More kerfuffle, Part 3
As part of my hosting change, it was time to update my own website software.
PHP is how the server operates. I use a program, Textpattern, to build my website. This is now mature, being more than 20 years old, and relatively streamlined. It does everything I want, but it isn’t exactly drag-and-drop like many modern systems, like, say, Squarespace, which offers templates you then fiddle with.
The transition to the latest version of Textpattern, 4.9.1, went smoothly enough, with one hiccup: I missed updating a couple of files, and one website disappeared until I worked out what the problem was.
However, when I updated my oldest site, cycletrailsaustralia.com, two things broke. My images disappeared on the vast majority of the 950 page website.
Not good.
I was using a plug-in that was written in 2008. This is written in PHP, and some functions no longer work in the new version. It was a complicated situation.
Fortunately, the guy who wrote the plug-in is still around, and the Textpattern online forum is very responsive.
A bombproof alternative that didn’t rely on the plug-in was suggested after 24 hours of fiddling around with the parameters; it was back with full visibility.
Yay!
Another plug-in also failed, but I managed to circumvent that myself.
Cycletrails is now pretty much good to go for the foreseeable future, at least until the next obstacle arises.
I’m so lucky that the website program I chose 16 years ago, which was used in my business website back in 2006, was designed by Gary Venter, and Textpattern still has some dedicated volunteers who keep it all updated and ticking.