You have probably noticed, there’s a lot to this website and most of it is petty impressive. You think the parts you see, called the frontend, took quite a bit to do; you ought to see the side only the website administer gets to see, called the backend. The truth is, I didn’t do it all by myself. I had help from hundreds of people. Let me explain.
This website is built using WordPress (wordpress.org). This is the engine. It was originally designed to handle millions of newspaper and magazine articles and subscriptions. It was so popular, that at one time 70% of all websites worldwide used it. Twenty some years later, that number has dropped to around 50% because other software has been developed .
WordPress handles the how things operate part, most of the security and the Posts feature. It also keeps track of each subscriber, you. The other features have been provided by other organizations. Think of it like building a car. One company makes the light bulbs, another built the radio, another makes the tires, and so on. As the designer, I chose which features to use. These are called Plugins. They plug into the engine.
As I’m writing this, the website currently uses 60 different plugins, created by hundreds of people. As the features increase, that number will grow. Sometimes you want a feature that isn’t available. In that case, you will have to pay someone to make it for you or create it yourself. I’ve written 6 of the plugins used so far and ChatGPT has made one (Minesweeper). I wanted to see if it could do it.
So you see, I didn’t do it all. I had help and I appreciate that someone else took the time and effort. The best part, these other people constantly update their plugins, keeping what we do safe and adding more features.
I’m like the designer and the mechanic. I enjoy building and maintaining the website but have no desire to be the driver (Moderator). So if you’re interested in getting behind the wheel, please let me know.