First post, thanks for reading, and all that jazz!
I am building my website using the 2019 starter theme provided by WordPress, along with the new Gutenberg editor. I made this decision for two reasons, the first being that I have never actually used a built-in WordPress theme, much less used the new Gutenberg editor. As a developer, I have built and contributed to a good many themes, but since none of my clients used a WordPress starter theme, neither have I. I haven’t used Gutenberg for reasons that will be obvious to any WordPress developer or site administrator; Gutenberg, the new “block editor” that ships with WordPress starting in version 5.0, has a reputation for being buggy, difficult to use, and being “a solution to a non-existent problem.” In fact, my first encounter with Gutenberg was when I upgraded a client site to WordPress 5.0 and the site frontend was broken in several areas. Fortunately, I was able to install the Classic Editor plugin (disabling Gutenberg) and everything returned to normal. If all it takes to break things is the presence of the Gutenberg editor, then (in my opinion) it should not be used even if it does bring some cool new features to the table. However, the WordPress team has made it clear that Gutenberg is here to stay, despite the tremendous outrage from the WordPress user and developer communities. It is entirely possible that Gutenberg works great once you know how to use it – after all, this statement is true for just about any third-party theme, or even the Classic editor. Even if Gutenberg really is just bad, I will benefit more from learning how to use it and being able to clearly articulate why (or why not) it should be used.
My second reason for choosing 2019/Gutenberg is time, or rather the lack thereof. In addition to being a freelance developer, I also have a full-time job, a spouse, and two pets to keep me busy – and attempting to maintain some semblance of social life takes care of any remaining free time! Originally, I planned to go all-out on my own website: everything would be custom, custom theme, custom plugins, super cool layout, revolutionary features, something that would accurately showcase my talents! Of course, these things take time and lots of it. As the months rolled by and my website remained undeveloped, I eventually realized that I simply don’t have the time to go crazy with over-developing my own website. On top of that, why should I? I already have plenty of other sites and applications that showcase my work.
This got me thinking further: What purpose does my website serve?
- To showcase my work. This can be accomplished with a “Portfolio” page.
- To tell people about myself. This can be accomplished with an “About Me” page, and perhaps also a “Resume” page.
- To host my blog. I journal frequently, sometimes in a physical journal and sometimes using a Google Drive folder. Sometimes I write about personal things and I won’t be posting those here. Sometimes I write about work experiences, new things that I am learning, stuff I’ve built or fixed, or just thoughts about the world. I’d like to be able to share some of those with the world at large, especially if they may be useful to someone else who is facing similar challenges.
And there you have it! Keeping these purposes in mind, I shall build my site with Gutenberg, themed with 2019, and chronicle my adventures in the blog. Thanks for reading, and of course comment anytime if you want to share your thoughts!