Why Wordpress?

[klooster]

Hi Katryne,

Regarding your text and I quote "I will not use Wordpress, because I do not like the principle of a blog. Which is for me, just an antichronological sequence of notes. "

With all respect then you have no idea what Wordpress is all about.

Yes it started as a blog in 2003 but today, WordPress is more than a blog publishing platform. Wordpress has evolved throughout the years into a powerful website builder and a robust content management system (CMS). It has a lot of versatility and gives you full flexibility to create any type of website.

The best part about WordPress is that it’s easy to use and flexible enough to make different types of websites. That’s the main reason why WordPress has grown so much in popularity. According to a recent survey, WordPress powers 32.3% of all websites on the internet.

Due to it’s robust features, many of the top brands use WordPress to power their websites including Time Magazine, Facebook, Sweden official website, the Rolling Stones, the New Yorker, Sony, Disney, Target, The New York Times, and a lot more.

Do you think those websites are "just an antichronological sequence of notes"?

Overall WordPress is THE CMS to adopt for your business or private website. I highly recommend to use it!

[PapaTango]

Thank you Dr. K for your succinct relation of WP as a site publishing tool.  I believe one of the most eloquent statements about the platform is "WordPress is a factory that makes web pages."  A great summary article about this can be read by clicking on the above quote link.  This is most instructive in helping people understand how WP works 'under the hood.'  As others have related, there are numerous packages that can be used as CMS platforms.  I started out in 2003 with Mambo, and 'took the fork' in 2006 with Joomla.  My opinion of WP back then mirrored Katryne's.  The world has changed though--the Joomla community became expensive (escalating cost of buggy extensions), contentious (licensing type) arguments within the development community, and bloated, spaghetti code everywhere--the same path that killed vBulletin.  In 2010 I hopped the WP train and have not looked back.  It can be used for anything--stores, portfolios, business presence, educational delivery systems--and yes, even the lowly blog...  😎

There is still much development in the Joomla/Drupal/Magento communities.  The latter is a darling of the WooCommerce/Shopify realm.  But there is not a single thing that platform does that cannot be done MUCH EASIER on WordPress.  Similarly, one can add a sturdy forum function (WPForo) or go whole hog with Xenforo and a third-party bridge.  There are also themes that will extend across the entire enterprise.  That all said, we can confidently say that various sorts of integration or bundling (in the case of TNG) can exponentially extend the functionality of any genealogical website.  The proviso remains in what the vision of the site developer is--and what their expectations are.

There are no black & white answers to this question.  At the root of it is the fact that TNG exists, and gives us something fairly powerful to base our decisions on!

[klooster]

Hi Papa Tango,

Thanks for your reaction on my statement about Wordpress.

I completely agree with your; " There are no black & white answers to this question" and "The proviso remains in what the vision of the site developer is--and what their expectations are."

To put things in the right perspective, in my opinion a personal website (or genealogical) website is more than just the presentation of data.

Read my : Why I made my website

I could never have accomplished that with just TNG, but with Wordpress and TNG I can.

So that's why I am using TNG AND Wordpress.

 

" I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art "

- Madonna -

 

 

 

[Ken Roy]

Cees,

Please be aware that I cannot read your web site since there are no up/down scroll bar to get below the heading - Why I made my website

The picture takes the whole screen real estate on my laptop

[fluffy82]

6 minutes ago, Ken Roy said:

Cees,

Please be aware that I cannot read your web site since there are no up/down scroll bar to get below the heading - Why I made my website

The picture takes the whole screen real estate on my laptop

That's weird... I just tried it on my tablet and cell phone (both Samsung, tried it with both Chrome and the Samsung browser) and I have no problem reading the website. The only moment when a picture is taking up the whole screen is when you enter the website, but that disappears when you click on "read more".

I completely agree with Cees and PapaTango. WordPress is a very easy to use but powerful tool that makes it possible to create a website which you would never be able to do with only TNG without extensive programming knowledge. And WordPress has become so much more than just a blog.

Sharing the database is not the only reason I am making a website. I want to create something that looks nice, that is pleasant to watch and read, and that gives information at the same time. With all respect for the hard work put into it, I repeat that the templates of TNG are not 21st century...

Cees' last phrase sums it up, really. In my case, one can't live without the other. WordPress alone will make a nice website without easy data, TNG will give you extensive data but an ugly website. Which is why I use both.

