Why Would I Write

Category: Reviews

  • Hello Hostinger, Goodbye iWHOST

    Hello Hostinger, Goodbye iWHOST

    You know the adage—you don’t know how good something is until you’ve tried it? That was me with web hosting for the past decade. I stuck with the first web host I found, iWHOST, until December 2024.

    For years, I put up with my blog’s constant downtime and slow performance—both from a user and visitor standpoint. My website’s performance was terrible on Google Analytics, and I was failing all speed tests. I tried everything within my means to improve my blog’s performance. Coincidentally, we were dealing with the same issue at work, though I wasn’t directly involved in the process there (they had higher stakes to deal with—mine’s just some public diary).

    Through all this, I learned about things like headless CMS, flat-file CMS, and non-database blogs. I even considered switching to a different CMS for speed, but I quickly realized I’d lose all the convenience and features of WordPress. Customizing my theme would be a pain in the ass. So, I decided to stick with WordPress.

    I started with the obvious fixes—switching to lightweight themes, using performance improvement plugins, and constantly looking up ways to optimize my blog. After a while, I realized my biggest bottleneck wasn’t WordPress itself but my hosting provider’s hardware.

    My first thought: upgrade to a higher plan. For context, I had been using iWHOST’s RM199 plan for the better part of a decade. It used to be cheaper, but the price went up by about RM50 a while ago. However, what was good enough in 2007 wasn’t cutting it in 2024.

    So, I clicked around their better plans. Turns out, I wasn’t even on SSD hosting—no wonder my speeds were trash. The cheapest SSD plan started at RM250 annually—a slight bump but probably my choice if I had stayed.

    Then I checked out their WordPress-specific plan, thinking it might be optimized and cheaper since I only needed it for my blog. Nope. It was RM389.04 annually. At that point, I started wondering: was it even worth sticking with iWHOST? I don’t make money from my blog. I have less than 30 readers a day. Maybe it was time to move to a new platform like Medium or Substack instead?

    But I love the control I have over my blog. I can change everything about it, from the design to the back end, all without serving you any ads. That choice is important to me. I didn’t want my blog to end up looking like every other standard Substack or Medium page.

    So, no—I wanted a custom solution. I had been with trusty ol’ reliable for over a decade. Loyalty! I couldn’t just abandon them, right? That’s what I thought at first. But then I started looking around at alternative web hosts.

    Holy shit, there are so many web hosts out there. Then something caught my eye—the first Google ad in my search results: Hostinger. Yes, SEM works (for people with high intent, apparently). But what really got me? RM3.99/month.

    Wait a minute, web hosting can be that cheap?!

    I had never heard of Hostinger before, so I did some research. After reading some reviews, it turns out they’re pretty legit. I reached out to them, but their chatbot only gave generic answers. However, a few hours later, I got an email from their sales rep with detailed responses to all my questions.

    That was enough for me to take the leap. They had a 30-day money-back guarantee anyway.

    I signed up for their promo offer—RM191.52 for 2 years, which reverts to RM119.88 annually after that. I had nothing to lose.

    My account was created. I logged in, kickstarted the blog migration process, and changed the nameservers for goodnewsgeorge.com to point to my new host.

    Crossed my fingers. Hoped for the best.

    Holy shit. The difference in speed was night and day.

    I couldn’t believe how fast my blog was. For years, I had been crippling my website (and my visitors) with slow loading times. And all it took was a chat with a sales rep, some money, and less than two days.

    Now, look at my website’s performance:

    • It’s blazing fast.
    • I’m paying less than before (even after the promo expires).
    • I had a great experience with their sales team.
    • The migration process was smooth.
    • Their dashboard is nice to use.

    Honestly, no complaints so far. The only drawback of my current plan (Single) is that it supports only one website. With iWHOST, I had unlimited sites as long as I didn’t exceed my storage (a feature I never fully utilized). If I ever need multiple sites, Hostinger’s Premium plan is still cheaper than what I was paying before.

    One of the best upgrades I’ve made in a while. You’re welcome.

    If you don’t notice the speed increase, that’s fine. Google Analytics does. And that’s good enough for me.

    If you’re considering a web host, check out Hostinger. I’m sharing a referral code for the first time in my life, feel free to use it or erase the UTM parameters in the link—your call.

  • Flaw(ed) Academy

    It’s been a while since I signed myself for an online course – the last one being many years ago when I had plenty of free time in one of my jobs. But a couple of weeks ago, an Instagram ad caught my eye – it was a free Creative Writing course from Shaw Academy. Since I’m always looking for help to improve my writing, I decided to give it a shot. I clicked on the ad, followed the instructions, and signed up.

    First hiccup – there was no Creative Writing course for me to choose from. It had automatically signed me up for some Social Media course which I had no interest in. Puzzled, I tried digging around the website to no avail. Seemed like I was stuck. I decided to ignore it and move on with my life.

    Last week the ad popped up on my feed again, and in the comments someone left their email address to get in touch with for support. I decided I would give it another shot, so I reached out to them and wrote about my issue. Support was quick to respond, to my surprise, and they added the Creative Writing course to my account. Sweet. I logged in and scheduled my first set of classes.

