I have just updated this site using WordPress.
I have been using a html editor to maintain my sites for a long time. I got so fed up with the windows updates on my old Lenovo running windows 7, that I switched off updates. I also uninstalled my virus protection, and found the computer far faster. I operated with no updates, no virus protection, and no problems for around five years. Every so often I’d run Microsoft safety scanner but there were never any issues.Then I went and bought a Macbook.
There is no decent html for a Macbook. Nothing comes anywhere close to Microsoft Expression Web 4 (MEW4 or EW4). But WordPress sites can be created on any platform with a web browser.
I really feel forced into using WordPress, especially since moving from a Windows PC to a MacBook. On windows I made HTML sites using Microsoft Expression web 4 (MEW4). There is no decent html editor for a MacBook.
So I began up the WordPress learning curve again, with the idea of making a robust site to which I can easily add content.
Some folk say you can have a WordPress website up in a few minutes. And it’s true if:-
- You have a fair bit of experience with WordPress
- You pick a template site, and simply change the name.
But that is not me. My HTML site is really a series of articles, very similar to a blog. So a blog type of WordPress site was the obvious requirement. After a lot of experimentation I settled on GeneratePress for the theme. I read it was very fast and it seems to have a lot of support. I currently use the free version.
Performance seems OK according to Pingdom.
I have added W3 Total Cache which removed the warning to add expire headings (whatever that means) but made no difference to the load times.
I have also added WP Hide Show Featured Image. It is handy to show a featured image in the blog, but why on earth would I want it right at the top of the post, especially since it will almost certainly be in the post lower down. I think this may be controllable in the paid version of Generate Press, but I just have the free one.
I have also had to add some code snippets and extra CSS to get it the way I want.
TinyMCE Advanced editor quirks
I prefer the classic editor to the block editors, especially for a blog, but it has some irritating habits.
- It is a WYSBAPRTWYG editor. What You See Bares A Passing Resemblance To What You Get. It does not pick up the fonts or colours or formatting set up in the theme.
- <br clear=”all” /> Is a html code which I used frequently in my html site, usually after a left or right aligned image. On WordPress sometimes it worked, but often after using Text view to type it in, TinyMCE would replace it with <p> </p> as soon as I reverted to Visual view.
Often, but not always! I finally sussed that the break had to be inside a paragraph to work. As I copied and pasted my old posts into this site it meant constant editing to sort this out. But TinyMCE will remove it given a chance. - I had a link going to http://tintaxi.com. I changed it to https://tintaxi.com. TinyMCE kept changing it back again!! I changed the link to https://rubbish, then back to https://tintaxi.com and it worked. TinyMCE would not let me change http to https in one operation.
- If I was not fairly au fait with html I would really struggle with the editor. I have to keep switching from visual to text mode to fix errors that the editor has made. It is not made easier by the horrendous formatting of the html code by TinyMCE
All in all I am now fairly happy with the wordpress site. It is much easier to read the text on a phone. I am still on the very steep learning curve, but I think this is as far as I want to go up it.
I do miss Microsoft Expression Web and simple old HTML.