Why I Moved Away From WordPress.com

Hello everybody! ? Fairly a couple of of you bought redirected to this web site from my previous Python Ideas weblog. The previous weblog was based mostly on WordPress and I lately moved all the pieces to Hugo. I’m nonetheless within the strategy of figuring sure issues out however to this point the transition has been pretty easy. I alluded to this put up some time in the past and instructed you all that I’ll write down my reasoning for why I moved away from WordPress.com. The wait is lastly over ?Let’s get on with the explanations then. ​

CSS and HTML customizations

WordPress.com lets you customise sure facets of your web site however as quickly as you need to add extra CSS you might be instructed to purchase the Premium Plan. I wasn’t keen to do this simply because I didn’t see quite a lot of advantage of paying a lot only for CSS customizations. This precipitated me some points with how the code was rendered on the web site. For instance on the unique WordPress.com web site I couldn’t scale back the font-size of code and neither might I take advantage of syntax highlighting. I did have the choice to embed GitHub gists however they had been additionally terribly rendered.

Over time I made my peace with the truth that the code on my web site wasn’t going to be superbly rendered. However recently, I began to really feel responsible. I assumed to myself that if I don’t like studying code listings which have an enormous font and aren’t syntax highlighted then how can I anticipate different folks to do it? The one solution to do away with that guilt was to both pay for WordPress premium or host the web site someplace else . I ended up choosing the second possibility and determined to ditch WordPress utterly.

The code listings on this new weblog look cleaner and extra readable.

Having direct entry to HTML and CSS enabled me to implement the darkish mode on the web site as effectively. Now at any time when a customer activates the darkish mode (by clicking on the moon within the sidebar), the colour of the entire web page, in addition to the code listings, modifications.

One other profit was that as a substitute of utilizing privateness invasive share buttons utilizing JavaScript, I can now add customized share buttons for social platforms. This makes positive that I don’t assist Fb and co. observe you greater than they already do. You don’t have to surrender privateness simply since you occur to go to my web site. It’s tremendous simple to make privateness acutely aware share buttons. Due to this resolution I received’t understand how many individuals share my articles on Fb however I’m comfortable with that.

In case you are all for how I applied these you’ll be able to both try the supply or you’ll be able to learn this actually informative article by the parents over at Easy Analytics. The article incorporates quite a lot of different actually helpful sensible privateness suggestions as effectively.

Efficiency as measured by Lighthouse

Over at wordpress.com, I had little or no management over the efficiency of my web site. The inside nerd in me wasn’t pleased with that. Simply take a look at these Lighthouse scores for the Desktop model of the WordPress weblog (cell model outcomes weren’t lots totally different both).

I couldn’t go and hack the theme my WordPress.com weblog was utilizing. Even with the fundamental premium package deal of WordPress.com, there are quite a lot of restrictions concerning what one can and can’t do. By shifting away from WordPress.com and changing the weblog right into a extra clutter-free theme I used to be capable of churn the next scores. It’s not good however it’s a lot higher than what I had with WordPress.

WordAds vs customized adverts

WordPress lets you use WordAds to earn cash from Advertisements. It was fairly good to have a side-income however there have been quite a lot of main points with it. In the event you open up the developer instruments and monitor the background requests which WordAds make you’ll be scared. I do know I used to be. The picture under exhibits only a small chunk of those requests.

I used to be extra anxious in regards to the privateness implications than the efficiency implications of this. I’m keen to belief Automattic however not the opposite advert corporations they companion with. I’m not towards adverts as a result of they assist folks like myself to publish free content material however I’m towards monitoring customers this deeply.

There must be a center floor and I believe Carbon Advertisements and Code Fund present that. I used to be routinely reached out by somebody from Purchase Promote Advertisements staff (mother or father firm of Carbon Advertisements) to persuade me to make use of their advert service on Python Ideas. I couldn’t do this on WordPress.com as a result of I used to be locked into utilizing WordAds. Effectively, not anymore!

