First Impression of WordPress

Today I gave a short presentation on Word 2007 at VCOMA the Venture Capital Office Manager’s Association. What I didn’t realize until last night was that my web address was given out in the invitation. The web address pointed to my Windows Live blog that I had set up about a month ago. I’ve gotten really busy with work and life and since I was going to change it, decided to stop posting. What I discovered was that someone actually went and looked at the site because I got an email from them. During this presentation I was showing them new features of Word 2007, and more than once, because the presentation was so short, I told the attendees, “When I blog, I’ll write about that.” That being one or more things that I either liked or didn’t like about the new Word. Well, when I got back to my office today, I realized I better get a blog back up and going! So, I decided to try WordPress.

I set it up in about 5 minutes! I did spend way more than 5 minutes later looking at the different predefined themes. I do wish they were a little more customizable. I realize that some are more customizable than others. It has been really easy to create posts and create links. I did add my picture to my profile. That wasn’t so straightforward but I did figure it out within a few minutes.

I’ll continue to write about my impressions of WordPress. My first impression was that it is easy to work with, and the design is pretty darn nice given how much effort went into it on my part!

I did try to add a comment. It was simple. Why don’t you try leaving a comment!

I’ve left Windows Live

Well, I tried Windows Live. I liked the professional look and built in options. It was easy to set up. I did try adding a Widget from another site, it was a poll from BlogHer and I couldn’t get it to display. I don’t know what I was doing wrong. Which begs the question, what is a widget? According to Wikipedia, a web widget is a physically-inspired applet on the web. Which begs the next question: What is an applet? According to me, an applet is a little tiny computer program. So, an applet or widget might be a box on the side of this screen that shows you recent posts from this blog.

Getting back to Windows Live, the real reason I quit it was that in order to add comments you have to sign-up and log-in. I don’t want people to have to sign-in to leave a comment. If you see something you like, I want you to be able to tell me, easily and quickly. If you see something you don’t like, let me know. If you have something to share with others, share it here! No hassle. Have you tried commenting here on WordPress? Check it out, it’s easy!

I Want to Blog

I went to the 4^th Annual BlogHer conference in San Francisco a few weeks ago to learn about blogging. I learned a lot. I learned that I wanted to blog. I didn’t figure out exactly what I should blog about. As a person who teaches people how to use computers, and is good at talking, I figure it is a natual fit. So, I am going to start by blogging about blogging. When I tell people that I went to BlogHer and how much I enjoyed the people, the information, the electricity, they ask me more. This will be a forum to share what I learned and what I will learn as I go down the path to becoming a blogger. I am currently reading Blogging for Dummies and am finding it very enlightening.

I am going to start by working and playing with the following blogging platforms:

1. Windows Live

2. Blogger (I’ve used this a little, and found it very easy to set up.)

3. WordPress

More on my experience soon!