Long Term Consequences

[Jeffro]

Back on the topic of images, for my personal blog, I sure did alot of uploading of images to specific folders via a folder structure I had within the images directory where I hard linked to the actual image. I rarely used the image uploader/attachment feature in WordPress meaning, unless I do the hack above, some of those 600 pixel images will stay 600 pixels whereas if I primarily used the image uploader, I could have just placed a size for that image to show up as a thmbnail.

Would you guys/gals look at SEO from within a theme or lack thereof as a long term consequence?

[davecoveney]

There's an inherent weakness in WordPress with respect to handling images and media inside posts and pages.

I can think of ways to improve that, but it would take considerable development and be quite difficult to make it so that old content can be rejigged.

So ultimately, try and make decisions based on ongoing maintenance. If I place in a full-width image I always centre it and put it in it's own paragraph tag. That way if the body content widens it's not a problem. But the easiest solution is to not do full width content unless you're willing to do the maintenance later.

[Jeffro]

Yeah, I have quite a few posts which have full width images which at the time, WordPress image feature didn't provide a nice way for me to make a thumbnail of the image, I had to do it manually.

Also, I uploaded alot of images via FTP and completely bypassed the media management system of WordPress for a long time which is another weakness I put on myself, because some images are displayed without any WordPress attributes.

How many times should people be changing WordPress themes anyways?

[Len]

I've changed themes several times over the years and this was always one of the things that p*ssed me off.

[andrea_r]

How many times should people be changing WordPress themes anyways?

:D LOL You should read the mommy-blogging crowd. many of them (us?) change themes every six months. Or less.

I am sure from an SEO perspective my personal site is a mess. That being said, there's always room for improvement. That's why Google keeps checking, right? ;) I wondering though if the long-termness outweighs other things over time. My personal domain is eight years old, and has generaly had the same sort of content on it that whole time. Mind you, the traffic has dropped by about half because I hardly post anymore, and the PR went down from 4 to 3, but I think with soem work - and a new template ;P - I can bring that all up.

[andrew]

The biggest issue with theme complexity is that it offers people with no design knowledge enough rope to hang themselves. The themes that are least suitable for these people are the ones that are most attractive because they like to 'play'.

There are surely consequences of choosing a theme if you want to change it, but choosing it on aesthetics without truly understanding it is of greater concern.

Themes encourage people to make quick choices on the basis of no knowledge and ultimately devalue the web. WordPress is the MySpace of blogging platforms.

[Len]

WordPress is the MySpace of blogging platforms.

heh. In the WordPress forums I've referred to WP as the Windows of blogging platforms.

[Jeffro]

Man, with the stigma surrounding Microsoft, is that a good thing to be saying? lol

[Len]

Man, with the stigma surrounding Microsoft, is that a good thing to be saying? lol

As much as I love WordPress it wasn't meant to be good.

We had a discussion in the forums one day and I mentioned it in response to some of the ridiculous threads. WP is making everything so easy (which is a good thing) but in doing so it can "dumb down" its user base as there is no need to be competent with the technical aspects.

I'm generalizing now but who do you think is the more computer savvy crowd - Windows or Linux users?

[andrew]

As long as it isn't the Apple of blogging platforms then it is still OK in my book.