Changing Style and Pace

29 March 2011

It was my intention to do a blog each and every day, but I very quickly came to realise that that is not very likely to happen. Not unless a lot of other things don’t get done. As it is, with my still being in the beginning stage and ‘learning’ stage, and pretty much still groping around in the dark trying to figure out how best to do this, l have decided to change from WordPress to Blogger. Apparently it is also possible to do a versatile blog via WordPress, but it turns out that there is a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. The one, being web based, is easier to set up, if one can call it easier, but it is also very basic and somewhat clumsy. The other one is, apparently, more versatile and configurable, but it also requires a lot more know-how and time to set up. As I feel I have spent enough time trying to figure this out on my own now, and not really being able to get much advice or support elsewhere, not even the various forums really, I have decided to rather go this route.

Another big deciding factor in choosing this route is that Blogger is supposed to allow Picasa to be linked in, or accessed fairly easily, whereas WordPress teamed up with Flickr. Essentially Flickr has advantages, in that it allows much more free storage space, but Picasa appears to be far more versatile and functional. Plus, in Picasa you can also get more storage space, but at a cost. Considering how things have been developing with regard to storage space, costs, etc. it may just be a matter of time before Picasa also permits more usage space as a standard feature or option. We shall see, said the blind man to the dog.

It it quite frustrating trying to do something which on the face of it appears to be fairly simply, and which according to the instructions on the website is also supposed to be easy enough, except that what is supposed to happen does not happen. Even more frustrating is trying to get an answer as to why it is not happening. When trying to contact support one is naturally initially referred to the various forums, or the Q&A section with the standard basic issues that total novices and computer illiterates encounter, but those problems are not the sort of problems I am encountering. The simple, standard, run of the mill issues I know how to resolve. So when I encounter a problem then I know that I need to ‘speak’ with someone directly, and not just anybody, but somebody with enough brains to understand what my situation is. Invariably, though, if one does eventually get a direct contact, it is somebody who does not really speak English. I can usually tell that by the appalling or poor use of the language, which is ultimately then confirmed by looking at the persons name.

So very often doing the most basic task takes days to do, simply because that is how long it takes to get an answer. Once one has the answer, it is then a matter of a few minutes and everything is up and running. Oh how I wish those few minutes would hurry up. So for now readers are going to have to indulge me, and just accept that ultimately I hope to have the photo album from Picasa linked in to the blog, so that it both runs as a slideshow, but that one can also view the photographs as a separate feature. The last aspect I am still trying to enable is having ads on the site, simply because that generates a little bit of money for me, which is essential if one is a mere volunteer. Somehow one has to also pay for daily necessities, and new clothes, etc. 

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