Kev Quirk’s blog linked to another blog discussing someone setting up a WordPress site. That post is this one:
It’s Just Broken: Oh WordPress (Pup on Tech)
My site here runs on WordPress, but I started it back in 2005 when WP was at version 1.2 (it just hit version 7.0 a few weeks ago). To say it was a simpler system then would be correct.
Reading through PoT’s post, I found myself nodding in agreement and considering myself lucky that my site has pretty much been in maintenance mode for years now (backend-wise–I still churn out nonsense regularly), running the same theme (GeneratePress) and a handful of plugins. Things generally just work.
Except recently, I had a plugin update go haywire for the first time in ages. This led me to disabling all plugins until I (relatively quickly) found the rogue one. But instead of re-enabling all the plugins I’d been using, I only re-enabled the ones I considered essential, even if they were fairly frivolous 1Like Modern Footnotes, which allows me to place pop-up style notes to offer witty little bits as I see fit.. It made me think again about my failed search for a WordPress alternative. My needs seem simple on the surface:
- A space to write, with the usual formatting options
- A space to post photos, including galleries
- Something that doesn’t require a lot of coding, as I’m not a programmer (I can handle some CSS and the like)
But I am also a bit of a weirdo, as I like having more precise control over the text and photos than most blogging platforms allow. WP, as awful as it is, gives me that flexibility, and I’ve grown familiar with it and accustomed to its general awfulness. But now I wonder if I should again renew my search?
If anyone happens to read this and has a suggestion, hit me up on Mastodon, email me or otherwise reach out as outlined here.
In the meantime, back to Typing Cat:
