Building the BajanThings website
This is about how we built the BajanThings website. This section is a bit techie so feel free to skip straight to the BajanThings Postings.
BajanThings is built using WordPress
The BajanThings website uses the self-hosted version of WordPress: a free and open-source blogging tool and a content management system (CMS).
According to W3Tech, WordPress is used by more than 43.1% of the Alexa Top 10 million websites.
To put that number in perspective 32.2% of the Alexa Top 10 million websites do NOT use a CMS.
Of the 43.1% of Alexa Top 10 million websites that DO use a CMS, WordPress dominates with a 63.6% market share.
WordPress is the clear market leader by a long, long, long way, however, the next CMS tools like : Shopify (3.8%), WIX (3.6%) and SquareSpace (3.0%) and Joopla (2.7%) are eroding the WordPress lead – which keeps WordPress continuing to innovate/replicate the best parts of the CMS minnows! Click here if you are interested in the W3Tech methodology.
One of the reasons for the popularity of WordPress is that for such a complex product it is relatively easy to use, its pretty intuitive and you don’t need specialist software installed on your computer. Its also open-source so its free to download and use. All you need is an internet connection and:
- a valid domain (we use: GoDaddy) and
- somewhere to host the website (we use: ChemiCloud).
As WordPress seeks to compete and update its has moved to a block editor design that offers more design flexibility. The downside of the block editors is it takes more time to learn than the “the really classic” WordPress pre 2018 and WP 4.9. The block theme era launched in December 2018 with the launch of WP 5.0.
Block themes are where all the development focus is for WordPress. It’s the future, so in April 2024 we jumped onto the block theme bandwagon with WP 6.4.
When we launched BajanThings in December 2014 we commenced using Bruce Wampler’s Weaver Xtreme WordPress theme.
In December 2020 – six years on – we revamped the look and feel of BajanThings using the WordPress Astra Pro theme from Brainstorm Force. Astra Pro is a fast, lightweight, and highly customizable WordPress theme. We particularly liked the new layout of posts on the home page and on the catalogue pages.
In April 2024, four years on from the last update, we made the jump from what is now known as a classic theme (Astra Pro) to the new WordPress block theme paradigm (aka FSE theme – standing for Full Site Editing). This third incarnation of BajanThings is built using the Ollie Pro block theme.
We are now block theme converts! And Ollie Pro is our theme of choice.
Website Hosting
BajanThings was for years was hosted by SiteGround. In October 2025 we changed our website hosting provider to ChemiCloud.
Between 2014 and 2025 SiteGround had grown very big and their once amazing support service had deteriorated as they replaced human support with automated AI bots. Starting in 2020 they increased prices, reduced support, and replaced the cPanel interface with their proprietary version SiteGround Site Tools.
When considering website hosting options, this is what Tom Dupuis of OnlineMediaMasters has to says:
Avoid hosts owned by World Host Group, Newfold Digital, and others owned by private equity or who “got too big.” Most are designed to pocket your money through hidden resource limits, predatory renewals, and traps involving upgrades and suspensions.
The decline in performance and support was the key reason we swapped to ChemiCloud.
ChemiCloud is still privately owned. This is what Tom Dupis has to say about: ChemiCloud. Interestingly Tom Dupis is not too complimentary about SiteGround!
If you are looking at setting up a blog or even a website, you should consider using WordPress and hosting it with ChemiCloud – we use their turbo plan for BajanThings. We would also recommend using the Ollie block theme. [Just for transparency we do not get paid to say that.]
Advertising
BajanThings is a hobby site. We include advertising banners from Google AdSense to help contribute to the annual to costs of maintaining BajanThings.com.
Contrary to popular belief advertising revenue does not cover the cost of domain registration, hosting, WordPress theme, cache management, dynamic image delivery or the other specialist plugins needed to maintain BajanThings.com.
As a hobby site BajanThings is driven by altruistic goals: the recording of handed down Bajan history, hiking and international travel… and the odd technical post where we share our learnings of managing a hobby site like this. See the category Website Technology.
Donations
Ad revenue from advertising plus Donations contribute to off-setting some of the running costs of BajanThings.
If you enjoy the BajanThings posts please consider making a small donation which will go towards the maintenance and upkeep of the BajanThings website and support our mission to document Barbados’ recent history.
Click here to make a donation to BajanThings or jump straight to the donation gateways provided by Stripe (which will take you to the secure Stripe webpage: buy.stripe.com) or PayPay (which will take you to the secure PayPal webpage: paypal.com/donate/).
Thank you for your support and any donations.
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[Published: 21st March 2015. Updated: 25th June 2026]
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