b. A slight twist on bikegermlin's suggestion:
use elementor (or any other page builder) to create the homepage/landing page, contact, about, etc.
blog ideally set up on a subdomain. With only the theme, no pagebuilder.
Elementor, from what I could test, does not measurably affect the performance of pages where it is not used. So I suppose it can be used just for the landing page(s), without the need for a separate WP installation.
Some day we can have a conversion on the pros and cons creating static pages from pagebuilders to improve speeds, reduce security issues, etc. (duh! Why not use a html template instead?)
I used some hand-written pages in combination with WordPress - it works.
One can also use Publii, or similar tool to build a website, or only some pages.
You can also create a whole website - either "manually", or using some static-website creating tool.
All that can be set to work wonderfully. In terms of speed - I would say that even a well optimized WP site, with caching, CDN and the lot, can often be a bit slower, and put a bit more load on a server (per visitor) compared to a static website.
And there is no database to hack.
However, WP makes editing/updating, and adding new content, a lot simpler. Faster. More convenient.
Also, if you choose your plugins wisely, you can get a lot of help from those, sometimes even free of any charge. Help with SEO, or a booking application for your service - no problem!
You want to allow 2-way communication, without limiting yourself to an email. Website comments for example. WP does that - for free, out of the box. Implementing that on a static HTML website is not as simple, and usually costs some money (Disquss and the likes, correct me if I'm wrong).
on a separate note: @bikegremlin do you have the brizy - WP Plan? or the cloud version?
Have you tried brizy + blocksy?
For Brizy - haven't yet given it a try myself. It is highly recommended, and has a lifetime offer - so it's on my to-do list for a spin.
P.S. For a full disclaimer:
I wouldn't call myself a "WP expert". On a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is a top class expert, and 1 is a person who just managed to install WP, I'm somewhere around 3, maaaybe 3+ (based on my assessment).
I'm fine with HTML, basic CSS knowledge, and practically beginner level PHP knowledge (knowledge of some other programs, and all the basics - algorithms etc, does help, but I never really gave it some effort, just edited existing google'd code when I needed something done).
Still far from writing my own themes and plugins. Even far from a 1000 tested plugins, or 100 tested themes.
I primarily just learned what I needed to in order to keep my (cycling) website(s) going, being stable, secure, and loading fast.
Yes, did a few other websites on the way, still do (when the good experienced developers are too busy, and I feel bad about turning a project down, and it is something I think I can manage). But compared to the knowledge and experience of some really good developers I've met - it's far, far behind them. And they still need learning (stuff changes really quickly).
I thought quic.cloud is paid service only. But yeah, I will try their Litespeed free quota on @MikePT shared hosting. Thank you @vyas
⭕ A simple uptime dashboard using UptimeRobot API https://upy.duo.ovh
⭕ Currently using VPS from BuyVM, GreenCloudVPS, Gullo's, Hetzner, HostHatch, InceptionHosting, LetBox, MaxKVM, MrVM, VirMach.
Sort of a feedback request. Here's a link of a "review/feedback" for my cycling website (link should start at 945 seconds - 15:45 minutes, and the part on my website lasts for about one minute):
My questions:
1) Confirm (or not) that it's difficult to navigate and figure out where the contents are.
2) I know it looks old fashioned, but not sure how exactly to re-style it to remain easy to read, while looking "more modern". Not really sure if it should be made to look more modern.
3) Any other constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Looking for the ways to improve, so primarily seeking all the negative stuff - critical feedback.
I'm totally "blind" when it comes to design, colours etc. "Old school website, I would change design right away" is fine - but without a how, with an example - I'm pretty much stuck. It's not 1st thing on my list, but I suppose it should be considered - if it is valid.
@bikegremlin said:
Sort of a feedback request. Here's a link of a "review/feedback" for my cycling website (link should start at 945 seconds - 15:45 minutes, and the part on my website lasts for about one minute):
My questions:
1) Confirm (or not) that it's difficult to navigate and figure out where the contents are.
2) I know it looks old fashioned, but not sure how exactly to re-style it to remain easy to read, while looking "more modern". Not really sure if it should be made to look more modern.
3) Any other constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Looking for the ways to improve, so primarily seeking all the negative stuff - critical feedback.
I'm totally "blind" when it comes to design, colours etc. "Old school website, I would change design right away" is fine - but without a how, with an example - I'm pretty much stuck. It's not 1st thing on my list, but I suppose it should be considered - if it is valid.
Hi bikegremlin!
1) your website is clear( could be improved yes like everything)
2) well i would give you a draft today (16:00 aprox) done on a paper or photoshop (if i have more time) what could be done and simplified. I guess your home page could be "more organized" in sections. You are using the menu for that but may be should be easier to do it with some simple sections etc ( it is my personal opinion it is subjective and i am not s pro). Well after doing you could try plan A vs B and see the interactions here or asking some friends or whatsever
3) Design is subjective it is like everythig imagine if we all like the same cars the same colors and the same designs. Same houses etc.
