Since we’ve been working a lot more with the free blogging software WordPress lately, this blog will record a little of what we’ve discovered along the way. WordPress.com is a good place to go if you don’t want to worry about hosting, upgrading, and general messing around with the software. However, WordPress.com is limited in three areas:
- You are limited to the themes that are available in the WordPress.com theme library.
- You cannot edit your theme’s code.
- You are limited to the plugins that are available in their plugin library
Recently there is a new service on WordPress.com that lets you edit a theme’s CSS for a small fee. This will let you do several things like add background images or change colors. If the theme is designed well, you can even move around the layout of the blog. The Sandbox Theme is particularly well suited for this. I have a client who found a nice theme in the WordPress.com library, I made some small changes for him, and he’s quite happy not having to worry about upgrades or FTP or server outages.
For those of you who want more freedom, WordPress.org offers the latest release of their software for free download. You get the same basic functionality as WordPress.com as well as the ability to customize it however you want.
Most of our services are catered to the WordPress.org folks who want that extra freedom but don’t have the knowledge to develop it themselves. We offer WordPress blog installation, custom theme design, and other blog customization services that extend the basic functionality of your blog. Contact us if you need any of these services, with our without hosting included. We’re happy to help.