Because of the needs of a new web design client, I’m spending much of my spare time learning a lot about WordPress.
For those of you who don’t know, WordPress is a code framework most commonly used for blogs. Though it’s easy to use WordPress to set up a simple blog, there’s a lot of power underneath … and web developers and designers who know what to do can use WordPress to build some incredibly complex websites.
An advantage of having a designer build a website with WordPress is that the client can add new pages, text and media (images, video) by themselves, later. If you let me build your site in WordPress, you won’t have to call me if you find a spelling error or want to add a page about your new employees.
So, if I can add content, why do I need a designer at all?
Lots of people don’t use a web designer/developer to make their WordPress site, and you can tell. Maybe the colors don’t work together, or the fonts seem “off”. The menus might not take you to useful places. Perhaps there’s no unifying style to the entire site. Web design means the site looks good and is very usable, web development means the code is set up so things work.
As your neighborhood web designer, this means I need to know WordPress well enough to design a functional, stylish site for you, and train you to use it. I don’t mind … I love learning stuff like this, and teaching others just the amount they need.
As I learn, I will be using this blog as a sandbox, playing with the style and formatting to make it look exactly the way I want. Expect some interesting changes here. Don’t worry, all the information will be the same, only the look/feel will change.
If you catch a change for the better or worse, please tell me what you think in the comments here.
