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I've tried so many different CMS this year. For now I would like to get back to writing, creating art and all the other things I like about having a site. I'm putting software on hold for awhile.
Meanwhile, I've lost the few posts I did have here so I am back to the start with this site. Not a bad thing since I mainly wanted it for the domain itself. If I were less of a domain shopper I would have everything here, on this domain. But, I don't. Once I get those domains I feel I should be doing something with them.
I get a lot of ideas and I tend to be impulsive.
I'm going back to working with text files again and start working with pdf. A webzine, rather than a blog. Well, a webzine as a working name.
Running a blog has become ruined with marketing and pressure to conform. I've always liked doing things my own way. Following all the "rules" for bloggers means putting marketing first. I don't want to do that. Yet, each time I try to get working on my sites again there is all that stuff telling everyone how to do everything better, almost always involving SEO and marketing. I don't want to live like everything is for sale. I don't want to blog that way either. So, blogging is out.
Of course, that means deciding what blogging actually is and what I want to do next. Once upon a time it was a web log, keeping dated entries about changes made to your projects on the web. Some personal posts became sprinkled in and next thing you had the personal online journal. Blogs came from that, later. Dated entries were the key to what was a blog and what was not. That is so lost these days, there are blogs which don't want to post dates at all. They call it evergreen. I call it, not a blog.
I have a lot of old content to merge with something new. Once I take it out of CMS software I won't have to keep trying to find ways to make it display for software, just the txt or pdf file type. That will be a LOT easier.
I'm keeping something blog-like to post things I find along the way, in niche and topical blogish displays. Likely on Blogger because I can use Open Live Writer to create the post and then filter it to whichever site I want it to show up on. They will be content curation sites, not blogs. I can post links to niche sources in the sidebars, as I find good links. But, dates, marketing, and professional templates won't be important.
I am trying. I have made progress. But, the Joomla post editing and image uploading are not very user friendly. I feel like I'm working with a sluggish elephant.
I don't know yet about template changes. I'm leaving that until the end as I go through the guide I'm using to get around Joomla. It is quite different from WordPress, especially in the beginning. My big break through seems to have been understanding that everything has a category, not just your blog posts, or links. It does add more function to your site, what you can do with what you have. But, it also makes it complicated. When you have a glitch it becomes a real job to find the source because there are so many places to look. As a beginner I'm finding it very time consuming.
Last week I was at the point of giving up and trying yet another CMS. But, I stuck it out. I did find the problem that time but, the same solution did not fix (what seems to be) the same problem on two other sites.
So far the post editor and image uploader are bugging me every time I post. Maybe some of that will be fixed with a different theme/ template. But, with all the function in Joomla why is it so hard to do the simple things? I'm at the point of disliking using images with my posts.
Also, I am discouraged about the link thing. I left WordPress because it was becoming focused on commercial sites and web developers with clients rather than individuals building their own site. As I get to know Joomla I see the same trend here. The link manager was taken out of the core CMS. Why remove a feature people might actually like to use? Because web developers don't want anything Google SEO says it doesn't like. Most of Joomla's extensions (plugins, if you prefer WordPress speak) are premium. Sure there are some outdated free extensions, but they tend not to work, or even upload into Joomla 3. Other free versions are so limited the point of them is just to make people realize there isn't any point to doing without the premium/ professional extension.
I miss having spellcheck when I write a post. I can't even use keyboard shortcuts in the post editor. So I need to open the code editor to cut and paste or add text to any post with HTML. I did look at post editors and related extensions. That was a land of confusion in itself. Most of them combine a template maker into the whole process, as if that will fix everything. But, I did not find any of them which were just post editors which would work with my existing posts in Joomla articles. Two which I might have used wanted to import everything and make second copies for the extension. Then you (I) have to remember to use the extension to make every post I write from then on. Well, what if something goes wrong? What if the extension is abandoned, dies with some fatal error, etc? Where would that leave me and all my posts, not quite in Joomla but sort of in Joomla?
I have yet to find a way to schedule posts. Everything has to be made a featured post in order to show up on my site. Then every new post is either published or not published. There is no way to schedule a date for it to post. Yes, I can leave posts sitting outside of featured but I would really rather not have to remember to post them, or need to be online in order to post them. (I do like to get away the odd time and leave the electronics behind).
I think that's everything bugging me. Possibly more will come to mind between now and now when I post this.
If I hadn't bought two books (print) to help me figure Joomla out... If I hadn't spent money on 3 premium Joomla extensions (and not found any of them to be what I had hoped)... If I hadn't spent months migrating and renovating my sites since leaving WordPress (late last year!)... I think I would stop using Joomla at this point. But, there should be a point where you don't go back and stick with your guns, right?
Anyway, what else would I try? I've been through almost a dozen CMS since last year. I do know, I am not going back to WordPress. The problems with WordPress are still there. The time of the independent web publisher is getting tougher, but not drying up yet. However, I am watching for that big chunk of meteor rock falling from the sky.
I've had so many ideas and from those ideas I spin off into making them reality and find even more options. More than I can keep track of. Software, it's advances, limitations and quickness to become obsolete/ unpopular, changes how you end up doing things.
I wanted a web directory. But, keeping links became unpopular due to the SEO/ Google fanatics. WordPress and Joomla both stopped including their link management plugins/ extensions in the core software for the CMS. In the case of WordPress you can still download a plugin, Restore Lost Functionality, to bring back links and other features. Joomla still offers Web Links as an extension, but further development seems very limited, if any.
So, I could use Web Links with Joomla, I did upload and install it. But, I can't use it to import my links from WordPress. (I've noticed WordPress does not work well with other CMS). Also, there is no bookmarklet which I would have used to make keeping the web directory supplied with new links as I find them while using my web browser. Anyway, I spent a few days banging into road blocks with this and then I got the idea to change software.
I did have PHPLD (PHP Link Directory), paid for it a few years ago. But, the support forums are gone. Possibly the software is no longer supported as I could not import my links even when I finally did manage to create a CSV file (which was frustrating in itself). There is an option to pull links in from ODP (but dmoz/ ODP is gone) and Google. This feature had an error and did not work. So, I have now ruled out PHPLD.
I've tried other web directory software, even considered other premium (not free) software. But, so many are old and seldom updated or lacking any support at all. I did upload, install and try several but they all had errors. Some would not even install at all.
Now I'm looking at the idea of just creating pages of links. Not my preference, but, you have to work with the software (unless you know how to create your own, or can afford to pay someone to do it for you).
There are page builders. I looked at lots of them when I was still using WordPress. Joomla also has a large amount of them. But, I'm not sure which are page builders, template makers, page editors, or something else similar with a different name. They seem to meld together and use the same description even when they say they can work as add-ons to each other. It's confusing. I don't like being confused. I think of myself as being an experienced web publisher. But, I am confused.
Of course, none of them really have anything special for links. So, I can't say I'm eager to install any of them. It's a bit make-do at this stage.