WordPress Alternatives and Questions

[dev0x0]

So I've been sitting on my HelioHost account for a good amount of time, and I'm finally ready to sit down with it and utilize it.

 

I originally signed up for HelioHost to mess around with, because I was reminiscing about my high school days when I used to tinker with HTML, MySQL, and PHP. Good times! I've had the idea of starting my own blog to talk about a random assortment of topics (programming, Windows, Linux, etc.), but I've also came across the idea of selling services (within a web store of sorts), mostly just programming jobs from clients or my own software (if I write anything worth a buck). I've freelanced in the past with programming, but I'm hoping to branch out and brand myself in hopes to start my own business. What better way to "prove myself" than create a website!

 

Now I've done some research about all the popular blog software/CMS, through HelioNet topics and various Google searches, and I've come to the conclusion it's in my best interest to stay as far away from WordPress as possible. Though I think it would look decent on a resume, I believe that either programming my own CMS or using another CMS is the best choice. What CMS would anyone here suggest? I would like to customize almost every aspect of how my blog looks and behaves, I'm just wanting somewhere to start. If you'd rather I write my own CMS, or just use a free HTML template for a blog (as @wolstech stated in another topic named "Is it safe to install WordPress again?"), where would I begin with that? I can code somewhat in HTML... but I have a fear if I code purely from scratch, it'll look severely outdated. Also, how would I ensure that I don't apply any unnecessary load on the server?

 

My hobby in programming had started when I was 11 and I currently tinker around with software and game programming at 29, and I would love to get back into web development. It was a short lived interest that I now wish to get back into. I'm not holding my breath to become a super rich developer, or to kick off my own brand and "make it"... but I want to start somewhere. Programming, and computers/technology in general, is a passion of mine, that I really wish I could utilize in a day to day basis. Starting my own blog could very well do just that.

 

I have self-taught myself a multitude of programming languages: Visual Basic (6 and .NET), C#, HTML/HTML5, PHP, Linux Bash, Python, (some) C/C++, Javascript, etc. but I hold none of them with any professional (or academic) experience. Except maybe C# since I've used it when I freelanced, but could I even call that professional? I've had in mine to take on freeCodeCamp and start learning the current standards of web development, while uploading all code I write to GitHub. Merely for a portfolio of sorts that I could point potential employers to when I drop my application/resume in. I've heard this is one of the best things to do when wanting to go into a programming career. Would this be a step in the right direction? If not, what would you do instead/differently?

 

Sorry for the mini life story (or rant). I found this host through a search engine of free web hosting, and when I found out that the people who run this are a non-profit organization... I couldn't see any other reason to use others. The amount of features and support you get for free is just astounding. I wish and hope to see HelioHost stay around forever and I'll do my best to donate monthly even though I can't afford much.

 

Thank you for giving this wall of text a read!

 

EDIT:
Just realized I probably should've posted this in "Website Management and Coding"... sorry if this is in the wrong section.

Edited September 10, 2018 by dev0x0

[wolstech]

You definitely don't need to code from scratch. Grab a plain HTML template that you like the look of, and develop your code around it. That's how I built mine. I basically wrote a bunch of PHP that populated the content in various areas of the page using a database. The site itself is this (not really updated any longer, but left up because I use the domain for a ton of things): https://raxsoft.com/

 

Once I had that working, I developed a backend to modify that content without editing the DB directly. My code is aging at this point (2011...) but still works like the day it was written. For someone who doesn't edit their site often, it works just fine and has a near-zero hack risk due to being proprietary.

[dev0x0]

Honestly, your website isn't half bad, and I can't really see it as aging. Though the code might be, it still looks great after all these years! Thanks for sharing it, it really has given me inspiration! I'm currently going through the CSS part of freeCodeCamp, and... it's not as hard as I remembered! I think I'll do what you suggested and nab some free template and apply what I'm learning through editing the source code.

 

Though I have a question: when you say you developed a backend to modify your content, are you saying you wrote a web app (or desktop app) to communicate with your database to add news entries, software information and downloads, etc.? I'll have to do some more searching around into this, as it would make adding blog posts easier, and I won't have to sift through multiple pages updating everything (hence why I was looking into premade CMS software). Just thinking about it is really making me excited with the idea of writing my own blogging software or whatnot. Haha!

 

Again, thanks for your response and sharing your link.

[wolstech]

Exactly. There's a few admin pages for editing it. The actual content is just sitting in a mysql database, so anything that can edit the table can serve as an editor for it. If you prefer desktop programming, it's completely possible to code a desktop app to edit the site instead.

 

Here's a screenshot of the main page of the backend, it's just a regular page with a bunch of subpages for various things: https://imgur.com/a/4JlJ58c (the statistics options were never finished and don't work).

 

One of my big motivators at the time was WP's security and the fact that none of the common alternatives could do a "software download center" section easily (that's since changed and there's now plugins for software sites for most CMSes, though WP security obviously hasn't changed much at all   )

[dev0x0]

Wow, that's really awesome! The gears in my head are turning with ideas and such...

 

I'm not too sure if I could even get close to writing a web app to do such things (I remember having nightmares with PHP in the past), but I'll do my best if only for the experience. I just know I'm gonna be knee deep in how to code a login form, authenticate the username and password, etc. tutorials. I remember writing a login page back in the day for some small piece of software I was writing for fun, but I don't recall all that goes into it now... I hope I don't make a gaping hole in my security. Haha!

 

Thanks again!

Edited September 10, 2018 by dev0x0