I have been trying to build a website using Wordpress since May. I am not a coder and I not especially technical but I think I am reasonably adept at working most things out. I spent many years on Squarespace (before they borked it) and never had problems.

I started using the Wordpress Management in my CPanel (see pic 1) but after a while of building it all felt clunky. So I deleted everything and went back to scratch, downloading the Wordpress App through the Applications (see pic 2).

This was going well until early this week when, after an auto update, I was suddenly having problems getting a JSON response. I went through all the fixes and couldn't get it sorted. It also deleted a bunch of template and patterns I had created.

So I again deleted EVERYTHING (I saved all my written content into a Word doc) - uninstalling everything, detatching, you name it. Essentially created a new admin, the works. Started with the basics of Twenty-Twenty Five and it seemed to be OK, but I am nervous about uploading any new themes or plugins (which I will need to do).

I have a new theme with associated plugins (paid for by my bro who uses Wordpress - lucky sis!) but I don't know whether to start over using the first method or the second method.

What I really want is to be able to design some graphics and use them on blank templates, so that each page of my site is similar but not the same - main content layout the same or similar, dropdown menu the same, footer the same, but with some graphic variations. I truly did not think it would be this difficult. I have even used blocks wherever possible.

My future business has no shop, no major photograph stuff (so not gallery type or image heavy), no blogs with comments. Just a bunch of pages with different services and explanations for my freelance future.

I'm also worried I'll find myself back with the JSON response issue which I never figured out how to fix.

If anyone has advice or is willing to work through this with me, I'll be grateful. I don't want to go to Wix Studio or similar - the cost is prohibitive considering my pages will all be mostly static and without online store features or sales. I knew Wordpress was a steep learning curve but after four months, it is starting to feel harder than it needs to be.

Thanks in advance, Redditors.