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Discussion on: What tool/framework/cms/etc do you use to build your own personal website?

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Joseph Jude

I started my blog jjude.com more than a decade ago. I started it when I was learning SQL as API developer. I was good in visual basic, but not on oracle / sql server. So I was looking for almost same type of issues over and over again. Those days search and speed weren't as good as it is now. So I started to note down my issues and answers which worked as reference for me.

I follow what C.S. Lewis said: I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself. I continue that path of noting down things for myself.

Those days I started with plain htmls, then moved to nucleus cms, then to wordpress. I stayed with wordpress for long. But I would go without going to my blog for long (sometimes even 6 months). But then there were memory and security issues on wordpress. So I decided to move back to plain HTML.

Recently I coded my own static engine olai which serves my purpose. Think of it as static blogging as a web-service. I can blog from any browser, it generates plain html and pushes to my server. This has worked out pretty well for me. Someday either I will make it available for others.

Regarding your #1. As we notice other things and we ourselves mature, our tastes evolve (or change). So it is normal that you want to update / modify / confused about what to show. Sometimes I write and publish a post every other day for a quarter and then go silent for couple of quarters. Then I will revisit and tinker with how it looks. And I repeat.

As I said, I blog for myself. It has been a fantastic experience to put out what I know.

I would recommend you to continue to blog. Unless you are a designer (css, ux, whatever other niches are there), don't bother about look of your site. If you write valuable advice, people will come back to your site again and again. Then some will tell you what you have to change (may be you have glaring colors, may be some thing is broken in a particular browser etc). I visit daring fireball, marco.org, and dev.to most often. None of them have fancy design. I go back because I get value there.

Good luck. Keep sharing.