When I set out to create this new website in November 2021 I really didn’t think it would be this hard!
For those that don’t know, 99% of websites use either a Windows-based system or a Linux based system. I’m traditionally a Windows based developer but that side of the fence tends to be very expensive (and well paid frankly!) whereas the Linux side tends to be full of freebies. And so most shopping systems are based on the latter and there’s a lot more choice and I had a lot of recommendations to use the WooCommerce system which we have here, and I’m pretty talented as a coder, so I thought, “Heck! Why not? Lets do this!”.
Anyway, it’s been a nightmare of a journey so far. Whilst there is a huge amount of insanely cool features available for this system they’re also largely unstable, insecure and often ugly. And to fix those problems there is an attitude (bizarrely!) of throwing money at ‘pro’ plugins. Which, to me, completely defeats the object of it all, because if I wanted to pass on large costs to you all I would have just ponied up for an expensive Windows system with stability and security built-in from the first. So I have ended up disabling all those cool features I wanted until I can add them back in, one at a time, slowly and securely.
Currently I am beating my head on a wall regarding checkout. This and a few bits of styling are the last pieces of the puzzle I think. The default checkout system is hellish, has confusing buttons, requires you to input too much data, complains too much if you get anything out of place, and goes over about five screens! No one in their right mind would go through it all. And again, I refuse to pay top dollar just to be able to tidy it up a bit, so I need to rewrite it and make it right.
Honestly, I wish I’d never bothered right now. It doesn’t seem worth the effort. And I almost bailed last week and moved over to a Windows system, but I thought no! I have come this far and I am going to see it through. So here we are. Give me a bit longer and it’ll be worth it. I hope!