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Recent Posts
- Could AI Make Humans Extinct Within the Next Decade?
- Is Weebly Getting Out of the Website-Builder Business?
- Are You “Leaking SEO” by Linking to Other Websites?
- Wix Harmony Is Now in Google Gemini. So Why Are Users Still Complaining?
- When AI Sounds Confident but Gets It Wrong: The Mount Shasta Rescue
- When AI Agents Start Working Together, Who Is Really in Control?
- WPForms and Rank Math: Did These WordPress Plugins Create a Backdoor With Admin Access?
- AI Can Text Your Friends for You. Wait, Who Am I Talking To?
- Bill Gates Is Betting on AI to Help Healthcare – While Warning About What AI Could Do to Jobs
- Wix Says AI Website Owners Should Care About Portability. There’s Just One Problem.
- WordPress 7.1 Broke WP Rocket: The Fatal Error and the Plugin Problem
- WordPress vs. UltimateWB for an Artist Website: Which Should You Choose?
- Thinking About Switching From WordPress? What Should You Consider Before You Move?
- The Airtable Acquisition Raises a Bigger Question: Do You Really Own the Software Your Business Runs On?
- How to Use Google Search Console’s New Generative AI Data to Improve Your SEO
- How to Update the Same Website Content on Multiple Pages at Once
- Discovered vs. Crawled Not Indexed in Google Search Console: What’s the Difference and How to Fix Each
- The Small Business Guide to Auditing Google Ads and Website Costs
Categories
Tag Archives: open-source
What is the Biggest Drawback of Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and WordPress?
We recently received an excellent question from a reader who is trying to cut through the marketing noise to choose the right website platform:
“Ask David!” question: "I am researching which website builder I should use and found UltimateWB. Can you tell me what you think is the biggest drawback of Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and WordPress?"
If you only read the homepages of the major website builders, everything looks flawless. They all promise fast, beautiful, and easy-to-build sites.
But as
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Posted in Ask David!, Compare Website Builders
Tagged absolute positioning, absolute positioning vs responsive design, bloat, css, fast website, high maintenance, html, learning curve, open-source, php, plugin, redesign website, responsive, saas, security risks, slow website, squarespace, third-party plugins, webflow, Wix, WordPress
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WooCommerce Subscriptions Cost: Avoid the $279 Add-On Trap
If you are building an online shop with WordPress, the initial pitch sounds incredible: the core software is open-source, and WooCommerce is "completely" free.
But there is a catch that catches almost every small business owner off guard.
The exact moment you try to move away from simple, one-time checkouts and add a recurring revenue stream - like a monthly subscription box, a premium membership, or a repeat service plan - you hit a major financial wall.
Suddenly,
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Posted in Compare Website Builders, E-commerce
Tagged bloat, core web vitals, e-commerce, hacked, open-source, pagespeed insights, performance, plugin vulnerabilities, plugins, stability, subscriptions, third-party plugins, vulnerabilities, woocommerce, WooCommerce subscriptions, WordPress
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GIMP: A Powerful, Free Image Editor for Your Website
Recently, we discussed DIY logo design in our blog post, How to Create Your Own Logo? A DIY Guide. One of the recommended tools is GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program - a free and open-source raster graphics editor that can be a valuable tool for anyone who needs to edit images for their website. With its wide range of features, GIMP can be used to create, edit, and manipulate images in a variety of ways. Let's learn
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Posted in Website Design
Tagged custom graphics, file formats, free, GIMP, graphic design, image editing tools, image editor, image manipulation, image manipulation techniques, infographics, layers and masks, open-source, painting and drawing, product images, raster graphics, website design, website elements
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WordPress.org Faces Turmoil Over ACF Plugin Controversy: A Battle for Control
The WordPress community is in an uproar following a controversial move by Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic (owner of WordPress.com) and a key figure behind WordPress.org. On October 12th, Mullenweg took an unprecedented step by forcibly replacing the popular Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin and its listing on WordPress.org with a new "Secure Custom Fields" plugin. This action has sparked concerns about stability, trust, and the future of WordPress.
