This article was originally posted on WomenLearnThai.com.
2Bangkok.com Moves to WordPress…
After long last, 2Bangkok.com is making the transition from a bog-standard website platform, to WordPress. I’m a huge supporter of WP due to the ease of the CMS, so congrats Ron! Moving twelve years of posts over has got to be a tedious chore but it’s worth it. And readers can now sign up for the RSS feeds. Excellent.
And Ron, just think, no more annoying emails suggesting the move to WP (we all know who we are 😉
2Bangkok.com is a Thai news site but for Thai language learners it’s more than that. On a pretty much daily basis, Thai cartoons are translated into English and explained. The Thai script from the cartoons isn’t retyped but who’s complaining. Not me.
Anyway, congrats Ron. I realise that you have a ways to go yet, but it’s looking good. Real good.
For your site, it’s just from one CMS to another (I doubt the template matters, it’s the guts)… but there is no smooth about it because no matter what you read, something can go wrong. They’ve worked out most of the bugs from blogspot to WP but life just isn’t fair sometimes (and it always happens to those I nudge!)
“no more annoying emails suggesting the move to WP (we all know who we are ;-)” Yes, Catherine!!!!
To be honest I would love to move over to WP, but I’m lazy and it’s in the ‘too hard’ basket…and I’ve altered Cooee’s template so much, I don’t think it would be a smooth transition.
12 years of posts…that’s quite an achievement!
I’m with you on using WP for a CMS. There’s a learning curve (not everyone I’ve turned on to it gets it) but once over the hump it’s a pleasure. Mostly.
Btw – nice site…
WordPress is by far the best platform for websites that are updated on a daily basis. I also used to follow 2Bkk but have cut down on my internet time and some things just had to go. Will definitely give it another look once the transition has been made.
Talen, and I hope he rounded up a team of his many fans to help with transferring it over. Not much can be automated at that level (not like blog platform to blog platform). I’ve had to do it and it’s indeed tedious.
Excellent news Cat. 2Bangkok is a great site and now much easier to navigate. I’m sure Ron is happy with the change and happy that all the moving is over.
Hamish, thanks for the tip about BP. Due to the formatting of their site I couldn’t read Bangkok Pundit for any length of time but they’ve since revamped so I’ll get back to it.
Great work hi-lighting this site Cat. I’ve been an avid reader since I stumbled across Ron’s photo essay about the 1992 Black May events, and have been hooked ever since. His political analysis is insightful and balanced (though in the past he has been accused of being Yellow-leaning by no less than Robert Amsterdam). IMHO 2B and Bangkok Pundit make for the best English-language commentary on Thai goings on, with BKK Pundit often including Thai language quotes from the likes of Matichon then his own translations: another good language resource.
Martyn, if you only have time to read one Thai news site, 2Bangkok.com is a good choice. So many don’t give the background and I need it.
Catherine I checked out 2Bangkok.com and it certainly is written with an educated hand. The cartoons do indeed have explanations at the beginning of their posts which would help those with high Thai language skills but I’m afraid they are alien to me. A definite help if you’re learning to read Thai.
It looks an excellent site and with WordPress onboard it puts the icing on the cake.