    The next day, it was time for my lesson, I was late by a few minutes when I logged in, so the video was already playing. Imagine my surprise when I discovered there was no rewind or pause button. Strange, I thought. Regardless, I continued watching the video until the end, where the instructor mentioned that these lessons would be rewatchable from the Course Toolkit.

    So, off I went in search of the Toolkit – turns out it was something I had to pay to access. The only other way for me to watch the portion of the lesson I missed is to reschedule the lesson to another day. The assignments for the course are also part of this toolkit, looks like I won’t be submitting anything for this course.

    I understand that having this strict schedule might be an attempt to discipline students into following deadlines/schedules – I get it, but this is not a real school. It’s not even a live stream broadcast where a student coming in late could disrupt the session. Just give us playback controls! Isn’t that the point of technology? Isn’t it the point of online courses? They’re meant to be flexible so people with busy days can learn whenever they have the time.

    And why call it a free course when students can’t complete it without paying any money? I might sound like some spoilt brat but I’m comparing this to edX – an online school that is actually free (with the option to spend money for a physical certificate if that matters to you).

    I’ve completed eight courses on edX over the past few years, and I can tell you it does everything right that Shaw Academy doesn’t. Videos can be controlled, and you can watch them at any time. No need to spend any money to access lesson materials, or bother trying to squeeze it into your schedule – it’s all available when you have the time. There’s human interaction if you’re interested (most courses will have a forum for discussion and to comment on each other’s work).

    Shaw Academy, thanks for the free trial, but I won’t be continuing with my course even though the lesson videos were informative. Unless some drastic changes are made to the whole learning experience, I can’t imagine anybody paying for this. Especially when there are much better and free alternatives out there.

  • UT47.2 Review

    UT47.2 Review

    UT47.2 with clear low profile case

    When Keyhive announced the UT47.2, I was immediately interested: a hotswap staggered 40% keyboard kit for $38 (group buy price – excluding shipping, switches, keycaps and case) – what more could you ask for?

    Clear 3D printed plate and case

    I purchased the optional 3D printed low-profile case since I wanted more protection for the PCB than the default kit provided, and I’m more than happy with it. Despite the case and plate being 3D printed, I had no issues inserting switches into the plate, which lined up with the PCB and case perfectly. Assembly was a breeze.

    NovelKeys Kailh Box Pink switches

    Kailh Box Pink were my switches of choice and after using them for a day, it’s safe to say I’m in love. Box Pink is my new favorite clicky switch. It makes me wonder why nobody is talking about them? They feel like a slightly heavier Box White switch with a much deeper click – similar to how a Box Navy sounds, but softer! I’m definitely picking up more of these for future clicky builds. If what I’ve said sounds like what you’re looking for, give them a shot. You won’t regret it. Great job, NovelKeys!

    DSA Granite

    After testing out the switches, the next step was putting the keycaps on – which took more time than putting the board together, I kid you not. Major props to Keyhive for the wonderful experience. Keycaps are DSA Granite, which was what I had on my (sold) Vortex Core. They couldn’t have asked for a better new home.

    Important!

    Flashing the keyboard was straightforward – just remember to set your QMK Toolbox configurator microcontroller to atmega32u2 (something I missed initially), and you’re good to go. I’ve been using 40% boards for a while now so I already knew what layout I wanted on it – there was no need to experiment. For this keyboard, I used a combination of my Planck and Kumo (Minivan) layout. If you’re interested, you can preview it or download the .hex and .json here.

    While there is a lot to praise about the UT47.2 – I do have some minor complaints (none were deal-breakers for me, but I thought I’d point out). Firstly, it uses a 1.25u (enter) key on the home row. This isn’t an issue if you’re using flat profile keycaps like DSA, but on sculpted profiles (i.e. Cherry), it’s going to be difficult finding keys for it in the right profile (almost impossible if you want the correct legends). A handful of upcoming keysets will be addressing the need for this extra key. But if you plan to use an existing sculpted keyset with this board, you’re going to have mismatching profiles for that 1.25u key since most 40s kits in the past only have one of those (usually with the Tab legend).

    Bought my own rubber bumpons

    The kit didn’t come with stabilizers for the 2u space (unnecessary, but supported by the PCB and plate), rubber bumpons (also unnecessary, but something I appreciate) or a USB-C cable. Those are my only complaints.

    If you’re interested in picking up one for yourself and missed the group buy, fret not. Keyhive has some extras for sale here ($50) and you can purchase the optional case here ($25) – Keyhive has tons of different designs. SpaceCat also has the UT47.2 on sale here.

    Typing Test – quality isn’t that great since it was recorded on my phone, but it should give you an idea of what to expect.

    Conclusion: the UT47.2 is one of the best staggered 40% keyboards I currently own. If you’re thinking of trying out the form factor, on a budget and not looking to solder – this keyboard is right up your alley!

    This post was written on my UT47.2