Pd. I have not got the same impression like that person. Using just the menu is enough to see what it is about in 5 seconds
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
@bikegremlin said:
Sort of a feedback request. Here's a link of a "review/feedback" for my cycling website (link should start at 945 seconds - 15:45 minutes, and the part on my website lasts for about one minute):
My questions:
1) Confirm (or not) that it's difficult to navigate and figure out where the contents are.
2) I know it looks old fashioned, but not sure how exactly to re-style it to remain easy to read, while looking "more modern". Not really sure if it should be made to look more modern.
3) Any other constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Looking for the ways to improve, so primarily seeking all the negative stuff - critical feedback.
I'm totally "blind" when it comes to design, colours etc. "Old school website, I would change design right away" is fine - but without a how, with an example - I'm pretty much stuck. It's not 1st thing on my list, but I suppose it should be considered - if it is valid.
Hi bikegremlin!
1) your website is clear( could be improved yes like everything)
2) well i would give you a draft today (16:00 aprox) done on a paper or photoshop (if i have more time) what could be done and simplified. I guess your home page could be "more organized" in sections. You are using the menu for that but may be should be easier to do it with some simple sections etc ( it is my personal opinion it is subjective and i am not s pro). Well after doing you could try plan A vs B and see the interactions here or asking some friends or whatsever
3) Design is subjective it is like everythig imagine if we all like the same cars the same colors and the same designs. Same houses etc.
It's no rush at all.
Like I said - I wouldn't trust my opinion on whether it looks good. Same goes for most of my friends. We're all "technical", but not very visual. Or just plain idiots.
But I'd be happy to try your suggested layout, and ask for comparison/opinions on that.
Pd. I have not got the same impression like that person. Using just the menu is enough to see what it is about in 5 seconds
I suppose top menu is a good idea. But what you said about the front page sections/layout, does sound a bit like what Nemanja complained about. All that's left is to figure out how exactly to format it.
Is the black background OK (I find it easier on the eyes, especially at night, when not the whole screen is shining white)?
Colour choice of blue and white (again, for me black text on a white background works best if I wish to read a lot - and the website is about long, detailed explanations)?
Are the fonts used easy to read? Too small? Too large?
@bikegremlin said:
Sort of a feedback request. Here's a link of a "review/feedback" for my cycling website (link should start at 945 seconds - 15:45 minutes, and the part on my website lasts for about one minute):
My questions:
1) Confirm (or not) that it's difficult to navigate and figure out where the contents are.
2) I know it looks old fashioned, but not sure how exactly to re-style it to remain easy to read, while looking "more modern". Not really sure if it should be made to look more modern.
3) Any other constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Looking for the ways to improve, so primarily seeking all the negative stuff - critical feedback.
I'm totally "blind" when it comes to design, colours etc. "Old school website, I would change design right away" is fine - but without a how, with an example - I'm pretty much stuck. It's not 1st thing on my list, but I suppose it should be considered - if it is valid.
Hi bikegremlin!
1) your website is clear( could be improved yes like everything)
2) well i would give you a draft today (16:00 aprox) done on a paper or photoshop (if i have more time) what could be done and simplified. I guess your home page could be "more organized" in sections. You are using the menu for that but may be should be easier to do it with some simple sections etc ( it is my personal opinion it is subjective and i am not s pro). Well after doing you could try plan A vs B and see the interactions here or asking some friends or whatsever
3) Design is subjective it is like everythig imagine if we all like the same cars the same colors and the same designs. Same houses etc.
It's no rush at all.
Like I said - I wouldn't trust my opinion on whether it looks good. Same goes for most of my friends. We're all "technical", but not very visual. Or just plain idiots.
But I'd be happy to try your suggested layout, and ask for comparison/opinions on that.
Pd. I have not got the same impression like that person. Using just the menu is enough to see what it is about in 5 seconds
I suppose top menu is a good idea. But what you said about the front page sections/layout, does sound a bit like what Nemanja complained about. All that's left is to figure out how exactly to format it.
Is the black background OK (I find it easier on the eyes, especially at night, when not the whole screen is shining white)?
Colour choice of blue and white (again, for me black text on a white background works best if I wish to read a lot - and the website is about long, detailed explanations)?
Are the fonts used easy to read? Too small? Too large?
Hi ! Well no problem i have free time between 14:00-17:00 so no problem at all. Just some lunch and after that some time to do it on photoshop. A basic draft.just to give you an alternative or something to work with it.
I have not seen the black background. It is white background with black letters for me. Do you have a night mode i do not see it where is it? Yes i prefer the black font on white background works pretty well.
Fonts are OK for me. May be you should organize it better. Just give me some time and i would explain you my vision with the draft. ( i have 2 more patients in 7 minutes so sorry i do not have time right now)
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
@bikegremlin said: 2) I know it looks old fashioned, but not sure how exactly to re-style it to remain easy to read, while looking "more modern". Not really sure if it should be made to look more modern.
I'm no designer, but I believe the reason why it doesn't look modern is because you have a modular design with small blocks/rectangles here and there where you split up different things like the menus and content. Nowadays, it's common to have just a big chunk of empty space or having some image fit in with the design. I personally think there's no problem with this kind of site layout but the black background is kinda ugly imo
@bikegremlin said: 2) I know it looks old fashioned, but not sure how exactly to re-style it to remain easy to read, while looking "more modern". Not really sure if it should be made to look more modern.
