What WordPress Has Taught Me

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi

What has WordPress taught me? It’s a question with so many answers. How to keep my HTML skills sharp is the most obvious answer. I use the Text Editor quite often to tinker with the HTML (e.g. the blockquotes used in this post) or add more functionality (within the prescribed limits of a free WordPress blog, of course).

Maintaining a WordPress blog has enabled me to make connections with fellow bloggers all over the world. Whether I travel the world or not, I can be taken on rich and colourful adventures through the blog sites that I follow, and the rich commentary and imagery contained within them.

Blogging has also sustained my love of writing through the creation of regular blog posts, and deepened personal interests in photography and wildlife. To date, my ongoing adventures in birding have resulted in my identification of over 80 bird species. Even with a relatively unsophisticated point-and-shoot digital camera, I have learned to make sense of Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, ISO, and f- stop features; multiple exposures and HDR photos are next on my to-do list.

“He who learns but does not think, is lost. He who thinks, but does not learn is in great danger.” – Confucius

I have learned how to embed audio tracks (via Sound Cloud) and videos (via Youtube), and credit images and source Creative Commons material.

I have learned how to tag and categorize my blog posts for improved searchability — my incidental introduction to that mysterious creature called SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

I have discovered some other useful tips and tricks. Some by purposeful searching, and others by serendipity. These include, in no particular order:

How to track your own blog site in the Reader by finding your eight-digit Blog ID. Follow your own blog, publish a post, and then go to the Reader. Put your mouse over your blog title (which appears at the top of every blog post). Right-click to select the Copy the Link Address command, paste into a new browser window, and save it as a bookmark.

How to find out how how many WordPress blogs there are. Visit wordpress.com/stats (instead of wordpress.com/my-stats) to see how many millions of WordPress blogs there are, plus how many are created every minute, hour, and day! You’ll also see a map with real-time activity that shows who’s blogging, liking, and commenting … all over the world!

How to read a post from the Reader on the original blog site. Click on the timestamp in the lower left corner — this will save clicking on the post for a second time.

Most importantly, WordPress has stimulated an interest to continue learning about blogging, and push the boundaries of what can be accomplished with a blog site.