[PapaTango]

You are welcome, Dr. K.  Yours was the first WP/TNG bundle I looked at--and during the development of my currently active site I used your header bundling method, and "borrowed" a bit of your old mytng.css CSS code to make TNG menus appear as I wanted them.  I think a thing that has been unsaid here is the level of technical expertise that one finds on both the TNG Community Forum and the TNG LISTSERV mailing list.  The vast majority have some experience with PHP, and many are running LAMP/WAMP stacks for development and local PC usage of TNG.  This is an unusual fact.  A significant number are also Mod developers and formal/informal participants in the development of TNG.  This (by virtue of experience) leads to substantial bias in how to effect delivery of a TNG based genealogical website...  😋

In the last few months since I made the decision to deploy my own site--as a public offering protected against the vagarities of Ancestry.com--, I have surveyed over 100 TNG sites of all flavors.  WP bundles seem to account for less than 3% of all sites I have found.  Joomla and other CMS platform sites appear to have totally evaporated. The remainder are TNG standalone's--a small number of which do not even remotely resemble anything derived from one of the 18 native TNG template choices.  I just looked at a site that purports to contain 81K individuals (mullfamilies.co.uk), using a standard TNG template.  Here is where we come to purpose discussion of what the intent of the developer/genealogist is.

Sites like this fill a particular purpose.  Some are wide open--others such as Mull are closeted and require registration & membership to access content.  Here is the rub--people create to either deliver what can be mass quantities of data privately--or tell a succinct family patrilineal/matriarchal story that is search engine indexed and open.  Back to discarding the B&W thinking--each form serves the purpose of the creator.  There seems to be nothing that may be interpreted as "uniform genealogical practice."  My personal intent is to create a dynamic interactional community of family members with open communication and discussion tools--and to endow its maintenance and existence beyond my own.  🤐  Have you ever clicked on some of the 'user' links in the TNG Wiki Mods pages?  Over half are now gone and even vague concepts of the intent of the original developer have vanished.  This is both a function and artifact of attrition within the "Boomer Generation" of genealogical interest...  👻

Surveying all of the active sites I have visited, I am going out on a limb here and others are welcome to argue the point.  Most have a basic simplistic skill with innernutz creation--otherwise, they would never have registered a domain and managed to deploy TNG on a web host server, no less integrate/bundle WordPress.  Not to be deprecating or snarky, but simple OOB (out of the box) TNG sites look like something left behind stylistically a decade or more ago.  @fluffy82 said it best.  If you want your site to look modern, write pages/articles that illuminate things in family history, run nice lightbox galleries--then WP is the solution.  God bless those that string together multiple PHP/Python/Ruby solutions together--with all respect that is something most of us left behind nearly two decades ago.  

@Ken Roy, what you see as a function of how Dr. K has configured his Avada theme.  One can choose a myriad of other Avada displays ranging from a simple header to elaboration.  They can or not include scroll bars.  It's up to the designer.  One of the great development issues now is a responsive design.  Unfortunately, things like tree displays do not lend themselves to such.  Much of the innernutz world requires responsive sites--as an incredible number of users have only smartphones to access the web.  Designing for PC/Mac screens only is an antediluvial pursuit if you really want users to utilize your information.  This is the primary reason I have abandoned development of my current site--adopted Avada--and will soon serve up 301 redirects with the latest versions of everything.  At the end of it, there will be a strong resemblance of my present Athupala theme site.  

I am getting a strong sense that many things TNG are almost religious in approach and doctrine.  All is flexible, and no one has the truth as to the best approach...  😲

 

[Ken Roy]

Both of those devices

25 minutes ago, fluffy82 said:

my tablet and cell phone (both Samsung, tried it with both Chrome and the Samsung browser) and I have no problem reading the website.

sound like touch devices.  So maybe the web site is not setup to work with older devices that are not touch driven

27 minutes ago, fluffy82 said:

completely agree with Cees and PapaTango. WordPress is a very easy to use but powerful tool that makes it possible to create a website which you would never be able to do with only TNG without extensive programming knowledge. And WordPress has become so much more than just a blog.

WordPress might be easy to use but based on the problem posts here on the forum it does not appear to be easy to install and integrate with TNG  It seems to me that more problems or requests for help are from WP users.   I think it follows the 80/20 rule - 80% of the problems come from 20% of the users.

[Chris Lloyd]

For twenty something years I have built websites for others. The last 10 about 60% of them were Wordpress and the cms is fabulous for all sorts of sites BUT I won't do my genealogy on one because I find that TNG, as is, meets my needs.

