Tags: website

Abandoning webhost

If you’re seeing this post, it means that DNS nameserver changes have propagated and you’re looking at my site on a new webhost.

It was about time. I liked my old hosting provider but last year they decided to switch convert their plans from a US pricing to Australian pricing, using a really unreasonable conversion rate. They claimed the conversion rate was based on the rate at the time the decision was made to convert the pricings but this meant that my hosting costs were to go up by approximately SGD5 a month, which makes 60 bucks extra a year. Additionally, their services were getting uncompetitive in comparison to similar plans in reputable hosting companies that were a lot cheaper. My biggest problem with switching though was that many lower priced plans in US companies offer only MySQL4 and PHP4, while I’ve been on MySQL5 and PHP5 for a while. Also, I badly needed SSH access, which not all budget hosting companies provide. In addition, I wanted to be hosted on a reliable company with relatively good support.

After hunting around for a bit I finally decided on Hostgator. For about 8-9 bucks cheaper a month I get similar scripting functionality and much much more space. Although I don’t think I will ever use more than 5-10% of the space allocated to me the cost savings are great. Additionally, I managed to get a coupon code which after deductions meant that I had to pay only USD0.01 for the first month: no harm to try out to see how the service is like and if I liked it I only needed to modify the DNS nameservers to point to the location. I’m still testing this host for the current month and will definitely stay on if the current quality of service is maintained for the next couple of weeks.

Subjects: Technology 技術

Tags: website

Freelance webdesign anyone?

Thinking of doing some freelance web design for extra cash. Not that I really need the money but it would be nice ^__^. Dear reader, what do you think about my proposition? First I will need to come up with a basic business plan… For starters, do you think 500 SGD is reasonable for a simple website?

The pricing of template-based design for CMS’s on the other hand would really depend on the complexity of the CMS though. I’m pretty comfortable with setting up and designing templates for Movable Type (easy), Drupal (challenging to design for but design is cleanly separated from code). Wordpress would probably be easy (I’ve designed using it before, just …out-of-touch). I heard Joomla is getting popular now, that I will have to experiment…

I pride myself particularly in writing xhtml and css compliant code. I’m particular about making websites work properly across browsers as I personally hate the experience of having to switch browsers in order to view a page correctly. I think I have good colour sense… My main weakness is probably the inability to draw. This has been solved with the advent of digital design tools! (For example, the tree at the bottom right of this page was originally a photo but it looks like a drawing doesn’t it?)

FYI, I worked on a mini freelance project slightly over 2 years ago: Showbiz Productions. The website’s been changed a bit by the owners since I left it (note: the white text on the banner logo). Of course, my web design skills have evolved a bit since. :)

Subjects: Websites ウェブサイト, Work 仕事

Mood: Declarations

Tags: website

Notes About this Website (このウェブサイトについて)

  • There is no observable purpose to this website other than it being a tool to achieve some form of personal gratification.
  • It is written primarily towards an English audience that consists of mostly me, but in the forseeable future will contain more and more 日本語 as my command of the language (hopefully) improves (頑張れ!自分).
  • It is an obviously heavily (visually-)customised Drupal website.
  • I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time figuring how to use Drupal (to the point where I don’t want to know how much time I’ve spent) but I can say it has been well worth the trouble.
  • CSS stylesheets and customised drupal templates are 100% hand-coded.
  • If you would like to start a website using Drupal but need help, I could always do with the extra cash ^_^. Do drop a mail to webmaster.at.terrapolis.org (replace the .at.)

p.s. Just as my namesake did in a game 13 years ago (has it been that long??), this entry will continue to morph as the 気まぐれ (fickleminded) me changes her mind.

Tags: website

Move to Drupal: 80% complete!

An update! after, what, 8 months of procrastination? It’s been so long since I last posted a blog entry that I’ve nearly forgotten how to write. This site has finally been Drupalised — after playing 睨めっこ with my trusty (but bulky) DELL trinitron over the past week, after work and over the weekend. The catalyst for this decision was the wonderful relevation that Drupal 4.7 beta now supports unicode MySQL properly. This means that my Japanese and Chinese words no longer look rubbish in phpmyadmin. How nice is that? Over the next few weeks, you will see more embellishments to this web space, and more importantly, updates (I hope!) to this blog. I can’t wait for Drupal 4.7 to be final which would mean more cool modules. I’m such a sucker for the taxonomies in Drupal. I’ve always been obsessed about cataloging things — as seen from my old Mythology webbie and my Led Zep bootleg collection — which makes Drupal my blogger’s ambrosia. :-P

Subjects: Websites ウェブサイト

Mood: Declarations

Tags: database, Drupal, MySQL, unicode, website

Unicode Nightmare

Migrating from MySQL4.0 to 4.1 is a complete nightmare for one whose webserver is remotely located and whose account is equipped with insufficient administrative rights. I’ve learnt quite a lot in the past two days, but suffered a great deal of grief throughout the journey.

Was it all worth it?”, is something that I’ve been asking myself the day I began web designing…

疲れ切った私…

Subjects: Technology 技術, Websites ウェブサイト

Mood: Raves and Rants

Tags: database, MySQL, website