I began the task of organising my posts into a recipe index over a month ago. Easy peasy. Or so I thought. After all there were less than one hundred recipes to sort through. All I had to do was organise those recipes by category. Create a new page for each category. Link each recipe to an image and each image to its original post. My aim? A recipe index that is easy to navigate and visually appealing. Suffice to say the best laid plans of mice and (wo)men. Often go awry.
Wind the clock back to late September 2012. On a whim I decide I to start a blog, unphased by the fact that I have had no prior exposure to blogs at all. My first port of call? My teenage son. Naturally. It’s not that I’m a luddite. I’ve been using computers for decades. I cant live without my i-technology. The problem is my brain just can’t seem to navigate the technical aspects of WordPress. After much pleading, and a little bargaining, my incredulous son set up my account for me. Much mirth followed when he and his sisters realised it took me three more days to figure out how to publish my first post. But that’s ancient history now.
Five months on. I’m on a roll. WordPress is my friend. I’m cooking, photographing, writing and publishing recipe posts. I’ve discovered a vibrant on-line community, and even managed to redesign my blog a little. I’m feeling pretty confident about my new found skills. They say pride comes before a fall. How true. No matter how hard I try I can’t seem to organise and link my recipes, blog posts and images into anything but a bland and uninspiring screed.
And then it hits me. It’s all about left brain logic versus right brain creativity, Writing posts requires lateral thinking, right brain flair. Navigating the at times labyrinthine Wordpress technospeak is most definitely a left brain exercise. Requiring attention to detail and analytical logic. Research shows that most people prefer one style of thinking over another. Given my mounting frustration with my recipe index project I surmise I probably favour the right side of my brain. So to satisfy my curiosity, and procrastinate even further, I complete one of those fun internet pop quizzes – Are You Right Or Left Brained? The results are in.
You Are 35% Left Brained, 65% Right Brained
The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.
Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.
If you’re left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.
Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.
The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.
Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.
If you’re right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.
Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.
http://www.blogthings.com/areyourightorleftbrainedquiz/.
Perhaps that funny little pop quiz was just the impetus I needed to sit down and figure out the vagaries of WordPress and its image galleries once and for all. I revisited my Recipe Index pages and cleaned them up. With a lot of trial and error, and a more disciplined approach I have managed to figure out how to use the gallery features effectively. I’ve set up an image carousel that links images of the recipes back to their original posts. And there is also a separate alphabetic listing of posts for each page. Navigating Wordpress is now proving to be a little less of a left brain nightmare for my right brain creativity. While the task is still far from complete there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I hope you find my recipe index pages useful and easy to use.
The Paddington Foodie 
I’m impressed by you tenacity. My recipe index page has become an uninspiring and increasingly incomplete inadequacy. My left brain dominates, maybe that doesn’t help – I can do the tech but lack on creativity, and now lack of time has put a spanner in the works, but I suspect that’s an excuse. I am inspired to try and improve my recipe index, eventually….. 🙂 Thanks
Good luck! I think I’ve cracked the formula. So as long as I don’t deviate from my plan I should be fine. I’ll have to keep my right brain under control!
I just did the pop quiz and this was my result: You Are 55% Left Brained, 45% Right Brained. I need to sort out my posts into an index too, so I wonder if I am going to encounter the same issues as you? All the more reason to procrastinate about it, huh?
Absolutely!
Thank you for the inspiration on how to tackle that type of project on limited time. I’m a little curious about my left vs right brain…I’ll have to take the quiz. And for five months in, I’d say you’re doing really well!
Thank you. It’s good to know I’m not the only one struggling with this.
I think you are doing a very good job! Also since i read your blog i start to go to other blogs as well, often i find them not as beautiful or cliear as yours.
My son and I are big fans. Beautiful pictures, good writing and inspiring recipes, all in a nice frame. Thank you so much. 😉
Thank YOU. I hope you both keep enjoying my blog.
I am 20/80 – no surprises there! Good luck and keep perservering with the index.
That pop quiz is such an interesting diversion.Perhaps I should ban myself from writing any more posts until the recipe index is finished? On second thoughts that would be tragic.
Great post! I too am no luddite, but I’m very new to the blogosphere. Thanks for making me feel like I’m not the only one who can’t figure out the “logic” of WordPress. I’ve been trying to reorder some of my posts and have not figured out a good way to post my recipes yet. So I’ve got about 10 days and several recipes, all waiting in a holding pattern! Did you find any good help sites/videos that were helpful? I’m loving blogging but it’s eating up much more time than I thought it would!
I couldn’t find any great advice on line so I muddled through. Basically I looked at cook books and other recipe blogs to figure out how to categorise my recipes. Once I had the categories sorted I decided I needed to set up static index pages so that readers could scroll through a page and get an idea of what recipes were on file. That’s where the headache started. I wanted to post category pages with images that linked back to the original posts. I think I have it sorted but have quite a few more index pages to set up. For the time being I have run out of energy. My advice? Play around with the recipes you have so far and see how they look. Its easier to do this earlier rather than later when the database gets too big and the task too daunting. Also once you settle on a formula that works it only takes a few extra minutes to update categories and index pages. Good luck. I think its worth it in the end. Its easier for my readers to find and access my earlier recipes and posts.