Not a big fan of WordPress

Image: CC BY 4.0 by cybrkyd

I’m not a big fan of WordPress. Like I’m not a big fan of Windows. Certainly, each of those aforementioned giants are the most widely used; to clarify, that is NOT the reason why I am not a big fan.

I find WordPress clunky, complicated, fussy, difficult to fix when it breaks. Like I find Windows clunky, complicated, fussy, difficult to fix when it breaks. It requires too many plug-ins required to “patch” it just to get it to do something, further complicating it. Plus PHP…I love PHP but don’t like it so much when it goes wrong. And, for me, it goes wrong often! Plus databases, plus more and more React / JS. That’s a lot of complicated moving parts when all you want to serve is a HTML page.

With WordPress, users can create their own website without code. You know, I have done some serious soul-searching into why I dislike it so much and I think that’s exactly it…I get something out at the other end without having coded it myself. Write, press button and boom! Website live and looking good.

Except, I don’t maybe like the font size…where do I change that? Or this template looks like everyone else’s blog…how do I tweak it?

Yes, that’s it. I think I like tinkering too much and whilst WordPress may be suitable for those who don’t like to tinker (or for those who like to tinker with WordPress), it’s not for me.

So, Hugo. That’s where I’m at. Oh, Hugo is another can of worms but this can of worms I can understand and work with as I can tweak away to my heart’s content.

Prior to using Hugo, I, erm, generated my static website locally using some Python code. Pagination, RSS feeds, sitemap, everything. Is anyone seeing the pattern emerge when it comes to me tinkering?

Perhaps that defines me; makes me feel alive.

But no WordPress, OK?