So I took it upon myself to learn to make websites on wordpress thinking it would not be too difficult as what's so complicated about a website right?…
So I started watching a few tutorials and realized everyone relied on templates to make their website which I didn't really like as I wanted mine to be as edgy and stylish as possible. Let me tell you how many hours I spent trying to figure out how to make a website from scratch because you'll be as exasperated as I am.
First off, I noticed wordpress has a very outdated design to it which I was fine with but as I clicked on tab after tab inside the dashboard I realized I had no freaking clue what 90% of the settings were for. It was like a tsunami of information that even after watching a ton of tutorials I simply could not keep in my brain.
So I told myself : "Oh, I'm just going to go straight to the design and figure all this out later" thinking I'd jump straight to the fun part. Apparently there are like a billion different plugins, a billion different themes and a billion different add-ons for every single plugin not to mention every time I figured something out I was hit with a massive paywalls like elementor's 50 dollar pro subscription, something didn't work as intended or there was an error. I tried using a template to get started and turns out I can't edit them directly with elementor for god knows what reason, then I finally got to work from scratch with elementor hearing so many beautiful things about how it made everything swift and easy.
I expected a simplicity similar to what Canva would offer for example but after a bit I realized I can't even create a simple circle with a flat color without some stupidly out of the box thinking. For example, if you were to do this the obvious way would be to instert an asset that looks like a circle into a container but that would require me making a png in photoshop which I don't know how to do so that wasn't an option. I was flabbergasted when I saw some guy grab a spacer, give it a background color and mask it to look like a circle, like how in eternity could I have figured that out, what was so incredibly hard about adding a simple strech, drag and drop setup with layers like the rest of softwares? :D.
Something as simple as trying to resize or fit an image the right way takes so many actions it's exhausting. Every menu in wordpress is extremely hassling with it's billion little sub menus and boxes and weird terms for everything I feel like I'm wasting my time trying to learn such a difficult tool. After 4 days of struggling I decided to give up, trying to make a website from scratch just took the life out from me.
I agree with you. But there is a simpler method. You can create your own themes. HMU if you need guidance
Well, you see if you want to make quick money. Then you use block builders such as the one you mentioned.
Otherwise, you can build it off from scratch. However, you need to download WordPress from WordPress.org. I really hope you did not get them confused.
It is the same crap but downloading WordPress lets you code everything from scratch when it comes to the template you want to use.
I mean if it were that simple we would have no job!
This was funny to read because I feel we were all once here. 4 days though? WordPress is very powerful. 4 days is simply not enough to understand it and be able to navigate it how you feel you should be able to right off the bat.
“what’s so complicated about a website right?…”
Avoid clients who use the word, ‘simple’ in their spec.
1. There is a learning curve.
2. Designing websites is very different from creating raster graphics, due to their nature. Websites must be responsive (scale nicely on various device types). The Document Object Model is the foundation, and not a pixel grid.
3. Inserting a circle is a piece of cake, if you have a little experience.
4. There is a learning curve.
Start by learning how to code. If you don’t code, then you have no business doing anything other than using templates, or Wix or Squarespace.
Elementor and similar wordpress plugins slow down your website. And not just a little bit. They slow it down A LOT. Nothing beats a custom layout with basic HTML + CSS.
Start by learning how to code, and you will see the possibilities of wordpress open up very quickly.
It’s not outdated, it’s you. 99% of the time its the end user and you’re proof. My advice to you, outsource, pay the money and outsource