I'm no designer, but I believe the reason why it doesn't look modern is because you have a modular design with small blocks/rectangles here and there where you split up different things like the menus and content. Nowadays, it's common to have just a big chunk of empty space or having some image fit in with the design. I personally think there's no problem with this kind of site layout but the black background is kinda ugly imo
Go with whatever you like since it's your own website after all. I don't think there is a simple fix to make your website 'modern-looking', but if the design is really bugging you, I would try to update the homepage a bit. Instead of having a chunk of text explaining your site and having the default menus on the right, make your own custom homepage.
Hi @bikegremlin ! Here you have my draft . It is just an example . I have selected a gradient between 3 colors and used it in ¨the draft page¨. The idea is pretty simple the home page usually it is really simple and has many sections. Do not put too many sections it is better to create just 3-6 buttons on it and after clicking you could have more configuration pages. To explain it with an example the website is a city. So the name and what appears should be connected : bikes .
After that we have many homes ( sections ) And after clicking the homes ( sections) You can find the room that you are looking for. For a home page i am using something similar to the design with some photos etc and some sections. I avoid to put the text on the main home page it is better to publish it like mission or whatsever and make it main if you wish like in the example .
Colors are random , gradients works pretty well . After using 1 gradient you can select 3-4 colors and use it in the website. WHich colors it is up to you . It is better to use the color scheme in the menu as well. and publish the colors with the menu items . I have not done it but i guess it could be done. Another thing , is to use different menus per page . A simplified menu for the home page etc. And after selecting the mechanic section the menu would be different than the review section etc
pd. I know that the menu does not fit in the color scheme but it is one of my staging website so sorry about that.
@Chievo said:
Hi @bikegremlin ! Here you have my draft . It is just an example . I have selected a gradient between 3 colors and used it in ¨the draft page¨. The idea is pretty simple the home page usually it is really simple and has many sections. Do not put too many sections it is better to create just 3-6 buttons on it and after clicking you could have more configuration pages. To explain it with an example the website is a city. So the name and what appears should be connected : bikes .
After that we have many homes ( sections ) And after clicking the homes ( sections) You can find the room that you are looking for. For a home page i am using something similar to the design with some photos etc and some sections. I avoid to put the text on the main home page it is better to publish it like mission or whatsever and make it main if you wish like in the example .
Colors are random , gradients works pretty well . After using 1 gradient you can select 3-4 colors and use it in the website. WHich colors it is up to you . It is better to use the color scheme in the menu as well. and publish the colors with the menu items . I have not done it but i guess it could be done. Another thing , is to use different menus per page . A simplified menu for the home page etc. And after selecting the mechanic section the menu would be different than the review section etc
pd. I know that the menu does not fit in the color scheme but it is one of my staging website so sorry about that.
Thanks vyas it is just a draft to work bikegremlin . If i have had more time i could made it more ¨bike style¨but for a draft it is OK just for the general idea.
Thanks @Ympker ! Well it is photoshop another way is to create it on the website. Visual composer is good for that . Could be done something similar .
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
Thanks vyas it is just a draft to work bikegremlin . If i have had more time i could made it more ¨bike style¨but for a draft it is OK just for the general idea.
Thanks @Ympker ! Well it is photoshop another way is to create it on the website. Visual composer is good for that . Could be done something similar .
And we all know dentistry is just a front for the potassium smuggling operation, using pidgeons...
Thanks vyas it is just a draft to work bikegremlin . If i have had more time i could made it more ¨bike style¨but for a draft it is OK just for the general idea.
Thanks @Ympker ! Well it is photoshop another way is to create it on the website. Visual composer is good for that . Could be done something similar .
And we all know dentistry is just a front for the potassium smuggling operation, using pidgeons...
Dentistry is my love . smuggling teeth and checking new materials + buying books in japanese and trying to translate it to spanish/english. This is what hurts my pocket. Some rakia bikegremlin? Smuggling operations of japanese materials using german austrian providers Shhhhhh it is a secret
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
Thanks vyas it is just a draft to work bikegremlin . If i have had more time i could made it more ¨bike style¨but for a draft it is OK just for the general idea.
Thanks @Ympker ! Well it is photoshop another way is to create it on the website. Visual composer is good for that . Could be done something similar .
And we all know dentistry is just a front for the potassium smuggling operation, using pidgeons...
Dentistry is my love . smuggling teeth and checking new materials + buying books in japanese and trying to translate it to spanish/english. This is what hurts my pocket. Some rakia bikegremlin? Smuggling operations of japanese materials using german austrian providers Shhhhhh it is a secret
Rakija always!
It felt really bad last time I got sober.
P.S. Thank you very much for the design/layout. It is some food for thought.
So, I tried Elementor as I want to use WP for a couple of sites to save time. Installed the Hello theme checked performance, seemed ok.
Then made a header, footer, homepage and the like.
