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How to Start Your Blog in 2023

molodtsov.me

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Re: How to Start Your Blog in 2023

#121

Post by ravagat »

nordsieck wrote: post #111
lapcat wrote: post #106

I am the "weird dude who writes raw HTML" LOL. I had a self-hosted WordPress blog from 2006-2010, but security updates become a burden, especially since I had to modify the WP source code a little to do exactly what I wanted with the RSS feeds. After a few years of not blogging at all, I decided to use the simplest possible "system", which is writing blog posts in raw HTML in a text editor, as well as writing the RSS…

Not to knock your system since it sounds like it works great, but why not use a static site generator? That seems like it'd do the same thing and just take out some of the drudgery.

> It's not pretty, but it's zero maintenance. I've been doing that for 10 years now, and I don't think I'd ever go back to a third-party dependency.

SSG is third-party dependency in one way.

Re: How to Start Your Blog in 2023

#122

Post by indigodaddy »

lagniappe wrote: post #13

Shameless plug but I built a tiny unopinionated static site generator that is great for blogs. No toolchain or anything fancy, I just added RSS support too :) It would be my pleasure if someone wants to try it https://github.com/donuts-are-good/bearclaw

This looks fantastic! I was going to mess about with Picocms but going to try this instead in conjunction with either Caddy or a spare shared hosting I’ve got laying around. And for the composing I will either tack on staticcms, or spin up a fly.io instance of stackedit (which I will push my md’s/edits from there to GitHub and bearclaw). You were trying to keep things simple and here I go trying to complexify it lol..

I’ll try to remember to let you know how it turns out after I get it all going..

Re: How to Start Your Blog in 2023

#123

Post by tjr »

flangola7 wrote: post #105
Brajeshwar wrote: post #8

1. What you use or wherever you host, make sure that you can export your content in either plain text or a universal format that can be used by another tool or host it yourself. In short, own the content and use whatever tool it fits your current situations and limitations. 2. Possibly, try to get a domain of your own, and preferably a `.com`. Point that to whichever server you use (if they don't allow you to point,…

There's so many better options better than .com (commercial) .net .org .me .io .blog .info You can make it topical too .expert .engineer .doctor .camera .software Or have fun with it .lol .wtf .foo

Lots of good options, but what in your opinion would make .net or .org a better choice than .com ?

While perhaps not as pervasive as during the 1990s, I still feel like most people are more familiar with / assume / default to ".com" than any of the others.

Re: How to Start Your Blog in 2023

#124

Post by ant6n »

RistrettoMike wrote: post #107

I ran into the exact same issues as the author of this post the other day. I have a static site built on Hugo that I (amateurishly) set up a year or so ago, and would like it to have better support for photos & galleries, but lack the time + skill to implement that. I spent a late-night research session a few weeks back running through many of the main options they mention only to settle on the conclusion that there…

I came across an editor once where u can drop an image and it will put it in some directory and insert some markdown to link it. That seems like it would be a good choice for a static blog, although I didn’t try it (some Mac OS software from a year or two ago).

Re: How to Start Your Blog in 2023

#126

Post by malodyets »

ravagat wrote: post #121
nordsieck wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to knock your system since it sounds like it works great, but why not use a static site generator? That seems like it'd do the same thing and just take out some of the drudgery.

> It's not pretty, but it's zero maintenance. I've been doing that for 10 years now, and I don't think I'd ever go back to a third-party dependency. SSG is third-party dependency in one way.

It seems to me that a text editor is the same sort of dependency as a static site generator. Especially if you store the resulting site as rendered.

Re: How to Start Your Blog in 2023

#128

Post by colinflane »

lapcat wrote: post #106

I am the "weird dude who writes raw HTML" LOL. I had a self-hosted WordPress blog from 2006-2010, but security updates become a burden, especially since I had to modify the WP source code a little to do exactly what I wanted with the RSS feeds. After a few years of not blogging at all, I decided to use the simplest possible "system", which is writing blog posts in raw HTML in a text editor, as well as writing the RSS…

I was pleasantly surprised to learn writing raw html is not difficult, at all. I am not doing Rocket Science, though. As others say, static site generators introduce a layer of abstraction. I like writing in markdown too, but if I really cared to, I could write my own scripts to translate. However, I found that html does not introduce undue overhead. I am sure I could churn out content more quickly if I were writing in markdown, but at what cost? There is a cost to writing _too_ quickly. Myself, I find I actually like a little friction.

Re: How to Start Your Blog in 2023

#130

Post by jdminhbg »

ihateolives wrote: post #117
nordsieck wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to knock your system since it sounds like it works great, but why not use a static site generator? That seems like it'd do the same thing and just take out some of the drudgery.

Why add another layer? Right now the only tool he needs is an editor. That's it. Can't get any simpler than that. He also probably has a set of templates by now.

> Why add another layer?

The answer given:

> to take out some of the drudgery

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