The subsequent step for me is to achieve out to the Carbon Advertisements and Code Fund of us and get their “moral” adverts working on my web site.

Google Analytics vs Customized Analytics

With the fundamental model of WordPress, I used to be locked into utilizing the default analytics offered by WordPress. These had been greater than sufficient for my wants however they had been blocked by my primarily tech-literate viewers. I don’t blame them. I additionally block trackers utilizing UBlock Origin. Similar to moral adverts, I’m not towards monitoring both however solely so long as it’s executed in an moral and privacy-preserving manner.

With no solution to arrange customized analytics on WordPress.com, I had to determine one other manner and the one plan of action I might consider was to maneuver away. I settled on establishing a customized Shynet occasion. It permits me to ethically observe essential analytics. And since the analytics endpoint is hosted at my area and never on the area of any well-known analytics firm, the advert blockers don’t block it. I’ve set this up for the Intermediate Python web site as effectively and the distinction is stark. At one level Google Analytics reported 18 energetic customers whereas Shynet reported 40+ energetic customers. Hopefully, after every week of Shynet testing, I’ll disable Google Analytics on my web sites.

And it solely helps that Shynet has a stunning UI and I can see the essential stats from all of my web sites in a single dashboard.

Transferring away from Python

This one has little to do with why I moved away from WordPress however has lots to do with why I redirected my pythontips.com area to yasoob.me. The reality is that I might have probably let the area keep the identical: pythontips.com. I might have proceed running a blog at that area however I haven’t been working with Python extensively over the past couple of months. Because of this I wasn’t all the time notably excited to write down Python focused content material and if the content material wasn’t focused in direction of Python then I didn’t need to publish it on Python suggestions. It’s not like I wasn’t engaged on new and thrilling stuff, its simply that the majority of that stuff wasn’t in Python.

I didn’t write any new Python put up on previous weblog since September 18, 2019 and that made me really feel responsible. Each single night time earlier than going to mattress I used to consider hundreds of people that had subscribed to my weblog and had been ready for brand new content material. I felt as if I used to be letting all of my readers down despite the fact that I hadn’t made them any commitments. Consolidating all of my content material at my private web site meant that I might proceed pushing out new content material with out specializing in pure Python.

Permitting readers to repair my embarassing errors

Everybody who writes technical (or nearly any form of) content material is aware of that even a slight oversight will inadvertently introduce errors within the code. It has occurred to me prior to now and there are two choices in that scenario.

1. Look forward to a reader to touch upon the put up and level out the error and repair it myself
2. Empower the readers to edit the content material itself

At WordPress.com I might solely go for possibility 1 and edit the article myself. I wished change that and let folks make modifications to the article and repair errors and even add extra particulars if required. Internet hosting the articles on GitHub and regenerating the web site on each push and merge implies that I can do that now. Each single put up on this weblog has a “supply” button proper subsequent to the title which takes you to it’s GitHub web page.

What I miss from WordPress.com

I dearly miss the auto publicizing function of WordPress. I didn’t should pay WordPress.com to arrange direct e-mail subscriptions for brand new posts for readers. Now with a static weblog, I don’t have that publicize function anymore. Nonetheless, there are alternatives on the market. I can use Mailchimp and arrange RSS to e-mail however it’s tremendous costly. I’ve round 4000+ subscribers and Mailchimp needs me to pay $50 per thirty days. As soon as the subscriber rely crosses 5,000 I should pay $75 per thirty days. It’s an excessive amount of for internet hosting a interest weblog and I’m not keen to pay it. I suppose for now I’ll use of Tinyletter and ship emails manually at any time when there may be new content material.

I don’t suppose there may be the rest I notably miss. If I can consider one thing else I’ll replace this put up. I’m positive I might have mounted a few of these points through the use of self-hosted WordPress however I wished to strive the static weblog/web site route.

That’s all for right now folks. I’ll see you within the subsequent put up ❤️ ?