Articles & Texticles

Articles & Texticles is powered by WordPress publishing software.

I like the way that WordPress  works and the direction that its open source developers are taking it.

From a webmaster’s point of view, WordPress is so much easier to administer when you compare it to the standard HTML based static website, especially when it comes to updating information and links.  There are many other benefits beside these two, obviously, such as thousands of themes (templates) and zillions of plugins that add an amazing variety of functions to the core product, but effortless updating and creating new pages is one of WordPress’s killer features.

I thought it would be good to run my other websites using this versatile platform, revive them from their torpid state, and lay the ground for some new publishing ventures.

The trouble is that WordPress runs on a  server database called MySQL, and the hosting package I’ve had with 1&1 hosting allowed me a generous  1 (yes: One) MySQL database in my Business hosting package. (You get 2 – count them! – MySQL databases nowadays, but I wasn’t allowed to upgrade to the new package without cancelling my contract and starting a new contract  from scratch.)

Even more galling was the discovery that the Business contract that 1&1 offers in the USA was not only cheaper but also offered FIFTY MySQL engines.  When I asked them to explain the disparity,  the salesperson I talked to explained that it was “the nature of the market”, and No, I couldn’t have a second database for free because they had burned the server and blacked out my sites for several hours.

So:  After 10 years, it’s time to move.  To move to a host that is available on the phone without queueing for ages.  A host that has a public user forum that shows the customers’ complaints and enquiries, warts and all, for everyone to see and doesn’t try to hide its shortcomings or failings.  A company that’s honest, in short.

Best of all, the contract has “unlimited” MySQL databases included.

Moving hosts can be fraught with problems, and halfway through the process last week, I had to put everything back in place very rapidly when I realised that one of my domain names was just about to be renewed, as it must be every two years.

The risk was that the domain name might be half way between companies and  be lost altogether if it were not registered with a hosting company at the moment of renewal.

Fortunately that moment of risk has just passed, and I can start the move all over again.

If you find this blog has temporarily vanished (you wouldn’t be reading this anyway!) fear not.  It will be back in a day or two when the domain name servers that keep the web from descending into unimaginable chaos have put the word out about Articles & Texticles’ new home.

I look forward to seeing you on the “other side”, and if you’re curious about the new hosting company’s name, you’ll have to email me in the “About” page.
I don’t want to trumpet their name just yet, not until they’ve proved themselves to be as reliable, supportive and honest as they purport to be.