Structure and Frame Work
I’ve got a sketch, someplace, with the various URLs I still maintain. Anymore this is super simple, my name Kramer Wetzel .com, the current shortened handle Kramer W. com, and the venerable horoscope destination, astrofish.net.
The last answer to the two questions, due to a cost increase, not like it’s a big deal, only a buck, but still, in principle? The cost increase at the end of the 30-year run? Let that one go.
That’s part of a five-year goal to sunset astrofish.net. For the foreseeable future, like the next year, at least? The horoscopes will be up and running. In uncertain times, a little heavenly guidance from whatever? Might help. Fishing, Shakespeare, and as little politics as possible, you know, times being what they are.
As I’ve grown so accustomed to writing, on a daily basis, even if it’s just a short note, but longer commentary is possible, I need a blog-style outlet. The horoscopes themselves will continue indefinitely, as long as I can make some sense of what is going on, but the notion of running them on the same site as the blog itself holds merit if I can differentiate between the two, and some days, I’m not sure that I can — I still love this Scorpio horoscope as a statement.
Looking to my own future, and looking back, I found that the single, most useful URL I could have would be my own name. After messing with it for a few years, I finally bounced back to a single structure, and currently, at the time of this posting, it’s all on a super-simple, lifetime hosting framework with nothing but a basic WordPress framework in place.
Structure and Frame Work
Working with a site that has only the bare minimum of a WordPress installation? Avoiding the computational overhead of multiple plug-ins, add-ons, and thematic elements?
I remember the good and the bad. The good is that this is super-simple from a builder’s point. Basic. Solid structure, and not much extra fluff, but I’m being rather spartan, as my other sites have spun way out of control with bells, whistles, doo-dads, and the omnipresent upgrades to make life easier, better. Whiter whites, and more vibrant colors, fresher breath, and 4 out of 5 doctors recommend.
The bad is the limited flexibility as I’ve been using an extensible framework “WordPress Theme” called Focus, built on the original Thesis Framework.
I got lazy? Spoiled? Technically, Focus is a Thesis “skin,” but what it offers for control, typography, design, layout, and integration? Worth every penny, and then some.
Bouncing back to an original WorkPress installation is challenging, but I’ve been shaped by more than decade within that Thesis Framework, and frankly, I like what it does and how it accomplishes the tasks.
A simple database drives the content. Whatever is on the screen as written word? That’s called up from a container that holds noting but the text itself — my precious words. The WordPress theme defines how that output is displayed.
Focus, built on the original Thesis Framework, adjusts that to a near-perfect picture, in my mind.
Structure and Frame Work
As noted, I was wrasslin’ with what to do.
Structure and Frame Work
Where I am stuck? Thorny horns of the dilemma? The basic WordPress install, no framework, no fancy templates, no add-ons that contribute to complexity, but render manipulations and customizations easier? As I’ve grown this material over the years, it spins in and out of control, and I aim to have a simple, easy-to-maintain, esthetically pleasing front-facing (thing). Website. Splash page. Digital home that requires, little work on my part. So far, WordPress has proven extensible, fungible, and lends itself to customization.
Perfect platform, in my mind.
I got spoiled with the Thesis/Focus frameworks, though, as that gave me more control, added speed, stripped away unnecessary crap, and streamlined the process, but that’s a yearly license.
To be sure, I’ll subscribe for now, but to put all this material in a single container, I really prefer the notion of the straightforward WordPress, stock, out-of-the-box, OEM installation.
Unless?
Maybe there’s a better way.
The original appeal for WordPress as the backend, the motor? The data, again my precious words, was totally portable, export and import into another container, easy as can be.
For now, and as I gradually shift materials around? I’m stuck with two, or three.
Part of this, though, is also a “lifetime” hosting question. There’s a plan in place to keep this available as need be, in perpetuity.
Don’t judge: I’m working on it.