How I Got Started as a Webmaster and got in to Webdesign
I hired a webmaster when I launched my first website 10 years ago. I was not confident that I could learn to do this. At the time, it seemed like every website required coding and I didn’t know the first thing about it. I also didn’t want to learn how to code. I had enough going on in my life at the time that I didn’t want to take on the task of learning how to make my own site.
My webmaster did a fantastic job and I was happy with the site design. When I started The Weekly Riff webzine in 2008, I asked my webmaster to design that site as well. However, when the business did not begin to make money, and my teaching business took off, I had to let go of my webmaster and learn how to make websites myself.
iWeb Years (2010 – 2016)
I took over the duties as webmaster for my sites in 2010, using Apple’s iWeb, which was very easy to use. I learned to customize my sites over the years and my design skills improved. Learning to manage my own sites was a lot easier than I had imagined. I was proud of my work and it was fun. Having direct control over updates and design features was fantastic. Best of all, iWeb did not require me to learn how to code.
In 2014, I realized that my sites looked dated. I began to look for new options because Apple had not updated iWeb in years. After trying a couple of other programs, I realized that they were not as easy or intuitive as iWeb. I began to wish that Apple would roll out a new version of iWeb, but that was never going to happen.
Sites I have managed:
josebernardo.net -> 2010 – 2016
theweeklyriff.com -> 2010 – 2015
riffcentre.com -> 2011 – 2016
halfdeafguitarist.com -> 2016 – present
I also managed websites for my bands: Foreign Star, One Last Pulse, Sonic Bloom Theory, and Acoustic Bloom Theory.
Migrating to WORDPRESS
I finally decided to give in and learn how to use WordPress in June 2016. It took me one weekend to learn the basics and get the basic design for this site done. It was a lot easier than I had imagined. I followed a step by step tutorial on youtube to begin designing this site. I love YouTube, it is a fantastic resource.
This is the YouTube video I followed to make my site
Now that I have been working with WordPress for a little over a month, I am so glad that I made the switch over. I am still discovering a lot of new things about this platform. It is very powerful.
Going Forward
It looks like I will be sticking with WordPress for the foreseeable future. I also want to mention that I have been a very satisfied customer of Saratoga Hosting for the past 10 years. They have always been amazing, regardless of whether I was living in Boston, Hong Kong, or Finland. Do check them out if you are looking for web hosting services.