Summary
You can read about the conditions after which I wanted to make the site live.
The online-dentist.hu went public yesterday.
I put the site together weeks ago and it has been running under my own domain since the very beginning. Yet only yesterday did I see the time to remove the password protection.
I wanted to have something to read on the site before the live launch. The sixteen posts seemed to be enough. At the same time – since I talked about this work quite a lot to those around me – I was increasingly asked when my writings would be readable.
I planned to have the entire framework ready before the launch. I had an idea of what I wanted to achieve, and some ideas came along the way. I implemented the following:
Bilingual site
Every part of the site is available in both Hungarian and English. This doesn’t just mean that I have to translate every post and content on every page. I have to set up contact forms, approval pages, outgoing emails, and as much of the general text as possible, which often appear automatically on the website. Even though I’ve worked quite a bit on bilingualism, there are still elements on the site that only appear in English. It’s not worth it for me to deal with them at the moment.
WordPress plugin used: PolyLang.
My map
I already wrote about this on the My Map page. I fulfilled an old wish by displaying the places I have visited in the world on a map. I will continue to work with this page, I would like to use my own markers on it, but I did not make this a condition for publishing the page.
The plugin is not free, I bought the 1-page license for 59 USD. After the purchase, I received a questionnaire that I filled out, and as a gift I received a 3-page license for 99 USD. The creator of the plugin must be a really good person, we even exchanged a letter.
WordPress plugin used: WP Go Maps
Sitemap
The sitemap is from the Elementor WordPress page builder plugin, I really like the timeline visual it gives.
I also wanted a table of contents-like list, and this idea led to the Post Table of Contents page. To create this, I had to nag Google a bit and try more than one plugin. Now that I have it, I can only praise the professionalism of the add-on.
WordPress plugin used: Display Posts
Countdown timer
Since all sorts of dates arise in the context of future planning, I wanted to visually display certain dates and the time needed to reach them. After a few tries, I found the Countdown Wpdevart plugin.
This is a plugin that can be used for free and with a subscription. In this case, I did not purchase the plugin. However, there were a few parameters in it that I wanted to change, but they could not be done in the free version. This is where my web development experience came in handy, and I was able to solve the changes that were important to me by applying my own CSS.
WordPress plugin used: Countdown Timer – Widget Countdown
New post subscription option
The last condition for opening it to the public was for me to create the possibility for the site visitors to subscribe to a mailing list, from which they would automatically receive an email notification when a new post was published on the site.
I had previously used such a solution on my personal website. However, yesterday I had to face the fact that the solution used there was outdated, that plugin is no longer available.
I also asked for the help of artificial intelligence to select a new add-on. This is how I came to the MailPoet plugin after watching several videos and tutorials. This tool impressed me at first with its professionalism. I had to take a lot of (simple) steps to make the add-on work properly, including connecting a few additions to my domain, validating the email addresses used. To do this, I also had to create a few under my own domain, maybe now was the time.
After I configured the entire system, I had to wait for a validation from the developer, who would examine my site to make sure it didn’t create a spam system. I waited for the confirmation, which they said could take up to 48 hours. I didn’t have to wait that long, I got a message that my site was unavailable, so I couldn’t get the confirmation for now. A vicious circle formed: until this feature was up and running, I didn’t want to make the site live, but until I made it live, I wouldn’t get this feature. So I took the courage, removed the password protection, wrote to the developer, and soon received approval.
WordPress plugin used: MailPoet
After departure
After going live, I wrote to my family and a few friends to let them know that the site was available. I immediately received a few pointers about the existing errors and suggestions on what I could write differently. One of my friends immediately volunteered to be a proofreader.
I am grateful for all the comments, let me know if I have written something wrong or if something is not clear!
My best wishes
I hope you, dear reader, enjoy reading my writings as much as I enjoy writing them!
If you are interested in anything, please ask!
I would love to hear from you!