 12:09:13 am »
You mean like pretty much every piece of software or operating system there is.
It is simpler than it looks.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #12 on: 15 March, 2021, 12:55:12 pm »
That's what we get for not doing it all in machine code.

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #13 on: 15 March, 2021, 01:06:49 pm »
I write out all my HTTP responses by hand.

Some users notice a delay, but they all appreciate the personalised service.

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #14 on: 15 March, 2021, 01:14:36 pm »
I have a person called Terry Christopher Peterson who puts all my http responses in little brown packets and ensures they get delivered.  The personal http responses was okay to start but they started making more requests.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #15 on: 15 March, 2021, 01:19:02 pm »
Are there actually people who don't hand-cruft all their HTML :o
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #16 on: 15 March, 2021, 01:35:41 pm »
Are there actually people who don't hand-cruft all their HTML :o

Well sometimes The Mgt have decreed that a CMS will be used...

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #17 on: 15 March, 2021, 05:04:19 pm »
I write out all my HTTP responses by hand.

Some users notice a delay, but they all appreciate the personalised service.

HTTP Server error 512: Quill requires trimming

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #18 on: 15 March, 2021, 05:18:13 pm »
I've managed to get a new item up and appearing in the right place, but I can't find anywhere how to edit the footer of the pages. Not critical, just annoying!

Another WP hater here, but I am lumbered with maintaining three sites which use it. Jaded, try looking at the widgets. They seem to control rather more of the display than the name might suggest.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #19 on: 15 March, 2021, 05:46:48 pm »
Yep, Wordpress is crap - very inflexible.

As a long-term CMS user (since 2005) I have used Joomla for a long time - it's powerful, intuitive, runs on industry standard software and very flexible.  Loads and loads of components for almost any function or requirement you might want, and lots of them are free or very low-cost.  Learning curve isn't steep - the whole thing is very logical.   The reach on sites is massive with a number of global names running their sites in Joomla

BUT as with any web presence starting out with a plan is a good idea in order to make sure you build the structure that you need now and hopefully the future needs too.

My  www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk  website is Joomla - it's simple which suits me as a the manager, and my audience that wants resource and information.

.... if anyone mentions Drupal as a CMS - shoot them immediately.  It's awaful, worse than WP

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #20 on: 15 March, 2021, 06:57:49 pm »
if anyone mentions Drupal as a CMS - shoot them immediately.  It's awaful, worse than WP

I'm glad you said that. I tried Drupal some years ago when several people recommended it to me, but I really didn't get on with it - but I assumed I was the problem, not Drupal. I've not tried Joomla.

I have to use Wordpress every day for work and I find it pretty clunky, though I've got used to a lot of its quirks. The site predates me being with the company but I think it was created for us by some consultant who most likely made us pay him an obscene amount of money for the privilege of being given that pile of shit, before boarding his private jet to the Caribbean, never to be seen again.

Fortunately, I only have to use it for adding/editing new posts, rather than pages, and it's mostly fine for that. When things go wrong (which is often), it's not my job to fix them.

I also have a personal WP.com site that is really just a small collection of static pages that don't need much maintenance, they just sit there as an information resource. It's perfectly adequate for that purpose. And, most importantly, free.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #21 on: 15 March, 2021, 07:09:02 pm »
That's what we get for not doing it all in machine code.

I may have used similar in an argument recently.
It was along the lines of "If we're not using the f---- stuff the f----- JavaEE platform gives us if it's suitable thne we may as f---- well all learn assembler"
I'm probably the only one at work whose ever written assembler... And that was for a 6502.

Are there actually people who don't hand-cruft all their HTML :o

Yes... I tell everyone else I can write their SQL
It's worked so far...

Of course JavaEE is a ballache in itself because anyone that's not massively behind the curve was already doing Spring and saw no need to shift.

Also if anyone can tell me why ColdFusion servers like slicing HTTP messages in half and then rejecting the 2nd half of the JSON that it bothered to pass onto it's parser that would be great as "Stop using this ancient pish" got the response "aye you're writing the replacement now, but erm we need to get discharge documents sent now"

Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #22 on: 15 March, 2021, 07:47:00 pm »
That's what we get for not doing it all in machine code.
I'm probably the only one at work whose ever written assembler... And that was for a 6502.
[

Would that be the BBC Micro or one of the other Acorn offerings?  Trying to remember if that was RISC. Got a feeling it was, but it’s been 35 years or so.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #23 on: 15 March, 2021, 07:57:16 pm »
That's what we get for not doing it all in machine code.
I'm probably the only one at work whose ever written assembler... And that was for a 6502.
[

Would that be the BBC Micro or one of the other Acorn offerings?  Trying to remember if that was RISC. Got a feeling it was, but it’s been 35 years or so.

BBC Micro B and BBC Master depending on whether I got in the Tech Studies room first; linking the Memory Mapped IO ports up to a Pneumatic plunger for the purpose of shoving a Scalextrix car back on track.


Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: WordPress - Is it ****?
« Reply #24 on: 15 March, 2021, 08:08:15 pm »
I'm trying to remember if I've ever written a program in machine code and run it on an actual processor, rather than as an exercise under exam conditions.