[Ken Roy]

Papa Tango,

If you design your site only for smart phone and touch devices, then you are ignoring all the old timers who might have provided you your genealogical information..

Color me antediluvial 

[PapaTango]

Sorry to disappoint expectations Ken, but I am designing for everyone on any platform--and attempting to "future proof" is as well.  Color me optimistic...  😎

[Brett]

3 hours ago, Ken Roy said:

Cees,

Please be aware that I cannot read your web site since there are no up/down scroll bar to get below the heading - Why I made my website

Ken

I had a similar initial issue with the page referred to. I can see a scroll bar (albeit very dark) but it is not usable as the mouse icon is only a hand and does not lock on the scroll bar.

After a few minutes of consideration, I realised the page will scroll using the up/down arrows from the keyboard.

I should have thought of this earlier, but the grey cells are not what they used to be. Other users, old and new to this technology, may not be aware of the need to use the arrow keys.

In this point, I would agree that some users to the site may experience difficulties.

[klooster]

Thanks for all your reactions.

I have no issues with reading my website, it works just fine in all the major browsers. I have tested it with the Google, mobile friendly test, no problem.

The (dark) scrollbar) on the right edge of the screen scrolls just fine, click anywhere on the dark grey bar.  Scrolling the page with  my (mac) mouse, no problem.. 

“Communication leads to community, that is,
to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing”

- Rollo May -

[Ken Roy]

2 hours ago, klooster said:

The (dark) scrollbar) on the right edge of the screen

That's a scroll bar??  No indication that it can go up or down.  If there are arrows there then they are not visible to those of us who are visually impaired (color blind)  Dark backgrounds are the most difficult to read.   I guess when one realizes they can scroll up or down using the black bar then it works.   It would be helpful if there were white arrows if you have to use dark backgrounds.

10 hours ago, Chris Lloyd said:

BUT I won't do my genealogy on one because I find that TNG, as is, meets my needs.

Thanks Chis,

I agree that TNG meets most users needs, which thankfully is a good thing because most TNG users are simply people who want to share their genealogical research.

Cees,

I agree that a user's web site depends on what they want to do with it.

[Katryne]

deleted by Kat

Edited August 4, 2023 by Katryne
All I want is peace on this forum. And in my life.

[klooster]

• Hi Ken, I had not realised that a dark scrollbar was difficult to view for visually impaired (color blind). I changed it and made the bar white on a dark background. Just place your mouse arrow in the white scroll bar and move it up or down.
   
• Et pour Katryne, les excuses ne sont vraiment pas nécessaires, et l'anglais est très bon.

[Ken Roy]

Merci Cees, 

C'est bien mieux!  It is obvious that there is a slider on the scroll bar now.  Thank you for updating your site.  Most users do not realize how bad dark backgrounds are on web sites.  White on orange background at the airports are not much better.

[Brett]

16 hours ago, klooster said:

I have no issues with reading my website, it works just fine in all the major browsers. I have tested it with the Google, mobile friendly test, no problem.

The (dark) scrollbar) on the right edge of the screen scrolls just fine, click anywhere on the dark grey bar.  Scrolling the page with  my (mac) mouse, no problem.. 

Cees

 

Using the scroll bar did not work for me using Firefox and SeaMonkey. The mouse icon was a hand, not a pointer. The other browsers worked fine.

 

I updated to the latest beta version of Firefox today and the scroll now works. No update available for SeaMonkey, which should not cause too many problems as you may not have many visitors using that browser.

 

For your information, not a complaint.

 

My current versions are below.

 

HP Spectre x360 Convertible

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6500U CPU @ 2.5GHz 2.59GHz

8.00 GB

 

Windows 10 64 bit

Version 1803

Build 17134.648

 

Firefox Quantum

67.0b3 (64 bit)

 

Google Chrome

Version 73.0.3683.75 (Official Build) (64-bit)

 

Opera

Version:58.0.3135.107

System:Windows 10 64-bit

 

Microsoft Edge 42.17134.1.0

Microsoft EdgeHTML 17.17134

 

Internet explorer 11

Version 11.648.17134.0

Update versions 11.0.115

 

SeaMonkey

version 2.49.4

[Ken Roy]

33 minutes ago, Brett said:

No update available for SeaMonkey, which should not cause too many problems as you may not have many visitors using that browser.

I was using SeaMonkey when accessing Cees' web site.  The updated slider being in white now makes it obvious that I need to click on the scroll bar to go up or down.

