Hey, guys! So, yesterday I made an error and published a blank article on WordPress. I got 18 views in about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, for 20 of those 30 minutes, the post was completely empty, probably confusing the people that had clicked on the link to…Learn From My Mistake, only to find that it had no information. I updated the thing as quickly as I could, so if nobody went back to read the few short paragraphs, I’m posting the link here: LFMM #1. It’s basically an intro to this blog series, Learn From My Mistakes.
So, moving on, I checked out WordPress’ new Portfolio feature, and I just couldn’t understand what the purpose of it was, because it was difficult to navigate at first. But I finally figured it out (did anyone else have this much trouble?). And the Portfolio option isn’t well suited to my WordPress theme, which is Escutcheon. It’s minimalist, classy, and the focus is on writing alone, which doesn’t really suit my needs anymore, since I want to use more images and videos. After I set up the Portfolio, (which leads me expect images showing up in thumbnails), it looks like the pic below: 
So, this isn’t what I want. So the experiment resulted in failure. But at least it’s conclusive! Now I have to move on to another theme. This might happen to you one day, where you decide to go in another direction, but I would recommend avoiding it, not rushing to pick a theme, and have a crystal clear purpose in mind when building your WordPress site (or any site for that matter). I’ve spent hours all morning trying to find the right theme, and I think I’ve got it.
If you want to use the Portfolio feature, WordPress has a great article on how to activate and use it (if you site doesn’t come with the feature). Portfolio basically creates a spread of your projects separate from your main blog (if you have one), with an automatically generated link such as http://www.graceharney.wordpress.com/portfolio. This took me forever to notice, even though the article mentions it. Here’s the article if you think the Portfolio feature is something you’d use for your WordPress site: Portfolios. Please don’t just skim it like I did while I was starving and dreaming about Chinese food about to be delivered. There’s a lot of info packed into that small article.
Also, don’t be fooled by the promise of the Portfolio option. It doesn’t always look like that beautiful image they have at the top of the article, as you’ve seen with my WordPress theme–there aren’t any images, just a boring list.
That article does show a list of compatible themes however, which is helpful, but unfortunately, you have to click on each theme to actually see how it looks. This wreaks havoc on any browser, I think, because you’re not just looking at a site, but at a demo that you can manipulate. Please be patient while it loads. Your patience will pay off later, because then you won’t have to change your theme like I have to, which is a total pain in the you-know-what. And finally, while you’re doing all of this, just make sure you’re not doing it on an empty stomach.
If you have any questions or if I didn’t cover something you wanted to read about Portfolio, let me know in the comments. Cheers!
Grace Harney 