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A new blog for 2024

chrisnicholas.dev

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Re: A new blog for 2024

#101

Post by dmje »

dmje wrote: post #51
pvg wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Shallow because...? I was making a point that the best tool for the job can sometimes be the one which is widely used, hugely supported, cheap to host, well understood - it may not be the trendy choice, but "trendy" is not (in my humble opinion) a terribly good criteria for tech stack decisions...

…I’ll just leave this [0] here. A perfect example which just popped up in my feed list of “simple but does this job” tech. No js, no database, a $10 a month vps.

[0] https://alexcabal.com/posts/standard-ebooks-and-classic-web-...

Re: A new blog for 2024

#102

Post by dmje »

nkohari wrote: post #96
dmje wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is a blog a blog when it hasn’t got comments, feeds, categories, tags? I’d say not. So: sure, if your cdn and static files can do all of those then yeh. But it can’t.

Eh, debating what's a "blog" and what's a "personal website" is splitting hairs. Most "blogs" nowadays don't have the features you're talking about, because very few people actually care about them anymore. If you really want comments, you can add them via something like Disqus, but so few people are using RSS today that it's not worth bothering with.

The point I’m making is that we should choose tech that is relevant to the job in hand, not just because it’s the latest cool thing.

When I first started doing web stuff, ColdFusion, Perl, Flash and WAP were The Big Things at the time.

Not so much now.

It may seem like no-one can build anything on the web without having js through and through the stack - but actually you can, and sometimes you should. Even JavaScript will probably one day be relegated to the dustbin of a good idea we all once had…

Btw - this might be the wrong forum to diss RSS ;-)

Re: A new blog for 2024

#103

Post by ctnicholas »

rambambram wrote: post #78
fouronnes3 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking maybe there's a pure CSS way to do it? That seems to be inline with the style of the author's blog.

Pure CSS would be nice indeed.

I saved myself time by reusing a small noise image I'd used before, but you could do it with an SVG pretty easily!

https://grainy-gradients.vercel.app/

Re: A new blog for 2024

#104

Post by ctnicholas »

ChilledTonic wrote: post #66
fouronnes3 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree! Any tips on how to implement it?

It appears his full CSS is as follows: background-image: url(/css/noise.png); background-repeat: repeat; background-size: 182px; filter: brightness(6); opacity: 0.018; In my experimentation with it, I can't quite figure out how he applies the effect to the whole page without it either dissapearing on adjustments to the viewport or affecting the pages text opacity.

To make it fill the page, you need to make sure it's placed inside an element (with relative positioning) that's height comes from its content. Then give the noise absolute positioning.

The noise still overlays the text, it's just not really visible because of the contrast between text and background.

Re: A new blog for 2024

#105

Post by ctnicholas »

samstave wrote: post #4
ctnicholas wrote: post #2

My last interactive blog post, from a couple of years ago, went down really well, so thought you might like this one! Here's the last one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31987713

This is great! thank you - it inspires me that I need to do same. What are your thoughts on HTMX, how would that play when your using the Tailwinds stuff? (sorry, I am not familiar enough to perhaps use precise nomenclature on these two - but just curious on your thought on HTMX as it would relate to your post?

Thanks!

I always enjoy playing with new tech, and HTMX looks fun, though I wouldn't use it for anything serious. If you're looking for something fun and simple, I'd 100% recommend using Svelte on Astro, they're both a joy to use.

I built this with Next.js to learn, because I use it at work, and need to stay 100% up to date when I'm educating others. It also just has such a huge ecosystem which is hard to match.

Tailwind's Catalyst UI kit only supports React, so it wouldn't work I'm afraid!

Re: A new blog for 2024

#106

Post by ctnicholas »

epiccoleman wrote: post #52

Catalyst looks pretty neat. I decided not to go with any kind of component system for the latest iteration of my blog / personal site, and overall I like that decision - I know how everything on the site works, and I just write articles in plain HTML. I really enjoy the flexibility I get from this approach, and it's allowed me to do some neat layout things on certain articles without having to figure out how to escap…

Right, the most important thing is getting your posts out there! I say do what works best for you, we all have knowledge and experience in different areas, and there isn't a single solution for everyone.

Re: A new blog for 2024

#107

Post by ctnicholas »

wiseowise wrote: post #77

> I’m applying a tiny amount of film grain to the body. To me, this makes the page feel like one consistent piece; as you scroll down, the noise sticks to the content, somewhat similar to seeing texture on paper. That’s a really nice touch. It does help me with reading, kudos.

Thanks, appreciate it!

Re: A new blog for 2024

#108

Post by ctnicholas »

brigadier132 wrote: post #39
dmje wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, write a simple plugin that enables you to embed these using a shortcode, if there isn't an existing plugin that does it already? WordPress is insanely customisable - it's "just php". And sure, maybe his new skill learning could be coding on WordPress :-)

> I mean, write a simple plugin that enables you to embed these using a shortcode Ok, so learn php when they could just use js which they likely already know and likely get paid to know. Wordpress and php are negative value skills, you do not want to advertise that you know those things as a developer because someone might try to hire you for them.

You've been hilariously accurate here—I was actually a WordPress dev for years, and now I don't mention it because I'm not interested in those jobs. Haven't even told any of my colleagues!

Re: A new blog for 2024

#109

Post by ctnicholas »

kokanee wrote: post #88
Kharacternyk wrote: post #11

The background noise is a subtle detail I would have never noticed on my own, but it does subconsciously make the blog appeal to me. Content in front of something that looks like real paper appears more credible than the same content on a flat background.

I wonder if it looks different on different platforms. My first reaction looking at the site was that it looked super grainy - a lot of the embedded screenshots and interactive snippets are almost too noisy to read. I played with the setting and found that while I do like the aesthetic, it needs to be about half as strong to my eye.

Yes! There was a bug on iPhone, though I've fixed it now.

Re: A new blog for 2024

#110

Post by ctnicholas »

magnio wrote: post #56

I like Next.js and have used it for a few projects. However, my previous two blog iterations (yes, I remake my blog as often as writing blog post) with Next.js (page router) were less than ideal. Even with full static generation, Next.js still makes your site a React application. A page might be pre-rendered completely on the server, but Next will still ship JS to the client for hydrating ... zero dynamic content. He…

If you disable JavaScript in your browser and load my blog, you'll find the entire site works apart from the interactive components in the article! That's the only part that uses client-side JS.
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