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mmegaeraSo. I have switched webhosts, from having my ISP host my website to the unusually-named A Small Orange (who, BTW, have terrifically good customer service -- I think I mentioned that I was looking for fast champagne help on a slow beer budget? -- this definitely qualifies). This a) will be saving me just over $200 a year for two websites (my ISP charged $9.95 a month per website, ASO charges $35 a year all inclusive up to a certain number of websites which I will never reach). And b) means that I will now be able to use WordPress.org instead of WordPress.com, not just for my blog, but for my entire website, if I like.
I do like. I mean, I'll miss my cute little hand-coded pages and all, but WordPress.org has plug-ins for things I'd really like to have, and, in theory at least, is supposed to make them easy to use (as opposed to having absolutely no idea how to hand-code the equivalent). Not to mention the whole never having understood how to make CSS work on my part [g].
However. I am finding WordPress.org's dashboard and infinitely branching list of choices I have to make exceedingly overwhelming. Wordpress.org's own help screens are obviously meant for someone who's got more website experience (and who is much better at making decisions without knowing the ramifications until after they're made) than I do. Starting with choosing a theme. Apparently, "ooh, that's pretty" is not the only criterium I should be using.
Also, I have no clue how to set up a site (like http://www.angelahighland.com/, for example) which is mostly static with a blog, as opposed to a blog with a static page or two, which is what I need.
Can anyone tell me of a resource less intimidating than WordPress.org's own that's geared towards someone whose main experience with website design is setting up a WordPress.com (which doesn't even do customized plug-ins but just gives you a standard set to work with) blog and building a few simple pages by hand? Who's not good at infinitely branching choices? I've googled, but in this case that's actually increasing my sense of being overwhelmed, not lessening it.
Anyone? Bueller?
I do like. I mean, I'll miss my cute little hand-coded pages and all, but WordPress.org has plug-ins for things I'd really like to have, and, in theory at least, is supposed to make them easy to use (as opposed to having absolutely no idea how to hand-code the equivalent). Not to mention the whole never having understood how to make CSS work on my part [g].
However. I am finding WordPress.org's dashboard and infinitely branching list of choices I have to make exceedingly overwhelming. Wordpress.org's own help screens are obviously meant for someone who's got more website experience (and who is much better at making decisions without knowing the ramifications until after they're made) than I do. Starting with choosing a theme. Apparently, "ooh, that's pretty" is not the only criterium I should be using.
Also, I have no clue how to set up a site (like http://www.angelahighland.com/, for example) which is mostly static with a blog, as opposed to a blog with a static page or two, which is what I need.
Can anyone tell me of a resource less intimidating than WordPress.org's own that's geared towards someone whose main experience with website design is setting up a WordPress.com (which doesn't even do customized plug-ins but just gives you a standard set to work with) blog and building a few simple pages by hand? Who's not good at infinitely branching choices? I've googled, but in this case that's actually increasing my sense of being overwhelmed, not lessening it.
Anyone? Bueller?
