Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
Nicholas Lee
12,474 PointsCan I collect people emails with my own wordpress blog? How can I Wordpress blog in Communist Cuba?
HI,
I have been through a portion of the wordpress but have some specific questions. Part of my college major is Cuban studies. I am also traveling to Cuba for a semester this coming January - April. As a way to make a name for myself, continue my personal writing and tech skills I would like to blog. As a way to have a functional site with my own url I am considering building a site using wordpress theme .
1) If I make a blog through wordpress is there a way to collect emails of readers that I can use to do promotional things like book giveaways ect? To encourage traffic on my site?
2) Also, can I set up my blog so my posts can be easily re-blogged on facebook, tumblr and twitter ect?
3) Lastly, Internet in Cuba is very limited. Wikipedia states that the global bandwidth between Cuba and the globe is " just 209 Mbit/s upstream and 379 downstream." It is most popular to use an internet cafe for access by paying a fee. An addition to tight internet censorship... what do you think the prospects of updating such a site in Cuba? If I go to an internet cafe should I run a vpn thought ubuntu on a flash drive? Are there ways to make blog posts without have to directly access my website/host server? Perhaps just be sending an email?
Any advice is very much appreciated.
Thank You Nick Lee
2 Answers
Kevin Korte
28,148 PointsSounds like an interesting trip!
So
Sure. Probably the most easiest would be to use a service like mailchimp.com. They even have a plugin and they have a free account level, while some features must have a paid account. I've played around with their service, and it seems good. I only have the free account though.
Yes, easily. I like to use this plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/social-networks-auto-poster-facebook-twitter-g/ to do so. It's a bit more complicated to set up, but it's a lot of customization and control. Lot's of cool features, you can customize each message that gets posted to each social media site using their shortcodes. It's free to set up one account per social media website. If you want to autopost to say two twitter accounts, you either need to pay for that, or use another autoposter plugin like what is available in the Jetpack plugin
Truth be told, I have no idea. I imagine a VPN would be good if you're worried about it, and it sounds like you should be. Wordpress also does allow you to post via email, but I don't know how secure that is either with what you are facing.
I imagine WP was getting some hate because it in many situations has a lot of overhead and bloat. It's simple enough someone can get going with it without knowing how to code at all, or it can be customized, extended, or hacked to your hearts content to do what you need it to do. It is still definitely a blogging platform but can be used in many other aspects besides blogs as well.
Nicholas Lee
12,474 PointsThank you.
Steve Smith
12,955 PointsJust a quick note on WP as a tool, remember it is just that - a tool. It's not going to be right for everything, but it's a great platform for many things, and like any tool you need to understand when it's suitable and when it's not.
Also consider that, like giving a nail gun to someone with little or no experience, you can give WP to someone with little or not experience and what they build and how they feel about it will be dramatically different from giving the same tool to someone with knowledge and experience in implementing well planned solutions.
A real craftsman never blames his or her tools, so keep that in mind when you hear people badmouthing any of the CMS's, be they WP, Drupal, MODx or anything else. Expect that your mileage may vary.
Nicholas Lee
12,474 PointsNicholas Lee
12,474 PointsAlso, during my web development class last semester is seemed that almost every class either teacher or student teachers bad mouthed wordpress. I still have some residual feelings that wordpress is somehow linked to the devil. Why so salty? Will using wordpress ruin any chance I have at making my own reputation?
What I learned most from the class is that I would do not want to be designing websites for mom and pop stores. Wordpress seems good for that. I would rather be focused on more hardcore software development aspects and functionality of sites/programs.