It is a bemusing experience to be a new geek, or at least a geek in an unfamiliar field. Websites are something I’ve always grouped with computer technology. I admire it for what it does, while being daunted by the prospect of actually using it, my Apple laptop always excepted.
Nevertheless, learning a new thing is good for the brain, all the better if it’s well outside the comfort zone. Having achieved the venerable milestone of threescore years and ten and being decades removed from the digital native generation, I am wrestling with a self-hosted WordPress site and the documentation for Get Noticed!, a theme purpose-built for bloggers.
Very early on I learned that software developers assume far more knowledge on the part of users than is often the case. Different words and terms are used for the same thing, steps in a process are implied but not clearly stated, information often comes via video, delivered far too quickly. Like a rat in a lab experiment, it takes me a while to learn which lever delivers which result.
For all that, there are graces to this experience. For the most part, support is reliable and responses are helpful. My hosting company, pair Networks, is stellar in this respect. The support staff really know their stuff, they are kind and want me to learn, they take their time and treat me with respect. They leave me feeling encouraged and empowered, ready to tackle the next challenge.
Here I am, then, eleven days since Anselm’s Quest began to appear online. It may not look like much has happened, but the big bones of the site’s skeleton are now there, the categories and primary pages. Font and colour choices have been made, the splash image and logo uploaded. Next to come is the static content. All week I have wrestled with the Home Page content, completely rewriting what I first wrote months ago.
It is all right, a learning of my quest. Outside my studio window, the world is cold and still, lightly covered in snow. The earth rests. Nature’s time is slower than human time, its framework seasonal, its measure by the month. Human time is and should be slower than technological time. God is timeless altogether.