Is that normal? No idea with these for all my years in hosting Wordpress has never really been something I have paid attention to.
I mean even on accessing the site there is a very clear and annoying delay before the page shows up, talking 2 seconds and I hate that. If it's normal for Elementor to create that hit is there anything I can do to improve page load?
@localhost have a look at htmlpie.com, cheap compared with reinventing the wheel.
I am not using it atm; all of my domains resolve to a contact page and I am using another marketplace script to list all of my domains.
@localhost said:
Any suggestions on best way to create a site/ page to sell domains - with probable Escrow integration? I am thinking WP may be quickest?
@darb said: @localhost have a look at htmlpie.com, cheap compared with reinventing the wheel.
I am not using it atm; all of my domains resolve to a contact page and I am using another marketplace script to list all of my domains.
@localhost said:
Any suggestions on best way to create a site/ page to sell domains - with probable Escrow integration? I am thinking WP may be quickest?
Thank you for sharing.
Your current setup seems interesting.. can you share a little more details of your setup to list domains and park them to a contact page?
In my opinion the next part could be solved with rsync/rclone, a little custom script and cloudflare api (if it use cloudflare dns)
⭕ A simple uptime dashboard using UptimeRobot API https://upy.duo.ovh
⭕ Currently using VPS from BuyVM, GreenCloudVPS, Gullo's, Hetzner, HostHatch, InceptionHosting, LetBox, MaxKVM, MrVM, VirMach.
decided to isolate all of the shyt traffic and issues that comes with 1000 domain names which all now resolve to a dedicated VPS and one php script. the lander page is basically a contact form which auto detects the domain name and generated a for sale page and contact form. battling spam form submissions, considering adding cleantalk to the page.
for my main marketing site I am using dndork.com which is now defunct and will probably upgrade to dnhat.com at some point in the future.
@darb said:
decided to isolate all of the shyt traffic and issues that comes with 1000 domain names which all now resolve to a dedicated VPS and one php script. the lander page is basically a contact form which auto detects the domain name and generated a for sale page and contact form. battling spam form submissions, considering adding cleantalk to the page.
for my main marketing site I am using dndork.com which is now defunct and will probably upgrade to dnhat.com at some point in the future.
Your current setup seems interesting.. can you share a little more details of your setup to list domains and park them to a contact page?
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing.
It may be a stretch here..... can you share or provide some info on how the php script works ? I do have an idle vps that could be used for similar setup.
Downside of Expensive WordPress Hosting: Affiliate Swarm
A few months ago, I began experimenting with setting up Webinoly on a US $ 7 a year OVZ by VPSDime. It was a simple setup that concentrated on optimization for speed. I used Shortpixel for compressing the images and Gumlet for delivering images. Scripts were optimized using the auto optimizer plugin.
The results for mobile on google page speed insights and GTMetrix were impressive, in the 80s and 95 plus for GTMetrix.
These speeds for a non-optimized site are closer to what one might expect with manged hosting that costs over US $ 30-35 a month.
I posted my speed results in a Facebook group for WordPress, in an effort to share my learnings, and start a discussion around 'frugal hosting'. Instead, I got hazed, and was called a scammer.
Not to take such criticism lightly, I published benchmark results for the VPS, optimiation data for images, and also statistics from the CDN (Gumlet). Even challenged the members of that group to replicate my setup, and offered a US $ 100 'bounty' for anyone who could come up with a speedier setup in one hour's time. No one came forward.
The response in that group was probably because of the two evils of pricing games and affiliate income.
Pricing Games People Play
That group I referred to above is stocked with employees and affiliates for hosting companies like Siteground, Closte, Flywheel and others. Naturally there was a bias towards protectign their interests when my work was criticised. While I am no longer active in this group, one trend has continued
If you ask a question like,
"I am setting up a new blog and I expect around 3,000 visitors a month. Which hosting should I use?"
You will be bombarded with a barrage of options ranging from $ 40 a month Siteground plan to $ 30 month Vultr High Frequency server with Cloudways. It is funny and sad at the same time.
Note: I will be publishing a few posts that may seem random, but are a part of a post I am writing for Frugal WordPress Hosting. Above is the first of them.
@vyas Thanks. Well there are some people who think that if you spend 50 euros per month the server and speeds are better . there is another group affiliates and so on which are making money from the hosts. In both cases if you tell something that hurts them some way you would be rejected from the group so it is useless unfortunately. Here we have lot of great hostings at just smaller price but you know they are working better than the 50euros but the affiliates comission is lower so they are not " popular" in wordpress hosting or facebook groups.
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
You might want to stay away from WP 5.6 upgrade for a couple of weeks..here is one of the many oops'es it can cause.
wp-admin redirects to a random page that does not exist.
@vyas said:
You might want to stay away from WP 5.6 upgrade for a couple of weeks..here is one of the many oops'es it can cause.
wp-admin redirects to a random page that does not exist.
I am glad that I did not upgrade latest WP 5.6 yet
⭕ A simple uptime dashboard using UptimeRobot API https://upy.duo.ovh
⭕ Currently using VPS from BuyVM, GreenCloudVPS, Gullo's, Hetzner, HostHatch, InceptionHosting, LetBox, MaxKVM, MrVM, VirMach.
