August 11: This morning I installed something called BoldGrid. I’m not sure I’m going to like it but maybe the rest of you will. I am not sure what else changed. The reason I installed it is for its backup tool, so that’s the first thing I’m going to fuss with. It may have changed the theme on me; I will change it back to Astra.
August 12: OK, here’s the scoop on BoldGrid. BoldGrid Premium is available for free on dreamhost. So I got it. Turns out its backup tool DID NOT WORK with the default PHP settings for this site. So for backups I am using a different plug-in (Updraft) and I am backing up to my personal Google Drive. At the moment these are not regularly scheduled backups, but I will probably change that.
As for BoldGrid, I deactivated most of the plug-ins it installed. The back-up plugin, Total Upkeep, is still activated while I see if it does anything else useful, but I’m not using it for backups. The other main plug-in is a Page-and-Post Builder. Personally, I have customized it for myself to use the WordPress editor, not its editor, which I did not like. It might be that if you are working on the site, you can change that for yourself, but you will be changing it for everyone, and as I do not like it I will change it back when I am working on the site.
And we are still using Astra. There is one BoldGrid-installed theme there (Pavilion), which I am ignoring. I left a couple of default WordPress themes, but I consider them completely unsatisfactory. The theme called Blocksy might be a workable alternative to Astra, but I have not tried it.
If you really want your own website to play with, I think that can be arranged. Let me know.