On starting a blog
Creating a personal page has been on my mind for years. I attempted it various times in the past, without success, but I think I think now I finally have a setup that I like and that will motivate me to write more. If anyone happens to read this, this first post explains the motivation behind it and what can you expect in the future.
My previous attempts
In the past I have tried to use various tools like Jekyll, Hugo or even Emacs Org Mode for creating my own page/blog, but never ended up with something permanent. Usually I would write a couple of posts and then forget about it. I believe this was caused by a few reasons:
- I never really got to customize those tools exactly as I wanted
- I did not have a godo idea of what type of page that I would like to have
- I put pressure on myself to have a "good" blog, which would then demotivate me
I remember in my latest attempt some years ago, I was trying to use Hugo. I gave up shortly after because I found it super dificult to understand how it worked andahow to customize it. I started by getting a theme that I liked, but then I felt my website looked a bit generic and uninsteresting. Then, I tried to create my own themes but Hugo has so many concepts that learning how to use it became a chore for me.
The solution for this is, or so I hope, was writing my own static site generator. While writing one from scratch is certainly more work that just learning how to use Hugo, it is way more fun. It also has the advantage that if I want to change something, I know exactly where I have to make that change, instead of having to read dense documentation about Hugo concepts (or use AI I guess).
What is this website about
I enjoy writing about whatever I am interested or learning at a particular time. This will be the main purpose of this page: Blog posts about topics I find interesting and a list of projects/things I am working on.
I might also write at some point about scuba or free diving or about travelling, but it's mostly going to be about tech.
Writing for the sake of writing
Earlier this year I started journaling (with pen and paper), and I realized I enjoy writing. I find it very helpfull to write whenever I am dealing with a complex problem, either some haskell concept I am struggling to learn, or even reviewing a dificult PR job.
Of course, all of those things could just be a set of private notes (and some are), but writing a blog post that someone might at some point read that is much more rewarding.
Target audience
There is not a particular target audience I would say for this page, but probably people that have some interest in tech, open source and software, since that's what I willbe mostly writing about.
Where to host it
At first I was thinking of just using codeberg pages, but I decided to buy a VServer Lite with a custom domain on netcup. The reason is that way I can just rsync my files into the server vs having to commit and push my html files into a repo, and also that I can see who is accessing my server, if anyone at all.
Usage of AI
I will not use AI to write or edit any of text here. This has very litle to do with my opinions about AI (which I do have a few), but more because I enjoy the process of writing.