@LeonDynamic said: @vyas I’ve not seen that on any of my WP websites that have been upgraded to 5.6. Is it a plugin conflict?
Hey great point- and the hour ran out before I could update. Confirming it is not an issue caused by WP.
It is a Gridpane settings issue, related to WP 5.6 upgrade.
Let me explain..
In the Gridpane WP management menu, the security options allow you to disable xmlrpc, install.php, emojis, etc. using a toggle switch. If you disable upgrade.php, the error I experienced, occurs.
they have updated their KB about this issue: https://gridpane.com/kb/nginx-site-hardening-with-gp-cli/#upgrade
In case interested. the menu looks something like tthe below.
Added later:
Not WordPress specific, but generic update..
This was a good test to see if the fall back systems worked- they did not!
For an hour I had my site working in bits and pieces, and the staging site also had the same issue (identical settings as main site) .
So everything that could go wrong, DID go wrong. Things that were supposed to work, did not work
I am re visiting the fallback/backup approach, and all automatic updates are of course disabled.
Test all the used themes and plugins on a staging website before updating.
Fortunately (knock on wood), of the one's I've been choosing, never have I had a problem with an update - for over 5 years now.
But I hear lots of horror stories with every WP update.
Sure - it makes perfect sense to wait a bit, and definitely disable auto updates. But user feedback is often confusing and misleading - even if you check support forums for the plugins and themes you use, people who report problems don't provide feedback, and problems often come from some other plugin/theme, or sometimes (less often) hosting server setup (PHP version etc.). So I just rely on staging site testing before pushing it to the live version.
Had one "burn" so far - with Yoast plugin. It started making huuuge database size, but only for the live website, that has more visitors. Did it a lot slower on the staging site. Fortunately, I figured out disk space was diminishing, found the culprit, and replaced the plugin with The SEO Framework, before any websites went down (staging site had a lot more limited storage, so it reports in case something like that happens).
@bikegremlin said:
Had one "burn" so far - with Yoast plugin. It started making huuuge database size, but only for the live website, that has more visitors. Did it a lot slower on the staging site. Fortunately, I figured out disk space was diminishing, found the culprit, and replaced the plugin with The SEO Framework
Wasn’t that related to v14 release when it was originally released but fixed in v14.01?
@bikegremlin said:
Had one "burn" so far - with Yoast plugin. It started making huuuge database size, but only for the live website, that has more visitors. Did it a lot slower on the staging site. Fortunately, I figured out disk space was diminishing, found the culprit, and replaced the plugin with The SEO Framework
Wasn’t that related to v14 release when it was originally released but fixed in v14.01?
As far as Yoast is concerned - it all works wonderfully. Yes.
I had left a test site with their patches - and it kept making huge database.
Then removed Yoast completely from all the websites after a few months.
Tested on a site with GeneratePress, and very few other plugins (that all work fine and stably, with many installations), so I'd say it is as standard as it gets. If Yoast didn't work with that - then I suppose it's messed up.
But that's normal. What I didn't like was their attitude, literally along the lines: "it works for over 95% of people, so we don't care, it's good as far as we're concerned". I saved that link.
Different people have different experiences, and different opinions, but mine is that Yoast is not a good option.
Comments
Elementor, from what I could test, does not measurably affect the performance of pages where it is not used. So I suppose it can be used just for the landing page(s), without the need for a separate WP installation.
I used some hand-written pages in combination with WordPress - it works.
One can also use Publii, or similar tool to build a website, or only some pages.
You can also create a whole website - either "manually", or using some static-website creating tool.
All that can be set to work wonderfully. In terms of speed - I would say that even a well optimized WP site, with caching, CDN and the lot, can often be a bit slower, and put a bit more load on a server (per visitor) compared to a static website.
And there is no database to hack.
However, WP makes editing/updating, and adding new content, a lot simpler. Faster. More convenient.
Also, if you choose your plugins wisely, you can get a lot of help from those, sometimes even free of any charge. Help with SEO, or a booking application for your service - no problem!
You want to allow 2-way communication, without limiting yourself to an email. Website comments for example. WP does that - for free, out of the box. Implementing that on a static HTML website is not as simple, and usually costs some money (Disquss and the likes, correct me if I'm wrong).
For Brizy - haven't yet given it a try myself. It is highly recommended, and has a lifetime offer - so it's on my to-do list for a spin.
P.S. For a full disclaimer:
I wouldn't call myself a "WP expert". On a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is a top class expert, and 1 is a person who just managed to install WP, I'm somewhere around 3, maaaybe 3+ (based on my assessment).
I'm fine with HTML, basic CSS knowledge, and practically beginner level PHP knowledge (knowledge of some other programs, and all the basics - algorithms etc, does help, but I never really gave it some effort, just edited existing google'd code when I needed something done).
Still far from writing my own themes and plugins. Even far from a 1000 tested plugins, or 100 tested themes.
