Welcome to my personal website — a space where technology, creativity, and practical problem-solving come together. I’m John Stray, a developer and tinkerer with a passion for building clean, functional web solutions. Whether it’s crafting plugins, refining themes, or experimenting with new ideas, this site is where I share what I’m working on and what I’ve learned along the way.
I’m based in Australia and come from a background that blends technology with practical experience. I’ve spent years working across different fields, which has shaped how I approach development: keep it simple, make it reliable, and build things that actually solve problems.
What I Do
I build and maintain practical, lightweight solutions across both web development and infrastructure. While much of my work centres around the GetSimple CMS ecosystem, my interests go well beyond the front end.
I also work extensively with Linux servers and homelab environments, where I design, deploy, and manage systems built for reliability and efficiency. This includes everything from configuring services and automating routine tasks to experimenting with new setups and self-hosted tools. Monitoring and observability are another key focus. I create and refine Zabbix templates to provide clear, actionable insights into system performance, helping to ensure everything runs smoothly and issues are caught early.
Across all of this, my approach stays the same: keep things simple, make them dependable, and build solutions that are genuinely useful in real-world environments.
Projects & Development
This site showcases my current and past projects, including plugins, themes, and experiments. From lightweight blogging tools to feature-rich extensions, each project reflects a hands-on approach to development and a focus on real-world usability.
If you’re interested in how things are built—or want something you can actually use—this is a good place to start.
Experiments & Ideas
Not everything fits neatly into a category. Some ideas start as small experiments, others turn into fully-fledged tools. This section is where I explore new concepts, test features, and push beyond the basics.
It’s a bit of a sandbox—expect a mix of rough edges and interesting possibilities.
Recent Articles
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by John Stray on April 3rd, 2026
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by John Stray on April 3rd, 2026
Some quick example text to build on the card title and make up the bulk of the card’s content.
Card title
by John Stray on April 3rd, 2026
Some quick example text to build on the card title and make up the bulk of the card’s content.