But the point is that if you just want to write on the web and not deal with a bunch of nonsense, learning a whole CMS like WordPress can be a pain. I cringe when people give WP a bad name, as it really is awesome and it's pretty much how I make my living. But you can't deny that if you just want simple posting features, WordPress can be a little unnecessarily large.
For my personal blog though, I enjoy Jekyll (via Octopress) because it's hands-on and an educational experience for someone like me that's trying to become a better developer. I learn a lot just jumping in to the source code and trying to figure things out, and it even inspires small coding projects/ideas.
If you need to hammer a nail you don't use a screwdriver. The right tool is what matters.
But then I stumbled onto or more so realized that I had a road block. Namely that of practicality.
I mean it meant that I needed to be on the command line to actually post and I needed to run Git commands to add files/posts and then push to the server. I couldn't post from my cell phone or iPad. Most of my browsing these days is from my iPad.
I mean blogging from WordPress/Blogger isn’t as clean/elite but at least you can edit through the web as well as optionally via a separate application. So if the barriers to create are too high I may as well be using WordPress/Tumblr/Blogger.
I tested out Cloud9 IDE since it ties in nicely with GitHub repositories and covers the base of being able edit througth the web... But the workflow still didn't work. Everything besides blogging 'got in the way'.
If you want to blog like a hacker, start by writing content that doesn't suck.
If you want to feel elite and 'static HTMLy' about it, then:
- Set up a simple content creation site that supports your content creation workflow best.
- Set up your elite Jekyll site.
- Set up a cronjob and a HTML parser which downloads and reformats your posts from your simple content creation site and feeds them to Jekyll.It's very similar in spirit but uses python and the corresponding tools to get the job done.
I'm using it for a new-baby-picture-proud-parents blog (which I won't link to due to its private nature). It's not very feature-rich, but it gets the job done.
Here is what I wrote about this in my book:
"The default WordPress look is clean and minimalist. Depending on your aesthetic preferences, you may like that look a lot. But it would be a mistake to settle for this default theme, for three reasons:
1. Most new blogs use the default theme. Sticking with it won’t help your blog stand out from the crowd.
2. Visitors value eye candy. Beautiful design will greatly help your blog succeed.
3. The default theme has very limited features and customization options.
Spend some time evaluating other themes, until you find one that fits your style and the type of blog you intend to run. If you’re running a team blog that will be updated on a daily basis, for example, a magazine or even newspaper style theme may be a good idea."
> The theme for the blog and two static pages took up 12 files of HTML and PHP layouts. Furthermore I had made several hacks to make things be just the way I wanted.
I know WordPress is an easy target on some fronts, but this point seems like a stretch. Twelve files plus hacks?
I don't know all your site requirements, but 2 to 4 WP theme files would probably work for what I see on your site.
I'd be interested to see what the twelve files included. I'm no expert but maybe I could offer some tips for simplifying things?
Obviously Wordpress does not suck, it is one of the most used blogging platforms. The feeling I got when tweaking it to do something different from the standard themes was that I was using a chainsaw to slice a loaf of bread. It was certainly powerful enough and it could certainly get the job done, but it wasn't easy and it wasn't elegant.
And here is an overview of the files in my custom wordpress theme: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3240627/wordpress_folder_structure.p... :)
Jekyll's "static pages" approach has a lot of appeal to me, so if I were starting over I'd give it a serious look.
The filesystem is built of just folders and text files, and it creates a blog automatically. Very minimal and doesn't require any kind of admin backend.
Go into the /app folder and change the permissions on the _cache folder to be 777 (completely public).
I thought lots of uploads/cache folders on blogging platforms have 777? I'm a lay person, indulge me.