Hey! Thanks for checking out the new look of my site. From time to time a site redesign is needed and that time has come for my site again. With this redesign I have a few goals that I’ll get into more detail below but in short I wanted to build this site using a new Block Theme, and I wanted to improve my content structure.

Block Themes

If you’ve been keeping up with WordPress the past few years, you know that development has been ongoing with the new Gutenberg or now called, block editor. The block editor has had mixed reviews since it’s release, like it or not it’s here and here to stay. While there may be room for it to grow and improve (like any product) the end goal of the block editor I believe is a good one. It helps keep the editing experience consistent in the WordPress ecosystem vs having multiple page builders of varying quality.

WordPress is currently in Phase 2 of the Gutenberg project which has brought us full site editing and block themes. Block themes are still in beta, but because it is the direction WordPress is currently going it’s something I wanted to dive into and experience as a user to better help me understand it as a developer. Currently I’m building my own block theme and I will say that the experience has been far different from any theme I’ve ever built in WordPress before. I will say though that for being in beta the process has been good, there are some roadblocks that I’ve hit that could be better in the overall structure but I can write about those in a later article. This site however is now being run and developed using a block theme. I’m excited for this new phase of this site and building WordPress sites in general.

Improved Content Structure

From time to time the content structure of a site will need to go through some updates. Over time of having my site I’ve begun to see how it needed some content improvements so I have put those in place. The changes moved from showcasing past work I have done to showcasing services I can offer. Along with that I have wanted to use WordPress more as a user lately. I want to come at it from that approach to not only learn about the new tools WordPress offers, but to help me look at WordPress more from a users perspective than through my normal developer lens. With that in mind while I do not view WordPress as “just as blogging tool” as some have (it’s a full featured CMS), it is a powerful blogging tool and I have wanted to spend time writing about some of my interests.

60 Days of Blogging

I’ve decided that for at least the next 60 days I will be writing a blog post a day about any and everything I have an interest in. It could be about the web and WordPress, or I may write about my interests in the outdoors, my faith whatever. Just 60 days of writing and using WordPress strictly as a user. I don’t consider myself a writer so this get’s me out of my comfort zone, but aside from what I want to gain in WordPress knowledge I’m hoping that it will also improve my communication.

For anyone wanting to learn anything new, especially WordPress I always tell them to just use it. Click around, read as much as you can, play with things to see what they do, and if you “break” a page just remember WordPress saves your revisions. With all the growth WordPress has gone through from time to time even the experienced developers need to go through that same process.