I thought it would be a simple move.

I decided to move my personal blog to WordPress.

I found a WordPress theme that I liked.

• It offered lots of options
• I love options

Suddenly, simple options stole my time.

Be Careful What You Ask For

The creators of the WordPress theme really did do a good job with instructions – much better than most.

Even with good instructions, here is what I found.

• Changing one option affects another
• Even when you change an option, another can override it
• Those in the help forums talk funny

Amateur meet techie.

Simple is Difficult

The challenge of making something complex simple is it’s, well, difficult.

• There are different levels of understanding
• Technical is a second language for some
• Anticipating questions is anyone’s guess

Like many non-techies, I am in the blurry area of —

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing

• I have some knowledge of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
• Like most foreign languages, the natives speak variations
• This makes translation difficult

Making Simple Simple

With so many challenges to communication, how do you ever make it simple?

1. Use technical language sparingly
2. If you do use it, explain it – or – link to an explanation for those who need it
3. Make it easy to find help

People are selective in what they take in.

Allow your readers to skip over the part they know or find help for what they don’t.

If you are like me, and need some CSS help, here are a few sources I found.

• CSS Basics
• CSS Font Size: em vs. px vs. percent
• Pixel converter

I hope to have the personal blog live for prime time soon —

It simply takes time.

How do you make the complex simple? What resources can you share?

BigStock Photo Credit

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