FM · June 19, 2025
Do you need a staging site?
If your website takes payments, runs on a CMS, or has ever broken during an update — yes. What staging actually is, and the low-cost ways to get one.
FN 01 · June 18, 2025
Drupal 7 to 11: what a rescue actually involves
The honest sequence for getting a Drupal 7 site to Drupal 11 — stabilize first, assess second, migrate third — from an engineer who has moved millions of nodes without losing a record.
FM · June 13, 2025
Choosing an ecommerce platform, honestly
Hosted vs self-hosted is really one question: is your selling ordinary or unusual? Where Shopify-class platforms win, where Drupal Commerce and WooCommerce earn their keep.
FM · June 12, 2025
What breaks first on an abandoned online store
The failure order of an unmaintained store: shipping rates drift, tax falls behind, then a payment API retirement stops revenue outright. Where to look first.
FM · June 2, 2025
How long does a Drupal migration actually take?
Honest duration math for D7-to-modern migrations: what makes one site a few weeks and another a few months, and the one thing that predicts the timeline better than size.
FM · May 23, 2025
PCI compliance in plain language
What PCI DSS actually asks of a small store, why how you collect cards decides how heavy it is, and the one architecture choice that keeps the burden light.
FM · May 19, 2025
Five signs your website is quietly abandoned
The checks anyone can run in ten minutes — no developer required — to find out whether anyone is actually watching your site, before an emergency answers the question for you.
FM · May 6, 2025
WordPress major updates: why they feel easy and when they aren't
WordPress ships updates continuously rather than in decade-scale majors — which is why WP sites break in small pieces instead of big bangs, and what actually needs watching.
FM · April 2, 2025
Website backups that actually restore
A backup is only real once it's been restored. The 3-2-1 rule for websites, what a complete backup must contain, and the one test that separates hope from coverage.
FN · March 27, 2025
Three lookups that tell you what you actually own
Ten minutes, no passwords, no developer: WHOIS your domain, check your DNS, read your site's generator tag — and know your registrar, host, platform, and two expiry dates.