I Am User Friendly…

I spent the bulk of this week helping new Bloggers, and folks who want websites.

I’m also helping them “tweak” their Social Media presences.  (AKA… Get rid of the Twitter Bird !!!)

There are quite a number of folks who I have assisted recently.  Not because I consider myself an expert… but I am user friendly.

It is always a unique experience, every single time… teaching people to use a computer system, and WordPress is no different.

I always try to cast my mind back to when I started Blogging.  But because I had no one to ask questions, I left it alone for far too long.

With a variety of WordPress Themes available, and everybody wanting their blog to serve a different function for them, it is always a delicate balancing act, between overloading them, and giving them enough information so they are not frustrated.

It is also a matter of trying to ensure that what they get, is what they had in mind !!!

The great thing about using WordPress to help them, is the ability to switch most Themes in and out in a few keystrokes.

Beyond the basic Themes… Premium Themes like Beaver Builder offer an even-further customizable Blog experience… but… baby steps.

It is daunting enough getting the first few posts under your belt, and pushing the PUBLISH button for the first time can cause people an unreasonable amount of disquiet.  I think most of us have been there.

Fortunately, most of us also begin our Blogging “journey” in the shadows of relative obscurity, where our few readers are usually composed of family and friends, who are kind and supportive, and encourage us to refine our craft, and work out the rough patches to seek out a larger audience.

I hope that the folks I am assisting, enjoy Blogging as much as I do !!!

Headway…

As some of you know, I had some issues with my webhosting a few weeks ago, and because of this, my Blog was down for quite a few days.

Because of this, I was looking for a new “home” to host my Blog, which I have found at BillyHost.

The guy on the other end of the phone is a local guy, who answers the phone and likes working with people.

At the same time, I’m helping a few friends, organizations and associates out, by getting Blogs and webpages up and running, for them.

Control PanelI have to be honest, although I am an old HTML hound, the world of WordPress and Blogs was new to me, until a few months ago.

It is surely amazing to me, how easy the WordPress folks have made the installation of their product.

It is choosing a Theme (the Blog design) getting the appropriate Widgets (the tools that give the added touches) and making it ALL work for the client, that is the tougher part.

Some of my favourite WordPress Themes include: Arclite, Maze, and the one I’m using more and more… Headway Theme.

I have to be honest… I find WordPress good, but not great, as far as being able to customize layouts and “tweak” stuff.

Now that I have been using the Headway Theme for a month, it is challenging taking a step back with the limiting (albeit free) WordPress Themes !

With Headway, in particular, I enjoy the drag and drop functions, and being able to have the same column layout on multiple pages…  Adjust each column width…  Control the colour and fonts on every element on the Blog… and there are a ton of other features.

I’m sure the folks who love going in, and messing with the coding would love it even more than I do… but I’m not there.  I just know that I love being able to change stuff, and literally move it around the page, and see how it works.  It is a great innovation, and for me, well worth a few bucks investment, to make my Blog exactly how I want it !

I am always trying to find a way to integrate together my BobSongs Music Blog where I have my Songs… with the BobSongs Musings Blog that you are now reading.

Through Headway, and being able to manipulate things easier and better, I am now able to run both webpages, and keep both similar, and yet different.

And, I see that a new version of Headway was released yesterday… I’ll be installing it in a few minutes, and I bet they’ve made it even better !!!

Under Blogstruction…

Hello, and welcome to the Headway version of the BobSongs Blog.

You will notice that things are moved, colours are changed… Everything is just a little different !!!

In order to better integrate my BobSongs website… http://www.BobSongs.com with this Blog, I felt it was time for a spring clean/make-over.

I have heard excellent things about the Headway Theme for WordPress, and I have to say, just an hour in, I’m loving it !

Foolishly, I’ve started doing this during a busy time… but I was eager to jump in !

So I hope you will bear with me, it will probably be a few days before I write any new Posts, and I’ll be trying to get the Blog “up to snuff” as soon as I can.

In the meantime, please do take a look through the archives, and check out the Post below, for some great Tweeps to follow on Twitter !

Happy Easter !!!