After my first post, I decided that phase one of this project must be developing some basic competence with the WordPress platform and establishing a sound technical framework for my site. After struggling with some dreadfully bad online learning tools, I went looking for something better, and found an old standby: an O’Reilly book.

O’Reilly books have been my go-to throughout my career whenever I needed to learn a software system or language. They combine excellent conceptual presentation with practical detail. There is nothing else like them, and this is well known in tech circles. So much so that it is said, truthfully in my estimation, that “the Internet was built on O’Reilly books”.

“WordPress: the missing manual: The book that should have been in the box” did not disappoint. It provides the needed concepts and techniques to know how to get around the platform, do the main tasks, and provides a reference for more sophisticated requirements in the future. So my site is now mobile friendly, has the right anti-spam and security foundation, backups, and a basic look. I hope it provides an intriguing frame for the project.

Content and appearance are separate in WordPress—they are combined to give you a page when you ask for it. “Themes” are the WordPress tool for specifying the look. I rummaged around in themes (there are ~60,000 available) and found they are not interchangeable, and that maybe 5-10% are compatible with my envisioned content. I selected a starter theme and have 4 alternates on-deck; I will watch that space as the site evolves.

This site will be word heavy—that’s the point. But I decided to add a little visual interest by way of photos highlighting the Midwestern beauty of Wildwood, the suburb of St. Louis, Missouri in which I live. I started with a photo from late last fall of a vista in Rockwoods Reservation, a nearby park. I envision expanding this collection to show all four seasons and a variety of vistas. Most images will be from Wildwood, but I expect to add the occasional shot from other parts of the greater St. Louis Metro region as well as Missouri. I intend for the image set to be entirely local within those parameters.

So now I can turn to content. I spent a few minutes writing down some thoughts and came up with a dozen working titles. Only one of them permits me to work just from my head. All the others require significant interaction with texts. For me writing is thinking—I start with a hypothesis and work from there. If the exercise does not evolve or expand or modify from the kernel I start with—then what was the point? My career and writing experiences have taught me that this is a fruitful approach, and once I get going, there is no real limit to the range of topics or interaction that are possible.