Our last two blog posts mentioned that we would be technical, for a while. For the past couple of years, we have been exploring New England’s influence on the country, especially the interior (Carving the land) after the Jefferson purchase. Prior to that, we touched upon the whole of the American experience as it has been lived for 400 years. But, the presentation has been principally via blogs, such as this one, and a periodic newsletter (Gardner’s Beacon) along with the publication by Gardner Research titled Gardner Annals. And, we have a couple of websites with which to present material. Along with that, there has been an effort to support the Great Migration Project at WikiTree and to foster the awareness of American History as it applies to today’s world.
Which brings us to today ‘s topic. We have looked at content and configuration a few times over the years as we have adapted our material. Until now, we have avoided several means in order to focus more on the content than how it might be presented. So, that allowed us to build some material with which to launch further activity. Think of it this way, we have this spectrum to span: 400, 300, 250, 200, and 100. Take that middle one. It is related to the upcoming 250th of the U.S. and its Declaration of Independence. In respect to that, the Daughter and the Sons (two groups) of the American Revolution (DAR and SAR, respectively) will be important.
As an aside, both DAR and SAR have a store for merchandise. The former might be ‘Live’ based (as in, MS’s net); the latter uses a storefront that is based upon WordPress. Interesting. In looking at ‘storefront’ for particulars, the approach is supported by storefront.net which has several customers of interest. One was USAToday. There are others, but let’s get back to WP.
This time around, the technical view will encompass the whole of the requirements where we are using the facilities of webhostinghub for hosting who is affiliated with inmotion hosting. Looking at WP sites, a few came up that we will look at further: The New Yorker on WP, see WordPress Website Showcase for other examples, and Bloomberg is a good example, too (which is a little much, actually, don’t like all of that distracting graphical display – looks to be covering up something, actually, to this old guy).
We tried several CMS options (see posts below). Of all of those, WordPress was used for a while for technical subjects where we hosted on the WP site (thomasgardnerofsalem.wordpress.com). Then, we moved it under our host. Later, we built a simple example, https://TGSoc.org with the intent to build further. All the while, we watched add-ons, plug-ins, frameworks, and such. One decision was putting in a link to PayPal which did show facilitation with ease. Roll your own? Does it have meaning, now?
Well, hidden costs and other issues still need some discussion. So, that will be on the table, too. We just finished some work with relation to supporting American History and have time. No set schedule yet, as I am trying to assess what has happened before leaping too far.
Lots of tales to tell. Some might not be. Well, only one. A small group (left undefined by choice) of older folks wanted a website. I didn’t know of this. But, heard that their solution cost them 12k (US bucks). Went to look. Well, not sure were that money went. Oh yes. Other examples. Older folks being pilfered since they used some web hosting that misused access to fund sources. Oblique language for now, as this is a topic that’s not technical, except for setting up the stage to meet requirements for safety, security, and such.
Flash. Say, Bloomberg’s thing. Yes, old guy. One old guy talking to another. The whole of the web is being colonized by stuff that is huge way beyond proportion to the amount, and probably value, of the information being conveyed. Lots to discuss.
But, later, as we’re now on a tech trek.