FAQ: 01-08 September, 2023

Q: Is Upwork the best for making a side income?

A: In most cases, it is not, but it depends on your skills and on your vision of side income. Being a really great platform, the competition there is pretty high, so it will take some time to start earning there. But it attracts many awesome clients for sure. But in general, it doesn’t differ too much from other freelancing platforms. So if your question is “Is Upwork the best for freelancers?”, the question is, probably, “It is one of the best”.

But your question is about side income, not freelancing. In this regard, it is not (if you’re asking about different ways of income). It is still work, i.e. you’re trading your time for money. It gives income for sure, but I’d suggest trying something else, like going into business or other ways of income like e-commerce, consulting, building and monetizing a website/saas, etc.

As you see, it depends on your goals. Upwork is a great platform anyway, but it doesn’t allow you to build a steady business. So it’s up to you to decide.

Q: Does Shopify charge to use on your own website?

A: Well, there’s no such thing as an “own website” in the Shopify context. When you start a store, you’re using their website, their ecosystem, and their code completely. The only thing that is yours is your domain name (and a Shopify app, if you create one). While connecting the domain name is free, Shopify still charges for using one of the plans, so yes, in this regard, they do it.

If you want to have more control over the website and to make it truly yours, check solutions like WordPress + WooCommerce, OpenCart, or some custom web apps (depending on your needs and your budget). Wordpress is completely free, and so is WooCoomerce, you will need to pay just for the domain name and a hosting/VPS.

Q: What are things I need to know to start learning react js?

A: The most essential knowledge is JavaScript and ES6. Also, bear in mind that React is a front-end framework, and one cannot work as a front-end developer without doing some HTML/CSS part, so it is also very advised. When you get this knowledge, you can move to learning React itself. Here are some optional but very (believe me) useful stuff that will make your journey more comfortable:

  • git
  • node + npm
  • algorithms

Q: How do I upload an HTML downloaded website template on WordPress?

A: Well, actually, you can’t. It will not work. WordPress uses themes - these are a bunch of php files (with the HTML markup), that are structured in a certain way. The only way to make it work with your WordPress website is to turn those HTML files into a theme. It doesn’t actually matter whether you downloaded a whole website or purchased an HTML5 template on a marketplace, you will have to turn it into a theme. It is not as difficult as you might think, but it depends, actually, on the template. The structure is also pretty straightforward, you can check it here: https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-hierarchy/

As you see, it requires files that will act as a home page, as a blog page, a single article, etc:

  1. front-page.php – Used for both “your latest posts” or “a static page” as set in the front page displays section of Settings → Reading.
  2. home.php – If WordPress cannot find front-page.php and “your latest posts” is set in the front page displays section, it will look for home.php. Additionally, WordPress will look for this file when the posts page is set in the front page displays section.
  3. page.php – When “front page” is set in the front page displays section.
  4. index.php – When “your latest posts” is set in the front page displays section but home.php does not exist or when front page is set but page.php does not exist.

You can find more detailed description and examples via the link above.

Q: Xenforo OR Wordpress which one is better?

A: It depends on your goals, setup, server/hosting, budget, and overall vision. First of all, XenForo is a paid software while WordPress is completely free (including some forum plugins). XenForo is a really cool and powerful forum engine (with its own downsides, of course) that can help you build an outstanding platform for your community, if you really need it. It is installed standalone in a separate folder on your server. On the other hand, Wordpress already has all it needs and a forum plugin is installed as usual there. If you don’t want to spend time setting up things - Wordpress is definitely your choice. You can also consider using it if your community is small (like a support forum, for example). But as I said, it is installed on top of Wordpress, so it works not very fast. If you need a highly customizable and fast, responsive engine - have a look at Xenforo. It requires some knowledge to extend some features, but it also has many add-ons you can use.

Q: Is there any way to webscrape users on XenForo forums by username considering user pages on xenForo have a special number like username.402?

A: In Xenforo, id has a higher priority (in this specific case) than a username. For example, if you query /members/admin.1/, you will get a profile of the user whose id = 1 (and username can be arbitrary, actually). XF will work even without a username at all, i.e. you can query /members/1/, and you will get the same page. Thus, you can just iterate over 1-9999 (for example) users to get their info. You will just need to substitute the id with the current counter value.

Q: Which forum script is better between Xenforo or IPS (Invasion Community)?

A: It depends on your goals, team, and budget. Both scripts are paid, IPS ranges from $129 to $549, XF starts at $160 per license. There was a time when IPS was called Invision Power Board (~ back in 2004), and for me, it was truly the best forum engine. Speaking now about IPS Community and XenForo… well, they are pretty much the same in terms of end-user experience. But (this is my personal vision) XenForo is less complicated regarding the administration, it is more straightforward. Also, from the developer’s point of view, XF has slightly better tech documentation (not perfect anyway, but still), so it is easier to find a developer if you need some custom extensions.