My First 2 Perch Websites

  • Here are the first 2 websites I've built using perch. In fact, I've only built about 6 websites since learning to code.


    My first 4 were static and perch has opened to door for my freelance career in terms of being able to create realistic, client friendly (having a CMS) websites. My next venture will be eCommerce and I'm worried that it might be too difficult for me but I won't know unless I try!8)


    Cafe Central Park (ignore the video, it's old and we're looking to get a videographer in)

    Expert Teacher Tutors

  • drewm

    Approved the thread.

  • Lee Excellent work I really like restaurant animation and layout. The tutor site has really nice icons that appear to be hand done. Congratulations on using Perch. We are all pretty partial to it around here :)


    If you are considering SSL certificates you might consider Let's Encrypt or Cloudflare. I've used both, but I'm partial to Cloudflare as long as you set up your caching correctly so you don't have to ever purge pages it is a slick way to go and adds several performance benefits. Well I should say those performance benefits are definitely here so you would have to do your own testing across the pond.


    :burd1fly:

    Thanks for the feedback Matt, glad you like them :)


    Regarding SSL, I'm going to be honest, I'm completely new to web security. I know SSL is needed especially when handling data and such, such as eCommerce websites and member logins, but that's about it. I've set up SSL only once or twice, and it was just a case of turning it on from the dashboard of my one.com admin, on a per site basis. Is there more to it I should know?

    • IMO the SSL obsession is being pushed by Google and is unnecessary for most websites. SSL doesn't matter IMO unless the site is banking/ money related, is ecommerce or is a log in type of setup.
    • I would assume one.com is your webhost? If yes then I'm assuming they probably have Let's Encrypt set up in their cPanel. That is just a guess because I'm not familiar with one.com
    • Cloudflare would take the place of setting it up in your cPanel, but the benefit of Cloudflare IMO is it is a content delivery network which provides speed benefits and gives you an SSL for free. Cloudflare is also free to set up. I've found my Cloudflare sites perform better than my non-Cloudflare sites. You can test your site by using webpagetest.org. Here is an example of my latest project's speed test https://www.webpagetest.org/re…50484c691c69b950d85f50ee/ as you can see it's average load time is between 1.2 & 1.4 seconds which I feel is pretty good.
    • FYI, I don't like your restaurant website I love it, I think it looks pretty bad ass. I'm also a big fan of the about page and separate modals for each of the teachers on the tutor site. Very well done

  • It's not an "obsession being pushed by Google". It's a necessary addition to any site that deals with any type of visitor data. If you have any sort of form on your site, even a mailing list subscribe form, then you should definitely be using SSL.

  • https also gives you the ability to utilise http/2 which will give your site some serious speed advantages - people used to steer clear of https because of the cost and the fact that it was slower - not any more. Handily Cloudflare also enables this!

    lachie_h I get what you are saying, regarding securing of data and that has been a main push for SSL. But if you have small business website with no form or log in do you really believe your site should be required to have an SSL? All of my clients are smaller and aren't Coca Cola so the privacy concerns seem overblown to me. I don't see how many hackers are going to be hanging out on momAndPop.com looking to steal data. Is it good in some circumstances, yes it definitely is. However, making the SSL so important that Google has made it a ranking signal for your site doesn't seem right to me. Just my 2 cents.

  • Lets not forget that Chrome will be flagging your sites that are not secure which will show up in the address bar and may give users a off-putting experience.


    They already to for sites with login or credit card form and they plan on doing it for all sites soon.


    The tools are there to deliver SSL by default for free, I can't understand why you wouldn't do it even if you may not "Need" to. It just looks more professional even to show the closed padlock beside your url.

  • JordinB you are 100% correct, but that is why I feel like it is forced by Google because by not having it you get a "not secure" next to your name. Even if that particular website doesn't particularly "Need" it. Ok, I'm off my soapbox for now, because in the end I put an SSL on all my sites anyway so I can be compliant.


    Don't get me wrong I like Google as a search engine and a lot of their products, but I don't like forced coercion. Don't even get me started on my feelings for Google Amp. :/

  • I think your cafe central website is really nice. It doesn't look cluttered yet is interesting. Love the menu, very slick.

    Only point I would have is that the phone number in the header bar is a link, yet the address isn't. Would make sense to take you to the map?

    Thanks for the feedback :) To be honest, I only put the phone number as a link as the icon appears in the header on mobile. Now you've pointed that out, I think it would have been a good idea though at the moment, I'll probably leave it unless the client requests it.

    Quote from seoMatt

    lachie_h I get what you are saying, regarding securing of data and that has been a main push for SSL. But if you have small business website with no form or log in do you really believe your site should be required to have an SSL? All of my clients are smaller and aren't Coca Cola so the privacy concerns seem overblown to me. I don't see how many hackers are going to be hanging out on momAndPop.com looking to steal data. Is it good in some circumstances, yes it definitely is. However, making the SSL so important that Google has made it a ranking signal for your site doesn't seem right to me. Just my 2 cents.

    I can't think of a situation why would you not use https. The cost barrier to this has now gone - the hosting I use provide good certs free of charge and the advantages of using https/2 to speed up your site are only available to secure sites. I set up local certs in MAMP Pro - couple of button pushes - when developing Perch sites, so I don't have to firefight my http link mistakes after launch. I believe the Google argument is long over - everything should be on https now as there is no advantage not to be.