Wordpress is giving me hell. How do you all master it?

20 replies
Hi fellow Warrior,

How did you manage to conquer wordpress? I find it really tough to play with and there is a really really steep learning curve.

Mastering the interface alone is easy but what about all those widgets that you see people have on their blog but have NO idea what is the widgets' name so that you can go download one too.

After you finally get the widget, download it, you find it hard to use.

So the question is, how did you finally master using wordpress and all the widgets?
#giving #hell #master #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author vpgemini
    There are so many FREE wordpress training videos on the net. All you need to do is google a few or go to youtube and check out some of the "basic" training.

    As for that, you only need a few plugins to gain maximum functionality.

    I like the XML Sitemaps plugin, and the All in One SEO Pack for mine.
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    You have to keep testing and playing with it. If you only have one
    WP installation, you're missing out.

    The truth is that many plugins don't work well together, so sometimes
    you'll have something you like that is working, but you find another
    thing and add it and the first thing stops working.

    I think there is a thread on here of all the favorite Wordpress plugins -

    ah - here:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...fications.html
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
    Setup a blog in another throw away domain, play & test with every single link you can find in Wordpress.

    Do it long enough, you'll master Wordpress.
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  • Profile picture of the author Karan Goel
    Originally Posted by forfun_cash View Post

    So the question is, how did you finally master using wordpress and all the widgets?
    Here's how I mastered it (sort of)

    I have a Mac, so installed MAMP (for Windows XAMPP).
    Installed WP locally.
    Played with it for hours.

    The main benefit of having WP on your local machine is it saves you time. You don;t have to wait for pages to load and all.

    Karan
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  • Profile picture of the author The Simpleton
    Using Wordpress isn't hard;all it takes is a little time to get used to the interface. Youtube is a good place to find some video tutorials, but in reality, one doesn't have to rely on tutorials to master Wordpress. Just keep playing with the settings and you'll soon learn all of the controls. The Wordpress documentation is a good way to clear all your doubts in the beginning. Good luck! WP is surely the best blogging platform there is.
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  • Profile picture of the author fivestarexec
    What specific things do you need to do with Wordpress that you are having problems with? For instance, you said that you look at the blogs belonging to others and cannot replicate it. This will indeed make Wordpress a pain but if you KNOW what you need then you can Google and find a solution. (This almost, always work for me)

    Example:
    1. I always start a site by installing all the essential plugins (Link already provided by another Warrior in prior post)

    2. If you need something in addition to the essential plugins (lets say you need to create a membership site for instance) then you can do a search and almost always get the solution you need. In the case of the membership site, an example search will be: Wordpress plugin for membership site or How to build a membership site wordpress.

    It you cannot find a solution using the SE then you can always ask here where someone is always willing to help.

    All this to say...
    Trying to accomplish the simple things you need for your wordpress site one step at a time (Easy)

    Trying to do everything at once with your only guide being the appearance of blogs belonging to others (Not So Much)

    Crystal
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  • Profile picture of the author vpgemini
    Ok this is funny, but I just received an email on a FREE WordPress Course available. Check it out and see if its for you How to Install WordPress: A Complete Guide to Using WordPress and Installing a WordPress Blog? I am not an affiliate of this and well hey its free. Again you can find out most WordPress Tutorials on the net too. So learn, practice and you will get it!
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  • Profile picture of the author The Simpleton
    Wordpress is the best tool you can use?
    Wordpress is the best tool to use for blogging. If you're looking to build some other kind of website then it's better to use a full-fledged CMS or a custom-made design. Wordpress is certainly the best tool available for blogging at this moment. The competition can't even get close to it!
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  • Profile picture of the author yours2u
    right click - page source ---> for figuring out which plugins are being used
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    Add your answer - this must be solved!
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    • Profile picture of the author Jonathan Browne
      Seriously, wordpress? hard to use?

      Focus less on widgets and more on content.

      Only get widgets and plugins with a 4 to 5 star rating. Those usually have clear instructions their use built in.

      If not just search for the plugin in google possibly add in some keywords like problems etc. and find somebody who's got or had the same problem and you'll most likely find an answer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Leslie B
    It took me a few months, up to a year, to have my WordPress blogs running like I wanted them. I learned the hard way, you know, trial and error. Tried a plugin I read about, liked it and kept it, didn't like it and removed it. Now I have a set of plugins I always install on my blogs. There are a lot of courses out there to learn WordPress, free or paid, but in the end, what plugins or themes you use depends on what you're after with your blog.

    Leslie
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    Taking it one day at a time!
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Honestly?
    If I was making "$12,526.01 With Just A Push Of Button" I wouldn't master anything: I'd just pay the best webmaster $1,000/month to do all the WP/blog related stuff for me
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    • Profile picture of the author Karan Goel
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      Honestly?
      If I was making "$12,526.01 With Just A Push Of Button" I wouldn't master anything: I'd just pay the best webmaster $1,000/month to do all the WP/blog related stuff for me
      Ha ha ha. That shown the genuineness!

      Karan
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    Barring making "$12,526.01 With Just A Push Of Button"...
    I'd just buy the videos and PDF tutorials in Istvan's sig, as they are easily worth 100 times what he is charging for them, IMO.
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    • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
      Wordpress isn't that difficult, but I would be wary of adding too many plugins because of the risk of overloading your server and some of them aren't very well made which can cause problems. All in one SEO, Google XML Sitemaps, Broken Link Checker and Sociable are a must for me but most plugins aren't needed.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    How quickly a site loads is important to Google and to users. The more you load your blog down with plugins, the slower it gets, not to mention incompatibility issues ... some plugins don't play well together. I like to keep my blogs lightweight.
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    • Profile picture of the author camforbes
      I would add to what Suzzane said about plugins...

      Anything you add to wordpress requires you to manage one more piece of the puzzle. Every plugin, theme, widget, etc - all is going to need maintenance. You'll need to upgrade plugins, upgrade WP when a new version comes out, etc.

      Stick with the basics to start. Just learn how to write posts/pages and get them to show up in your menu and categories. The move on to links and how they work... then more advanced stuff like widgets and plugins... then perhaps a theme.

      By all means, if you don't know what you're doing steer clear of stuff like studiopress and thesis. They cost more money, require more maintenance, and probably will need some coding to get them working right (with hooks and stuff).

      All the crap you load up on top of wordpress distracts from your message - and that should be your focus.

      not gizmos and doodads.

      if you want simplicity, set up a tumblr blog and point your domain to it. simple, easy, and less to manage.
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  • Profile picture of the author buslead
    I would certainly agree with the suggestion to download a local copy and use this as a development site before uploading to your on public blog once the blog is working as you wish, you will find this quicker to develop and helps to make sure the live version is stable, it is a useful way of going ahead as it allows you to roll back versions if you find a new plugin is incompatible with your existing setup
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  • Profile picture of the author Christophe Young
    Hang in there man, I'm going through the same thing right now.

    I'm mainly learning through trial and error.. and asking questions on this forum. Things do seem to be getting better and I'm almost finished creating my site... finally!
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by forfun_cash View Post

    How did you manage to conquer wordpress?
    I didn't.

    Yet.

    (Might try again with it, soon.)

    Originally Posted by forfun_cash View Post

    I find it really tough to play with and there is a really really steep learning curve.
    Agreed. Enormously steep, compared with so many of the other things I've had to learn to do online.

    Some of the people commenting above about how "easy" it is might like to read this recent thread which - if nothing else - will serve to remind them that there are many successful Warriors making a pretty good living online who can't cope with Wordpress at all.
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