I primarily just learned what I needed to in order to keep my (cycling) website(s) going, being stable, secure, and loading fast.
Yes, did a few other websites on the way, still do (when the good experienced developers are too busy, and I feel bad about turning a project down, and it is something I think I can manage). But compared to the knowledge and experience of some really good developers I've met - it's far, far behind them. And they still need learning (stuff changes really quickly).
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Happy to help
Enjoy!
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
@vyas
Can you please suggest a wp premium theme for Travel agency? Mostly for air ticketing..
Thank you in advance.
✓✓Only shared hosting-both DA and cPanel Still in 2006
Anyone try quic.cloud CDN feature? How is the performance compared to Cloudflare?
Greetings! I can think of these two right away
https://demo.creativethemes.com/blocksy/travel/
https://generatepress.com/site-library/
https://themeisle.com/demo/?theme=Travel Blog
Indeed !
blog archives
I thought quic.cloud is paid service only. But yeah, I will try their Litespeed free quota on @MikePT shared hosting. Thank you @vyas
⭕ A simple uptime dashboard using UptimeRobot API https://upy.duo.ovh
⭕ Currently using VPS from BuyVM, GreenCloudVPS, Gullo's, Hetzner, HostHatch, InceptionHosting, LetBox, MaxKVM, MrVM, VirMach.
Any suggestions on best way to create a site/ page to sell domains - with probable Escrow integration? I am thinking WP may be quickest?
Sort of a feedback request. Here's a link of a "review/feedback" for my cycling website (link should start at 945 seconds - 15:45 minutes, and the part on my website lasts for about one minute):
The website in question:
https://bike.bikegremlin.com/
My questions:
1) Confirm (or not) that it's difficult to navigate and figure out where the contents are.
2) I know it looks old fashioned, but not sure how exactly to re-style it to remain easy to read, while looking "more modern". Not really sure if it should be made to look more modern.
3) Any other constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Looking for the ways to improve, so primarily seeking all the negative stuff - critical feedback.
I'm totally "blind" when it comes to design, colours etc. "Old school website, I would change design right away" is fine - but without a how, with an example - I'm pretty much stuck.
It's not 1st thing on my list, but I suppose it should be considered - if it is valid.
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Hi bikegremlin!
1) your website is clear( could be improved yes like everything)
2) well i would give you a draft today (16:00 aprox) done on a paper or photoshop (if i have more time) what could be done and simplified. I guess your home page could be "more organized" in sections. You are using the menu for that but may be should be easier to do it with some simple sections etc ( it is my personal opinion it is subjective and i am not s pro). Well after doing you could try plan A vs B and see the interactions here or asking some friends or whatsever
3) Design is subjective it is like everythig imagine if we all like the same cars the same colors and the same designs. Same houses etc.
Pd. I have not got the same impression like that person. Using just the menu is enough to see what it is about in 5 seconds
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
It's no rush at all.
Like I said - I wouldn't trust my opinion on whether it looks good. Same goes for most of my friends. We're all "technical", but not very visual. Or just plain idiots.
But I'd be happy to try your suggested layout, and ask for comparison/opinions on that.
I suppose top menu is a good idea. But what you said about the front page sections/layout, does sound a bit like what Nemanja complained about. All that's left is to figure out how exactly to format it.
Is the black background OK (I find it easier on the eyes, especially at night, when not the whole screen is shining white)?
Colour choice of blue and white (again, for me black text on a white background works best if I wish to read a lot - and the website is about long, detailed explanations)?
Are the fonts used easy to read? Too small? Too large?
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Hi ! Well no problem i have free time between 14:00-17:00 so no problem at all. Just some lunch and after that some time to do it on photoshop. A basic draft.just to give you an alternative or something to work with it.
I have not seen the black background. It is white background with black letters for me. Do you have a night mode i do not see it where is it? Yes i prefer the black font on white background works pretty well.
Fonts are OK for me. May be you should organize it better. Just give me some time and i would explain you my vision with the draft. ( i have 2 more patients in 7 minutes so sorry i do not have time right now)
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
I meant the area around the page content. It's all put on a "black canvas" so to speak.
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
I'm no designer, but I believe the reason why it doesn't look modern is because you have a modular design with small blocks/rectangles here and there where you split up different things like the menus and content. Nowadays, it's common to have just a big chunk of empty space or having some image fit in with the design. I personally think there's no problem with this kind of site layout but the black background is kinda ugly imo
Thanks. What's your take on light-gray. Like this:
https://test1.bikegremlin.com/
I personally like the black a lot more, but I wouldn't take my opinion seriously when it comes to visual design.
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Go with whatever you like since it's your own website after all. I don't think there is a simple fix to make your website 'modern-looking', but if the design is really bugging you, I would try to update the homepage a bit. Instead of having a chunk of text explaining your site and having the default menus on the right, make your own custom homepage.
Hi @bikegremlin ! Here you have my draft . It is just an example . I have selected a gradient between 3 colors and used it in ¨the draft page¨. The idea is pretty simple the home page usually it is really simple and has many sections. Do not put too many sections it is better to create just 3-6 buttons on it and after clicking you could have more configuration pages. To explain it with an example the website is a city. So the name and what appears should be connected : bikes .
