---
title: "WordPress Tip: WordPress as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Application"
date: 2008-08-30
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $("
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2008/08/30/wordpress-as-a-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-application/
---
# WordPress Tip: WordPress as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Application
Back when I lived in Tampa, the Suncoast STC site was already created in WordPress, but there was an initiative to migrate the site to Drupal for its password-protection capabilities (which turned out not to be so important). Drupal was too much work for the web volunteers, and now Clyde returned the site to its authentic wholeness as a WordPress incarnation (in a way much better than before).

WordPress does simplify web publishing. Find the right theme (in Clyde's case, the [Branford theme](http://www.der-prinz.com/2008/01/20/wordpress-magazine-style-theme-branfordmagazine/)), tweak and customize it a bit, and voila, it's a professional looking site with dynamic content in less than a day or two.

However, I encounter a growing number of people who also struggle with WordPress, who are seduced by the idea that it's a no-brainer to publish a site. Not true. It does take skill, knowledge, and time. Just last night  I received two questions from people about WordPress -- one person asking how to add images to the sidebar and change the font, another asking about feeds, and today I gave a tutorial to another person on customizing his site, particularly the colors. After some people manage to set up a WordPress blog, they discover they aren't able to modify it, and they tear their hair out in frustration.

WordPress is like a [Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde) type application. For people already a little familiar with web publishing, WordPress is the nice Dr. Jekyll that shows a friendly face. People are amazed by the functionality and flexibility of the platform. The extensibility of the plugins, themes, and open code makes WordPress a powerful partner in web design and publishing. It's the tool you always needed -- it makes everything easy.

![Jekyll and Hyde](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/180px-jekyll-mansfield2.jpg)

For others, the less tech savvy ones who somehow managed to set up a self-hosted WordPress site either through an auto-installer or through other means, WordPress shows the Mr. Hyde face. The code is open, and as soon as they make a few naive tweaks to the loop, or remove a key div tag -- bam, the site breaks and the user becomes paralyzed with frustration. The php tags that call information from the database look foreign, and passing parameters to those tags seems like advanced programming.