Pulling It All Together

Today (July 7, 2026) is the first day for my new website here at Papa Mike's Home Page. I intend to add my stories and those of other members. I also intend to cover important news stories, such as the Top Story of the day.

Someone said something about the domain name I selected. The thing is, and you will know this if you have ever tried to pick a domain name. You can never get the one you want. You have to end up choosing something that isn't even close to what you originally wanted. And that is cause all of them are already taken. But when you enter the domain name's URL, which is already taken, in the browser address bar, there is never anything on the site. How long are the domain names that people buy and let expire just sitting around? Something in that regard needs to change.

HomePage CMS Updates and Changes

I am using a Content Management System (CMS) I designed to build this website. HomePage CMS is flexible, easy to use, and comes with easy editing features that the admin can use. I plan on offering it for download later this year, but for now I am combing through it to find any errors. Making minor tweaks and adding them to this site as I go. I'll make updates here as I go.

Updates:

-- Added the comments box to the index page.

-- Redesigned the theme preview page.

-- Fixed the registration not sending out activation emails. Still working on getting them out of the spam folder.

-- Built a new theme "The Lake" and set it as the default.

-- Finished the 'About Me" social sharing page.

-- Making a feeble attempt at updating every page to meet PHP 8.5.9 standards. It's a slow go .....

-- Went through a time where I couldn't save anything on the site. I fixed it this morning (8-4-2026), but I still don't know what caused it. I had one site online that worked fine. So I downloaded some files to the problem offline sites, and now they work.  Now I have to dig deeper to see exactly what caused this. 

-- UPDATE (8-6-2026): The cause of the problem that I described above was due to an incompatible database issue. My offline server was using the MySQL database while my online server was using the Maria database. So, I changed my offline database to Maria. That solved the problem. Now they both speak the same language.

-- Completely recoded the member article submission that is in the member's account.

-- Added the video Archive and Theatre pages. These are an optional module.

-- Currently HomePage is compliant with PHP version 8.5.9.

-- Coding with PHP Data Objects (PDO): A lightweight database access layer and extension for PHP that provides a uniform method of talking to different types of databases. I am doing this because I don't want to return to the incompatibility issue I had earlier.

-- (8-15-2026) I am addressing every page in the CMS. When/if PHP 9 is released, I want to be ready for it. The designer dashboard alone has 270 pages.  As of today, I have completed all ROOT files, account files, and account admin files. Yesterday I started on the asset files. Keep in mind that I wrote all the files in HomePage CMS myself during the pandemic. And I have been keeping up with the changing versions of PHP ever since.

-- (8-24-2026) Uploaded the first edited files. Also I am using HTMLPurifier to protect the content that is created using the TinyMCE editor. I had to add some additional features to the configuration. Started routing all of the preview files through the right side modal window. It is now resizable. It is replacing the outdated pop-up window.