After that we have many homes ( sections ) And after clicking the homes ( sections) You can find the room that you are looking for. For a home page i am using something similar to the design with some photos etc and some sections. I avoid to put the text on the main home page it is better to publish it like mission or whatsever and make it main if you wish like in the example .
Colors are random , gradients works pretty well . After using 1 gradient you can select 3-4 colors and use it in the website. WHich colors it is up to you . It is better to use the color scheme in the menu as well. and publish the colors with the menu items . I have not done it but i guess it could be done. Another thing , is to use different menus per page . A simplified menu for the home page etc. And after selecting the mechanic section the menu would be different than the review section etc
pd. I know that the menu does not fit in the color scheme but it is one of my staging website so sorry about that.
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
nicely done @Chievo
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When will this crazy dentist stop surprising me
Way to go @Chievo !
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
Thanks vyas it is just a draft to work bikegremlin . If i have had more time i could made it more ¨bike style¨but for a draft it is OK just for the general idea.
Thanks @Ympker ! Well it is photoshop another way is to create it on the website. Visual composer is good for that . Could be done something similar .
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
And we all know dentistry is just a front for the potassium smuggling operation, using pidgeons...
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Dentistry is my love . smuggling teeth and checking new materials + buying books in japanese and trying to translate it to spanish/english. This is what hurts my pocket. Some rakia bikegremlin? Smuggling operations of japanese materials using german austrian providers
Shhhhhh it is a secret
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
Rakija always!
It felt really bad last time I got sober.
P.S. Thank you very much for the design/layout. It is some food for thought.
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Captain Core WordPress Mangement
CaptainCore is an open source toolkit for managing WordPress sites via SSH & WP-CLI.
captaincore.io
Interesting concept
https://github.com/CaptainCore/captaincore-cli
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Hello, any suggestions for a free theme or plugin to sell domains? Thanks!
I may be naive, but..
I never understood the lure of Free when trying to sell something and making money. Therefore sorry, no idea.
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There is typically something free available. I am not against paying for something genuinely good piece of code.
Should have mentioned either free or paid... if it can connect with escrow that will be awesome!
Thanks.
**Welcome to Elementor Cloud **
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Wordpress 5.6 and secur implications
Rather self serving blog post by Wordfence but otherwise a good read.
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2020/12/wordpress-5-6-introduces-a-new-risk-to-your-site-what-to-do
blog archives
Off topic, but been trying out Grav for a few weeks now.
This ain't for WordPress users. Stay away. It is okay but 99.666% not for Wordpress users who look for ease of use.
♻ Amitz day is October 21.
♻ Join Nigh sect by adopting my avatar. Let us spread the joys of the end.
So, I tried Elementor as I want to use WP for a couple of sites to save time. Installed the Hello theme checked performance, seemed ok.
Then made a header, footer, homepage and the like.
Is that normal? No idea with these for all my years in hosting Wordpress has never really been something I have paid attention to.
I mean even on accessing the site there is a very clear and annoying delay before the page shows up, talking 2 seconds and I hate that. If it's normal for Elementor to create that hit is there anything I can do to improve page load?
@localhost have a look at htmlpie.com, cheap compared with reinventing the wheel.
I am not using it atm; all of my domains resolve to a contact page and I am using another marketplace script to list all of my domains.
Thank you for sharing.
Your current setup seems interesting.. can you share a little more details of your setup to list domains and park them to a contact page?
Thanks!
i got the divi theme, any resources guys, secret sauces?, care to share?
Divi markerplace has quite a lot stuff. Divi Life, Divi Cake, Divi World are some other names.
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
@Ympker thanks,
any good way to add rss feeds to pages. divi doesnt have a rss aggregator
Yes a link to LEB, but...
Rather well written article on High Availability Wordpress Website. I am looking forward to Part II.
https://lowendbox.com/blog/how-to-setup-a-highly-available-wordpress-site-from-scratch-part-1/
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Have a look at https://codecanyon.net/item/wordpress-automatic-plugin/1904470
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
In my opinion the next part could be solved with rsync/rclone, a little custom script and cloudflare api (if it use cloudflare dns)
⭕ A simple uptime dashboard using UptimeRobot API https://upy.duo.ovh
⭕ Currently using VPS from BuyVM, GreenCloudVPS, Gullo's, Hetzner, HostHatch, InceptionHosting, LetBox, MaxKVM, MrVM, VirMach.
decided to isolate all of the shyt traffic and issues that comes with 1000 domain names which all now resolve to a dedicated VPS and one php script. the lander page is basically a contact form which auto detects the domain name and generated a for sale page and contact form. battling spam form submissions, considering adding cleantalk to the page.
for my main marketing site I am using dndork.com which is now defunct and will probably upgrade to dnhat.com at some point in the future.
Thanks for sharing.
It may be a stretch here..... can you share or provide some info on how the php script works ? I do have an idle vps that could be used for similar setup.