[Katryne]

Deleted by Kat

Edited August 4, 2023 by Katryne
for my peace of mind

[klooster]

SeaMonkey has several drawbacks. First, it looks very dated. Also, some basic actions, such as opening a second browser tab, take several steps – and that’s after you find find where the function is hidden in the tool. SeaMonkey also takes significantly longer to navigate between pages, almost twice as long as other browsers.

Since this browser doesn’t automatically update itself, you must download new security updates directly from the SeaMonkey website. And while it does a good job of protecting against some malware, threats may still slip through, especially since so many programmers contribute to the browser. During security tests, SeaMonkey blocked a couple of phishing schemes, one of the most common internet threats, but it didn’t recognize some dangerous webpages or stop threats, including ransomware, from downloading.

And it is not Android or IOS compatible, all serious drawbacks.

Check a review here : www.toptenreviews.com

[Katryne]

deleted by Kat

[KevyNC]

On 3/15/2019 at 12:02 PM, fluffy82 said:

I only use Yoast (non pro) to give me some kind of indication on how my posts are written and how to make them better. But the advise isn't really helpfull so I don't know why I keep it

Sorry -- that made chuckle outloud -- I had same thought -- I have seen nearly identical posts: One GOOD, one One OKAY and sometimes even one "NEEDS IMPROVEMENT" and it very difficult to figure out why the rating difference. 

[Phil Merkel]

I'm almost afraid to ask this question but here goes. I still don't understand what the integration of WordPress and TNG actually provides. Is WordPress just a front-end for the TNG pages, i.e. do I link to the TNG pages from my WordPress home page while maintaining a (potential) set of blog posts/news items, etc. on any WordPress pages I have created and added to the overall website??? And if I do indeed link to the TNG pages from WordPress, how does one get back to the WordPress home page, assuming what I said is true? I understand the pieces...I just don't understand how they fit and work together. Phew! 

[HeatherFeuer]

8 minutes ago, Phil Merkel said:

I'm almost afraid to ask this question but here goes. I still don't understand what the integration of WordPress and TNG actually provides. Is WordPress just a front-end for the TNG pages, i.e. do I link to the TNG pages from my WordPress home page while maintaining a (potential) set of blog posts/news items, etc. on any WordPress pages I have created and added to the overall website??? And if I do indeed link to the TNG pages from WordPress, how does one get back to the WordPress home page, assuming what I said is true? I understand the pieces...I just don't understand how they fit and work together. Phew! 

Hi Phil,

For those of us who use WordPress and TNG together, there are many reasons for doing so. One of the sites I point out to anyone is Martin Mosley's https://mosleyfamilies.net. He has done a fantastic job of telling his family's story using the integration. At one time, I created a special script that creates a custom WordPress menu that includes the three major TNG menus of Find, Media, and Info. Using the Kloosterman method to wrap the WordPress header and footer around the TNG pages creates a seamless look. You can also see how I use it on my personal website at https://cathyheather.net. In both cases, TNG is used to create and display the family genealogy and WordPress is used to expand on the family story. There are a few WordPress plugins that display family trees, but IMHO, TNG is still by far the best genealogy software available.

I don't think of WordPress as a "front end" only. For me, integration means that the two programs work together seamlessly to tell a story about my family.

[klooster]

Hi Phil,

Choosing a platform is one of the first and most crucial decisions you’ll make for your new website. Your Content Management System (CMS) will help determine how well your site runs, along with the number of tools and customization options available to you. With all the potential choices out there, however, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed.

Fortunately, there’s one option that’s a safe bet in almost any circumstance: WordPress. This free, open-source CMS is the perfect framework for building anything from a simple blog to a thriving e-commerce site. It’s easy to use, yet powerful and flexible enough to accommodate your unique requirements.

Using new software of any type can be intimidating, and if you’re creating your first website, you probably won’t have experience with content management systems. Fortunately, it’s easy to get started with WordPress, even if you’re a complete beginner; you won’t need any coding knowledge to create a perfectly functional site. Furthermore, the admin dashboard is simple to understand and navigate, whether you’re writing content, customizing settings, or installing themes and plugins.

However, if you’re not a beginner, don’t let WordPress’ ostensible simplicity turn you away. It is hugely powerful ‘under the hood’, and enables you to customize every aspect of your site as you see fit, should you have the technical chops.

You can integrate TNG in a easy and beautiful way in Wordpress with my method and expand the possibilities of creating your own personal website way beyond what the TNG templates have to offer.

Read:How and why I made my WP-TNG website