DevLog 20250508 Word Press for Methodox Blog

Our first (and current) official website for Methodox (here) was written by my friend Kong, who’s a true master and writes JavaScript like magic. However, that site depends on npm, and building it into a static website is a bit cumbersome, requiring a custom workflow setup. It’s hosted on GitHub Pages, so accessibility is good. Updating was also not very convenient since we didn't connect to a database then and adding/editing things requires modifying JavaScript source. I attempted to migrate the entire website to a custom build pipeline, utilizing a CDN for the majority of the assets and to support a custom Chinese version, but I couldn’t find much time to work on that. Originally, I was also planning to have Ifisys work on our official website; however, after the disasters with Fantasy World Painter and Arcadia and one unfinished website design project, it seems I still need to take matters into my own hands. WordPress.com was my first choice, and its interface looks very clean (https://blog.methodox.io/), but its payment system has an issue accepting Canadian GST numbers. I also realized that Hostinger offers very cheap prices for the first year, but the charges become unreasonable in subsequent years. Interestingly, neither DigitalOcean’s WordPress image nor the WordPress-with-WooCommerce image worked—the connection was extremely slow when connecting to the droplet, regardless of the VPS spec. Eventually, I went with WordPress on a cheap managed plan.

May 8, 2025 - 20:36

DevLog 20250508 Word Press for Methodox Blog

Our first (and current) official website for Methodox (here) was written by my friend Kong, who’s a true master and writes JavaScript like magic. However, that site depends on npm, and building it into a static website is a bit cumbersome, requiring a custom workflow setup. It’s hosted on GitHub Pages, so accessibility is good. Updating was also not very convenient since we didn't connect to a database then and adding/editing things requires modifying JavaScript source.

I attempted to migrate the entire website to a custom build pipeline, utilizing a CDN for the majority of the assets and to support a custom Chinese version, but I couldn’t find much time to work on that. Originally, I was also planning to have Ifisys work on our official website; however, after the disasters with Fantasy World Painter and Arcadia and one unfinished website design project, it seems I still need to take matters into my own hands.

WordPress.com was my first choice, and its interface looks very clean (https://blog.methodox.io/), but its payment system has an issue accepting Canadian GST numbers. I also realized that Hostinger offers very cheap prices for the first year, but the charges become unreasonable in subsequent years. Interestingly, neither DigitalOcean’s WordPress image nor the WordPress-with-WooCommerce image worked—the connection was extremely slow when connecting to the droplet, regardless of the VPS spec.

Eventually, I went with WordPress on a cheap managed plan.