Discussion
Crowdsource recommendations please!
I had a lovely science education website hosted on Squarespace, which was very nice to work with, especially as someone who doesn't know a lot about how websites work.
But I'd really like to have this website hosted instead on a server located in Canada, preferably with some nice building interface (wordpress?) and preferably not $$$
(And I am so bad at web stuff that I am probably using the wrong language here... apologies)
Stay away from wordpress.
Yeah it's probably Wordpress. Plugins like Elementor are popular for "Lego box" content building.
For peace of mind, try to find a reasonably priced provider who will install it for you and keep it updated, and backed up.
Ghost is a more streamlined option with less flexibility and fewer plugins. I find it way simpler to use than Wordpress. It also has newsletter subscription stuff out of the box.
Less common to find "turnkey" hosting for it but it's out there.
@sundogplanets
I moved my website to Hostinger this year. The pricing is great and it has surprisingly good performance.
https://www.hostinger.com/pricing
"Get 48 months for US $119.52"
@sundogplanets I have to warn you that most of these suggestions are horrible and many require a lot of technical web/server knowledge to debug or troubleshoot. My first question would be why are you unhappy with Squarespace (or similar services)
@sundogplanets
I use Hostupon with servers In Toronto https://hostupon.ca/canadian-hosting.php
I have some older sites still running WordPress but also use a static site generator for my current personal website, all on the same account.
@sundogplanets There are a lot of canadian hosted wordpress - I use https://www.fullhost.com/ but there are also others. There are also a lot of community hosting based in the various cities - I know the Vancouver area better but you will also find a concentration of hosting companies in Calgary, and Toronto. I can list out some examples if needed
@sundogplanets ah yeah this is a tough one since squarespace is very very easy and has a good site builder...I think probably your best bet would be a Managed Wordpress Host based in canada, but I don't have any good recs handy. boosting in the hopes that someone has a good rec, and also adding some hashtags!
@sundogplanets While your description of what you need isn’t terribly detailed, it does sound like a managed Wordpress somewhere might be a good fit?
It’s a service that lots of hosters offer, for maybe a fiver per month.
@sundogplanets there are a number of static site generators (basic web pages) that are FOSS. not the polished graphical interface you get with paid site generators, but workable enough to get you started. A hosted wordpress might be the best middle-ground.
Install bonfire.cafe
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@sundogplanets HostPapa is an excellent web host in Canada and they have all the bells, whistles and great customer service and take a look. HostPapa