A few weeks ago those of us who'd created our sites through MrSite were told it was closing down. With little time to find an affordable alternative, I'm afraid that lewstringer.com is no longer active.
For the forseeable future I'll be using this blog as my main presence on the Internet. I'll set up a new website with a new provider when I can afford it. In these uncertain times I can't predict when that will be, but this blog will continue to serve as a source of my work past and present.
This means that my webshop is also no more, but my Combat Colin comics are on hold at present anyway so that's not an immediate inconvenience. I hope to publish Combat Colin No.5 later this year and will look into alternatives to provide an online ordering platform.
In the meantime you can still buy the digital-exclusive Barmy Comix No.1. More info here:
The timing of this in the middle of a pandemic is bad - some of the affected businesses would've already been unable to trade in the high street and now lose their web presence too - and less than five weeks notice simply isn't good enough. Unless owner TsoHost is about to go out of business itself, they surely could've given people three months to make other arrangements?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theregister.com/2020/06/05/tsohost_axes_mrsite/
Yes, just four weeks notice. The offer to migrate to WordPress was too expensive, and I'd have to build the site from scratch anyway, so I didn't go for that. Just another blow for the self employed unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteWhat kinda thing do you need for a website anyway? you have a fairly small site, online shop, minor gallery.. some of the free hosts can do that but might not be the best option.. Blogger can do e-commerce but not easily really, though word press is much better for it.. So more a case of low space requirements, but high bandwidth?
ReplyDeleteIt's more of an expectation than anything, Ryan. Having a website seems more professional than directing clients to a blog or Instagram page. It's a base where clients can study the work. WordPress... it seemed too expensive when I checked it out. My website through MrSite cost me about £42 a year so that's the sort of figure I'm looking at. Some sites charge that much or more a month, which is out of the question at present.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm working on one to replace it and will reveal it when it's finished but obviously I need to fit it in around work so it'll be a few weeks yet probably.
You may find that you get a small amount of free web space with your ISP, Lew.
ReplyDeleteIt will be pretty basic, but you can get some words and pictures onto it and then point your domain name at it.
Sadly not with BT but it's ok. I'm building a new site elsewhere.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2012/07/bt-scrap-uk-free-webspace-web-hosting-service-for-its-isp-customers.html