Medium & Co. are good for write stuff down in a simple way.
I prefer self-hosting with jekyll.
Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
131–140 of 199 posts
Re: Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
The main problem with Web design, I'm increasingly convinced, is that Browser Defaults Suck. Seriously: if Motherfucking Website, (or Better Motherfucking Website) were the defaults, we'd be ahead of the game. A few other hacks (use "http { font-size: medium }" for example, to default to the user's preferred font size) to further address that. I'm looking for a browser that defaults to Reader Mode by default. Maybe i…
It's fairly straightforward to outline a set of heuristics to use that would trigger automatic reader mode, if you start by looking at the types of pages you'd expect it to work on (e.g., motherfuckingwebsite.com, cr.yp.to, etc) and work backwards. The hard part isn't speccing it out or implementing it, it's convincing Firefox or Chromium that it's a worthwhile thing to roll into the browser. I've been thinking about…
Maciej is definitely one of the people whose absolutely dab smack on with his criticisms. Bloat, tracking, annoyances, poor design. Most are a direct consequence of advertising-based content support.
I'm thinking of a Reader-Mode browser, period.
Stock stylesheets. Ignore the site's styles. Maybe provide various themes for the user. Further heuristics to strip other cruft. And a "mercy killing" mode which simply abandons all native markup and presents a page stripped of everything, if it's sufficiently bad.
Say the green text on blue background, with every paragraph individually absolutely positioned, centered justification, H2 headings used for body text, and Microsoft "smart quotes" throughout. I've seen all this (though perhaps not quite all on the same page).
Re: Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
#133I've recently settled on a mostly-free self-hosting platform: Jekyll + Github Pages + Google Domains + Kloudsec. Jekyll and Github Pages keeps the deployment simple and Google Domains has proven to be simple, cheap, and reliable. I tried Kloudsec out last week on a whim after seeing it on HN, and so far it's great - simple, free SSL with let's encrypt. https://evancordell.com if interested. It needs a little more lov…
I wish I had chosen github pages as my hosting platform too. Instead I bought a shared hosting on cyber Monday.
I'm using middleman.
Coding the stylesheet for the blog and getting the whole site working was certainly fun but writing handcoded markdown and publishing via the shell surely requires some getting used to.
My advice: use github pages for your blog to avoid the guilt of paying for hosting services that you don't need. http://unixheaven.com if anyone's interested.
Re: Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
#134I used Docker recently to host my own blog, in an attempt to put ads on it and whatever Wordpress extensions I wanted. Despite getting a healthy number of views (nothing extraordinary) the income was basically 0. It just wasn't worth the candle.
Re: Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
#135I'm embarrassed to say that I still hand write my blog directly in HTML using Notepad++ and manually FTP changes to the hosting company. Most of my blog is static HMTL, with a smidgen of script for analytics or occasional interaction. Every now and then I'll use some light PHP (typically when I need interaction with a database on the server).
Me too!
Well, not a blog, but my web site.
But I'd love to see a resurgence of a Bricolage- or MovableType-like tool.
Re: Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
#136I spent a couple of weeks developing a blogging system in Django last summer. Doing so allows for great customization and fits exactly my needs.
It was more fun than writing actual blog content though.
Re: Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
#137My observation is that about 90% of the Wordpress sites out there don't need Wordpress. All they really need is html/css.
This! They are so boated and for no reason whatsoever.
Re: Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
#138I used Docker recently to host my own blog, in an attempt to put ads on it and whatever Wordpress extensions I wanted. Despite getting a healthy number of views (nothing extraordinary) the income was basically 0. It just wasn't worth the candle.
Does it always have to make you money?
I feel blogging is much more about sharing content, building a community and meeting new people. In my personal experience i met a few people through various blogs and it was worth much more, than a few dollars.
If you're only blogging to make money, you're doing something wrong. It's the same with startups and other things. Do it for the fun, and not for the money!
Re: Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
#139I'm embarrassed to say that I still hand write my blog directly in HTML using Notepad++ and manually FTP changes to the hosting company. Most of my blog is static HMTL, with a smidgen of script for analytics or occasional interaction. Every now and then I'll use some light PHP (typically when I need interaction with a database on the server).
It's a good solution if it's what you need. Focus on the content, not on the tech behind it!
Re: Is Self Hosted Blogging Dead?
#140I host my own blog (http://junglecoder.com) on a VPS at the moment. But I went rather overboard with it, as I built my own CMS-lite in go. I was in college, wanted to learn how the web worked at a decently low level (lower than wordpress or rails).
What I've discovered is that having a VPS opens up a world of opportunities for network related things. I've used that site to host Ludum Dare entries, ClickOnce .NET apps, and a Wiki Profile image that I used to see if anyone was looking at my page on a company wiki. An SSH tunnel has allowed me to bypass some firewalls that block the majority of ports.... I've learned a lot on that server. Some of the best $50/year that I spend in terms of hosting stuff.