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Why I created Banner Blog

bannerblog.dev

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Re: Why I created Banner Blog

#6

Honest feedback: I’m on mobile and the experience isn’t good. Is that something that’s being addressed?

Yeh, that’s the next thing on the list.

Wanted to get something out the door for desktop, then it’s on to mobile.

Any things in particular that you’d want fixing?

Re: Why I created Banner Blog

#7

> SEO Optimized Out Of The Box To me this is a bug, not a feature. Google is so broken now that I assume any website in their first page of results is likely worthless.

Same for me, too.

I honestly love https://mataroa.blog it ended my paralysis for searching a blog platform, and every page is bog standard HTML. It accepts Markdown, plus it has its own anonymous analytics, so it's nice.

On the other hand, everyone has different needs, and I wish Banner blog the best of luck!

Re: Why I created Banner Blog

#8

> SEO Optimized Out Of The Box To me this is a bug, not a feature. Google is so broken now that I assume any website in their first page of results is likely worthless.

Yeh, I agree. Especially with the most recent updates.

The sentiment behind this is more about making the posts more readable to bots as opposed to trying to game the system

Re: Why I created Banner Blog

#9
I began blogging in the early 2000s when blogging on blogspot.com, wordpress.com, livejournal.com, etc. was quite popular. While they were pretty good for quickly writing and publishing content using their built-in layout templates, I also cared about customising the HTML templates to suit my taste. To my disappointment, I found working with their HTML templates clumsy. For example, with blogspot.com, I would spend a few hours customising the template to my needs and then a few months later they would make an update to the website, such as adding a few new elements or removing some, which would then end up rendering my template in a slightly different way that I might not have anticipated.

I have since moved away from blogging platforms. I have my own little Common Lisp program and my own HTML templates, all handwritten from scratch, and I am very happy with the results. The biggest benefit of this approach I find is that the layout does not change or break every few months/years and I can focus completely on writing content.

Re: Why I created Banner Blog

#10

> SEO Optimized Out Of The Box To me this is a bug, not a feature. Google is so broken now that I assume any website in their first page of results is likely worthless.

Chasing Google ranks is an abysmal practice, but a basic level of SEO goes a long way in making content discoverable and accessible. As for the rest of the practices of the SEO industry, I believe in the saying "if you provide good content, you don't need to SEO".
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