Wordpress as a genealogical application
May 2nd, 2008 by Ruth Stephens
I have been using Wordpress for both my research blog and my genealogy database for about a month now. What are my impressions of Wordpress as a genealogical application?
There are certainly advantages and disadvantages.
The pros:
- ease of importing my old blog from Blogger into Wordpress- extremely simple, all posts and images
- variety of themes- almost 60 to choose from, filtered according to color, number of columns (1-4), fixed or flexible width, widgets, customizable header, page navigation
- 3 GB upload space- I have uploaded approx 150 images to my two cemetery pages, plus all the images added to my posts, and have used less than 1% of that 3GB. More space can be bought if necessary
- multiple pages- can be arranged in hierarchies, with no limits to how deeply nested the pages can be
- media library- convenient centralized location of all images
- images are posted with drop shadows and thumbnail size is available
- tabbed navigation- this feature has allowed me combine my blog and database at one site
- paid upgrades available - purchased through Paypal, 1 credit equals $1 (ex: 5 GB space upgrade costs 20 credits per year), options include custom domain name, custom css, gifts, space upgrades
- widgets available
- stats- extensive charts & tables
- help- simple and straight-forward (unlike the “attitude” that can be found in Blogger’s help files!), user forum very active, quick response from Support if needed
- option to login through OpenID
- the usual amenities available to other free blog sites including comment moderation, privacy options, multiple users
The negatives:
- the media library is a bit confusing- can be difficult to add an image that is already in the library to a post
- when posting, the options such as align center and font color do not always work as expected
- limited variety of widgets
- flash and javascript not allowed- security reasons (I am unable to place my footnote member card as a widget)
- css customization as paid upgrade
Wordpress has many options that I have not yet explored. But overall, I am still very pleased with it. I can now concentrate much more on research and much less on site management.
