WordPress is a very powerful platform with its convenience and malleability through additional coding.
I was talking to my boss at my campus job about this class, and she mentioned that all of Carleton’s websites are maintained through WordPress(I was quite surprised because I thought it was created from scratch through coding). She also shared that staff don’t receive any formal training in WordPress before being given access, which I found surprising (being able to edit the Carleton website essentially means that you’re editing the public image of the college- and you don’t get training for it? ). WordPress isn’t that hard to work with(in fact, it’s a lot more user-friendly than I thought it would be), but it is still confusing to navigate because it has so many features and extensions.
I struggled with the different templates and understanding which template was being applied to which pages; to be frank, I still haven’t quite figured it all out, but I managed to get what I wanted fixed, so that’s all I care about at this current stage. I’m excited to explore and understand more features of WordPress 🙂
Personally, I dont really posting about myself online(I barely use Instagram), so I wouldn’t necessarily use WordPress for posting about myself/ blogs. I would use WordPress to post about causes I care about, such as promoting animal shelters and animal adoption centers. It’s important to note that having editing access to something in the public domain is a very powerful responsibility.
Here is the link to my blog: https://wenj.sites.carleton.edu/
Hosting your own website with a tool like WordPress gives you a lot of autonomy and control over your site. However, the downside is that there’s often a steeper learning curve to mastering its features and designing an appealing site. On the other hand, using a service like Wix or social media platforms offers easier navigation and pre-designed templates, making it more user-friendly. The trade-off, however, is losing some autonomy, as you’re limited to the platform’s built-in functions and can’t make customized edits through CSS coding.
