People! When did making a blog get so challenging?
I mean, the last time I made a blog it was mid-2011 probably for Dean Shareski’s ECMP 355 class. But still. Holy smokes. Let me run you through my experience with this so far.
It has taken many WordPress attempts (and fails) to get this blog going. I decided after some attempts (and fails) that a regular WordPress account would not be for me, as it wanted a subscription and I am unsure as to what my future in blogging will be after this course and was not quite ready to make the commitment. Those of my classmates who have taken more than one educational technology class, it makes total sense to continue to add to an existing WordPress blog from semester to semester, but as this is my final course in my degree, I decided to go with the Edusites blog. This process still proved very challenging, and was so confusing and frustrating, since, as I said above, I have created a blog before. So what gives?
After a lengthy telephone conversation with my husband (also a teacher, and much more technologically savvy than myself), he helped me do some troubleshooting and we came to the conclusion that since I had been trying to create my blog on my school laptop, which is only a year old, but is running very outdated versions of FireFox and Google Chrome, that this was likely contributing to my inability to create this blog.
Tonight, I sat down and tried using my MacBook, on my own home wireless internet with an updated Firefox browser. We were in business! Finally able to make some customization. I tried to create a header, similar to the “Activello” sample page, which I loved. This proved very challenging, as the settings only allowed for a title/tagline or logo/tagline layout, not a logo/title/tagline layout, which apparently at this point in this process mattered greatly to me. Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones, but I was unwilling to let this one go. So on my husband’s suggestion, I used the creative commons site “Pexels” to get a free logo image, and uploaded it to Microsoft PowerPoint, did some noodling and was able to put my title over the new image. I used a screenshot tool to save my logo, and from there, I was able to upload my new logo onto my blog and have the tagline beneath it.
I’m very happy with how it came out, and it’s possible I appreciate it even more since it took much more effort to get here than I had expected! I took for granted how much the technology had changed since my last blogging experience.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
Riley, I greatly admire (and identify with) your dedication and stubbornness when it comes to getting the aesthetic of your blog just the way you wanted it. I too had A LOT of trouble when I first set my blog up, and I really struggled to understand the backend of the site and the different ways it could be utilized. I think your blog looks great, and I really like your side menu showing your twitter feed – it’s so convenient to keep up with you!