The ACF Controversy: What Happened?
The Advanced Custom Fields plugin,
... Continue readingWhat are some alternatives to WordPress for developing mobile-friendly, responsive websites?
Ask David!
Question: I have a WordPress website right now, but it is too much working keeping it online and working - it keeps getting hacked or broken after core updates. What are some alternatives to WordPress for developing mobile-friendly and responsive websites? I need to make sure my website looks good on everyone's smartphones and tablets.
Short Answer: If you’re looking for a WordPress alternative for building a mobile-friendly, responsive website,
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Posted in Ask David!, Compare Website Builders
Tagged downloadable website builder, flexibility, gymchat, image conversions, image optimization, mobile friendly, mobile website, open-source, open-source alternative, responsive app, responsive design, seo, Shopify, squarespace, web hosting choice, webflow, webp, Wix, wordpress alternative, WordPress alternatives
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Which is the best platform to build an online community on?
Great "Ask David!" question. The short answer: If you want a self-hosted platform that gives you full control and comes with social networking features built in - such as member profiles, activity feeds, forums, messaging, and media sharing - UltimateWB is one of the best options available. It allows you to launch
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Posted in Ask David!, Compare Website Builders
Tagged admin controls, build an online community, community building tools, community engagement features, community software comparison, community website builder, engagement, flexibility, forum vs social network, hosted platform, hosted platforms vs self-hosted, media sharing, member app, member profiles, membership community platform, moderation, online community, online community platform, online community software, open-source, plugin-based, plugins, private messaging, scalability, self hosted platforms, self-hosted community, social network, social networking platform, social networking website, social networking website builder, social networking website builder comparison, spam control, templates generator, third-party plugins, website platform comparison, WordPress
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How come Joomla is so complicated? Is it worth it to learn?
Many people choose Joomla because it’s a well-known name, but fame doesn’t always equal a good user experience. In reality, Joomla often comes with a “complexity tax” - it forces you to work much harder than necessary to get basic results.
To understand why it feels so “clunky,” and if it’s worth the effort, we have to look at why it was built this way in the first place and how that “legacy logic” affects you today.
The History: Born
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Posted in Ask David!, Compare Website Builders
Tagged bloat, cms, compatibility, compatibility issues, contact form, fast website, html, image galleries, joomla, joomla alternative, Mambo, Miro International, open source, open-source, security issues, seo, slow website, third-party plugins, web development
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How can you overcome the basic limitations of using Shopify?
Shopify is popular for its convenience and all-in-one hosting, but that simplicity comes with trade-offs. Many users quickly run into limitations such as:
- Restricted customization without paid apps
- Limited control over hosting and server resources
- Extra costs for advanced features and scalability
- Constraints on SEO, page speed, and integrations
At some point, many site owners start asking whether Shopify’s ease of use is worth the long-term limitations. These constraints can slow growth or force compromises - especially if you want
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Posted in Ask David!, Compare Website Builders
Tagged bloat, e-commerce, flexibility, hosting control, maintenance, online store, open-source, page speed, scalability, security risks, Shopify, shopify alternative, Shopify alternatives, shopify limitations, shopify vs woocommerce, website builder comparison, website customization, WordPress, WordPress vs Shopify
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Why are website builders SaaS?
Not all website builders are SaaS.
“SaaS” (Software as a Service) is a business model where software is accessed through a subscription instead of a one-time purchase. In most SaaS website builders, your website is also hosted on the provider’s servers and runs only while your subscription is active.
But SaaS is not a technical requirement for building websites - it is a business model choice. Some platforms are open-source, others are self-hosted, and some, like UltimateWB, provide
... Continue readingWhy do WordPress websites and blogs get hacked so much?
The short answer? A system is only as strong as its weakest link. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use WordPress for any part of your website - it just means you need to use it carefully, correctly, and smartly (yes, that’s a word!). Read on for the long answer.
The core issue is 'attack surface' expansion. WordPress often relies on a web of third-party plugins, each introducing its own unique PHP execution paths and database interactions. Every additional plugin increases
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