Downside of Expensive WordPress Hosting: Affiliate Swarm
A few months ago, I began experimenting with setting up Webinoly on a US $ 7 a year OVZ by VPSDime. It was a simple setup that concentrated on optimization for speed. I used Shortpixel for compressing the images and Gumlet for delivering images. Scripts were optimized using the auto optimizer plugin.
The results for mobile on google page speed insights and GTMetrix were impressive, in the 80s and 95 plus for GTMetrix.
These speeds for a non-optimized site are closer to what one might expect with manged hosting that costs over US $ 30-35 a month.
Not to take such criticism lightly, I published benchmark results for the VPS, optimiation data for images, and also statistics from the CDN (Gumlet). Even challenged the members of that group to replicate my setup, and offered a US $ 100 'bounty' for anyone who could come up with a speedier setup in one hour's time. No one came forward.
Pricing Games People Play
That group I referred to above is stocked with employees and affiliates for hosting companies like Siteground, Closte, Flywheel and others. Naturally there was a bias towards protectign their interests when my work was criticised. While I am no longer active in this group, one trend has continued
If you ask a question like,
"I am setting up a new blog and I expect around 3,000 visitors a month. Which hosting should I use?"
You will be bombarded with a barrage of options ranging from $ 40 a month Siteground plan to $ 30 month Vultr High Frequency server with Cloudways. It is funny and sad at the same time.
Note: I will be publishing a few posts that may seem random, but are a part of a post I am writing for Frugal WordPress Hosting. Above is the first of them.
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@vyas Thanks. Well there are some people who think that if you spend 50 euros per month the server and speeds are better . there is another group affiliates and so on which are making money from the hosts. In both cases if you tell something that hurts them some way you would be rejected from the group so it is useless unfortunately. Here we have lot of great hostings at just smaller price but you know they are working better than the 50euros but the affiliates comission is lower so they are not " popular" in wordpress hosting or facebook groups.
I believe in good luck. Harder that I work ,luckier i get.
You might want to stay away from WP 5.6 upgrade for a couple of weeks..here is one of the many oops'es it can cause.
wp-admin redirects to a random page that does not exist.
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I am glad that I did not upgrade latest WP 5.6 yet
⭕ A simple uptime dashboard using UptimeRobot API https://upy.duo.ovh
⭕ Currently using VPS from BuyVM, GreenCloudVPS, Gullo's, Hetzner, HostHatch, InceptionHosting, LetBox, MaxKVM, MrVM, VirMach.
@vyas I’ve not seen that on any of my WP websites that have been upgraded to 5.6. Is it a plugin conflict?
Hey great point- and the hour ran out before I could update. Confirming it is not an issue caused by WP.
It is a Gridpane settings issue, related to WP 5.6 upgrade.
Let me explain..
In the Gridpane WP management menu, the security options allow you to disable xmlrpc, install.php, emojis, etc. using a toggle switch. If you disable upgrade.php, the error I experienced, occurs.
they have updated their KB about this issue: https://gridpane.com/kb/nginx-site-hardening-with-gp-cli/#upgrade
In case interested. the menu looks something like tthe below.
https://img.gaatha.co/H2nWTd
https://img.gaatha.co/j30H7l
Added later:
Not WordPress specific, but generic update..
This was a good test to see if the fall back systems worked- they did not!
For an hour I had my site working in bits and pieces, and the staging site also had the same issue (identical settings as main site) .
So everything that could go wrong, DID go wrong. Things that were supposed to work, did not work
I am re visiting the fallback/backup approach, and all automatic updates are of course disabled.
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Also heard quite some things about 5.6 so waiting a bit
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
Test all the used themes and plugins on a staging website before updating.
Fortunately (knock on wood), of the one's I've been choosing, never have I had a problem with an update - for over 5 years now.
But I hear lots of horror stories with every WP update.
Sure - it makes perfect sense to wait a bit, and definitely disable auto updates. But user feedback is often confusing and misleading - even if you check support forums for the plugins and themes you use, people who report problems don't provide feedback, and problems often come from some other plugin/theme, or sometimes (less often) hosting server setup (PHP version etc.). So I just rely on staging site testing before pushing it to the live version.
Had one "burn" so far - with Yoast plugin. It started making huuuge database size, but only for the live website, that has more visitors. Did it a lot slower on the staging site. Fortunately, I figured out disk space was diminishing, found the culprit, and replaced the plugin with The SEO Framework, before any websites went down (staging site had a lot more limited storage, so it reports in case something like that happens).
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Wasn’t that related to v14 release when it was originally released but fixed in v14.01?
As far as Yoast is concerned - it all works wonderfully. Yes.
I had left a test site with their patches - and it kept making huge database.
Then removed Yoast completely from all the websites after a few months.
Tested on a site with GeneratePress, and very few other plugins (that all work fine and stably, with many installations), so I'd say it is as standard as it gets. If Yoast didn't work with that - then I suppose it's messed up.
But that's normal. What I didn't like was their attitude, literally along the lines: "it works for over 95% of people, so we don't care, it's good as far as we're concerned". I saved that link.
Different people have different experiences, and different opinions, but mine is that Yoast is not a good option.
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources