May 2026 Update Thursday, May 7, 2026
Referring back to my earlier post in October 2025 Update, I have decided to go with (for now - I'll try it out) Simple Machines Forums. They have a Tiny Portal MOD that I have noticed is in my realm of abilities to afford.
The Tiny Portal MOD has an article section to it that I think might be more user-intuitive to use. It might look more like this: Tiny Portal MOD (documents) - Demo
My website was offline for a bit. You might have ...
You might have noticed my website here going down for a little over a month during April into May. Meanwhile, I was trying to decide what to do with my hosting plan. Did I want to keep it, and if so, how much did I want to spend on it?
About a week or so ago, I got an email from my host offering me 50% off of renewing my plan, so I decided at 50% (which is like hard to find a coupon code for) that I would renew for three years.
But when my payment went through, I was charged the normal, full rate at 30%. I brought the error up with my host, and they gave me a choice of a refund or an additional 13 months for that 50% off price. I took the additional 13 months, which minus one month for when my website was offline, comes to four years of hosting for that price.
Now that I have the hosting equation figured out for four years, the next step was to figure out my platform.
I prefer the way I can modify code, so I chose a code base for that. Simple Machine Forums, from what I can tell, is a stable platform. I use it for my kids' homeschooling records. I have been using it for over a year. I like it well enough. So, let's try that and see how it goes. :)
What's next?
I'll be installing the new interface as I have the time. I have to get used to how it works. I'll sift through my earlier articles and see which ones need updating and then put them into the new system.
Things should roll on normally from there. :)
For those of you who have already bookmarked this version of my work on nopCommerce, I'll keep this site up for a while so everyone can become adjusted. It will be just the "blog" link while the homepage reflects the Simple Machines Forums with the TinyPortal MOD in place. However, if there is a "blog" link that is identical to the "blog" link in nopCommerce (in the new software), then I'll have to figure out something else. ;)
The Tiny Portal MOD has an article section to it that I think might be more user-intuitive to use. It might look more like this: Tiny Portal MOD (documents) - Demo
My website was offline for a bit. You might have ...
You might have noticed my website here going down for a little over a month during April into May. Meanwhile, I was trying to decide what to do with my hosting plan. Did I want to keep it, and if so, how much did I want to spend on it?
About a week or so ago, I got an email from my host offering me 50% off of renewing my plan, so I decided at 50% (which is like hard to find a coupon code for) that I would renew for three years.
But when my payment went through, I was charged the normal, full rate at 30%. I brought the error up with my host, and they gave me a choice of a refund or an additional 13 months for that 50% off price. I took the additional 13 months, which minus one month for when my website was offline, comes to four years of hosting for that price.
Now that I have the hosting equation figured out for four years, the next step was to figure out my platform.
I prefer the way I can modify code, so I chose a code base for that. Simple Machine Forums, from what I can tell, is a stable platform. I use it for my kids' homeschooling records. I have been using it for over a year. I like it well enough. So, let's try that and see how it goes. :)
What's next?
I'll be installing the new interface as I have the time. I have to get used to how it works. I'll sift through my earlier articles and see which ones need updating and then put them into the new system.
Things should roll on normally from there. :)
For those of you who have already bookmarked this version of my work on nopCommerce, I'll keep this site up for a while so everyone can become adjusted. It will be just the "blog" link while the homepage reflects the Simple Machines Forums with the TinyPortal MOD in place. However, if there is a "blog" link that is identical to the "blog" link in nopCommerce (in the new software), then I'll have to figure out something else. ;)