I already posted my thoughts about Mambo/Joomla CMS compared to Wordpress. I think the picture will not be full if I’ll not tell a story of how I came to blogging. So, let me share the background of my blogging.

One friend of mine two years ago offered me to join his business and work on a project of web presence for his company. We both graduated elite physics institute in Moscow. He thinks that if you graduated this institute then you should be able to do anything in just one click. All his “assumptions” always luck one thing - time required for such “clicks”. I explained him that never set up a single web site or a page. He insisted: “Common, you can do this, I’ve heard about one software application - DreamWeaver, - you do not have to know web or php - it’s like using word processing software - type and click and all content automatically goes to the web server.”

Having some experience in software and programming I knew that this cannot be that simple. So, I politely rejected his offer. To this moment I used internet only as an information resource and never seriously thought of setting up a personal web site. And although I rejected my friend’s offer I thought that since I spend a lot of time in front of monitor why not to try this mysterious DreamWeaver. After one month of struggle with this “easy to use” application I dropped it with a verdict: “Garbage”.

Let me explain. Let’s assume that you need to hammer in a nail in a pierce of wood (or assume you are making a bird house). And to do this you wear a deep diving suit and go to the bottom of the sea. That is exactly what web site development with Macromedia DreamWeaver is. After one month of struggle with hundreds of buttons in hundreds of menus I opened notepad and looked inside one of the html files generated by Macromedia and realized that I just wasted one month of my life. And here I want to shout (addressing to newbie in website development): “Never ever start building a site with Macromedia like tools”

All you need is a Notepad editor, any simple html page to start playing with and www.php.net site opened in browser window. Update: and some other resources (CSS, HTML, Page Layouts - they are all free and easy to locate). Actually, you do not need to design a site from the ground - just find Free CMS or Blogging software and start playing with pages there.

I deleted all Macromedia presence in my computer and started to search for something more connected to real life. To this moment I already knew that this should be dynamic content engine and should be free. Why free? Not because I do not want to pay. Dealing with software and systems for years I have learnt that only free software can be really good (I think needless to give examples here) and have, because of its free nature, numerous contributors.

Eventually I found Mambo – free CMS. With Mambo I managed to go as far as setting up and running real web site, but… noticed that I don’t accept its content flow policy managed only in some specific way through numerous buttons on several different administration panel pages. Sometimes you have to go through two-three admin pages to publish one post. Already experienced in some php coding I wanted more elegant and flexible way of managing content and found Wordpress 1.2.

Real move to Wordpress took place with version 1.5 – powerful templating system and ability to make pages were those things which just vaporized all my doubts about it.

And if you like me you will love the idea of simplicity and transparency of Wordpress and the way it makes publishing as simple as “type and click” and , also, you will love the ability to tune your site in many ways.

This entry was posted by Tash on February 14, 2006 and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.