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If you were to put a survey online on what the
best way to start blogging online would be, chances are that a
majority of the (experienced) respondents would tell you anything,
but WordPress; as WordPress is typically considered a complex
blogging platform, one that is suitable only for pro bloggers.
In actual fact, WordPress is easy to use. Perhaps the idea that it
is complicated stems out of a belief that its advanced functionality
comes with complexity of use – which couldn’t be further from the
truth – because in actual terms, WordPress is in fact easier to use
than most of the blogging platforms that are conventionally
considered easy to work with.
To prove Wordpress’s easy of use against other alternative blogging
platforms, it would be best to create an objective criterion, on
which we will base our judgments. Examples of factors in that
criterion would be things like how much time it takes an absolute
blogging newbie to get a WordPress-based blog online versus what it
takes them on the other alternative blogging services, how steep a
learning curve a new blogger using WordPress (as compared to the
other blogging services) has to go through to get their site up and
running, and so on.
As it turns out, objectively comparing WordPress with other blogging
platforms that are deemed easy to use gives some amazing results
because some of what are considered easy to use blogging platforms
often turn out to be very complicated in terms of objective criteria
such as the time it takes an absolute newbie to put a website
online, and the learning curve they have to go through before
putting a website online.
So WordPress’ said complexity is really a question of perception,
rather than reality. It is probably as a result of a situation
where, for instance, an influential opinion leader attempted to make
use of WordPress for creating their website, and ended up struggling
with it (possibly for personal reasons); leading to a conclusion
that WordPress is hard to use, which they proceeded to spread, with
many people assuming that was the reality - without counterchecking
its veracity practically.
Even if WordPress were indeed not easy to use, though, the time
expended in trying to learn it would still be time well spend for
most people. This is because WordPress comes with so much
functionality that most other blogging platforms lack. For search
engine optimization purposes, for instance, WordPress comes with a
feature for site map creation, which most other blogging services
don’t have. Moreover, WordPress has literally hundreds of widgets –
both WordPress developed and third party developed, that users can
choose from and install on their websites, to increase their
functionality; which most of the alternative blogging platforms tend
to be short of. Add this to the design flexibility of WordPress
(through the numerous WordPress templates and themes available
online, both free and sold), and WordPress turns out to be a very
attractive blogging tool indeed.
The true position, in the final analysis, is however that WordPress
is easy to use – and for anyone who ‘dares’ to use it, a much more
powerful blogging platform than most of the supposedly easy to use
blogging software platforms. |
