I am currently in the process of trying to learn Jekyll so I can build my blog on my local machine and then push to Github Pages. My initial impression is that I'm not crazy about it. Why does it have to be so hard just to set up a blog using markdown? Sigh.
Just start with a free theme from the internet to get up and running quickly (just search "free Jekyll themes"). As time passes, you will find yourself rewriting half the code anyway and adding a heap of stuff.
You can see my blog now vs. the original theme — although I changed a lot behind the scenes SEO and performance-wise as well as the visible changes
Pretty much! I'm still using Jekyll, still using the same original theme – although now I've changed so much of it that it's almost completely different! 😅
Now I use Netlify to host my blog (also free), but the code is still taken from the GitHub repository.
Prior to publishing I paste my text to Grammarly. It gives a lot of bogus suggestions, but does find many common mistakes that my brain otherwise ignores.
One thing I do think Grammarly is great at is removing local jargon from text. A lot of what I write is Pittsburghese which doesn't help globally with people learning proper British English.
For instance, saying something needs fixed vs needs to be fixed. I will never naturally say the to be, but that's proper English.
Interesting read. It is pretty much exactly the same as I am doing it :)
I wrote my own blogging backend with Django, markdown with extensions for diagrams, tables and pygments for code highlighting. I was actually thinking about adding Latex as well although I don't have that much formulas.
I first write in Sublime with awesome Markdown support (through extensions), that paste that to my blog admin.
I also let it rest for some time until I proof read again
I also published my posts on Reddit and got hated a lot. However, the clicks and views I got was amazing. I had in article on /r/programming that was in the top 3 for half a day and got tens of thousands of view and hundreds of comments. The same article just got a few reactions on dev.to. However, I just love the community here.
The line wrapping depends on the code actually. If a project has a lot of API docs I'll have it on to write those docs easily inline. Other code, like the Leaf compiler, it'll tend to remain off.
But yes, I've divorced myself from monospace fonts. I only ever see those ugly things in places here, like this edit box! Why on earth do comment boxes on the web use monospace fonts?
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
I am currently in the process of trying to learn Jekyll so I can build my blog on my local machine and then push to Github Pages. My initial impression is that I'm not crazy about it. Why does it have to be so hard just to set up a blog using markdown? Sigh.
Just start with a free theme from the internet to get up and running quickly (just search "free Jekyll themes"). As time passes, you will find yourself rewriting half the code anyway and adding a heap of stuff.
You can see my blog now vs. the original theme — although I changed a lot behind the scenes SEO and performance-wise as well as the visible changes
That looks really good! Are you still on Github Pages using Jekyll? 😄
Pretty much! I'm still using Jekyll, still using the same original theme – although now I've changed so much of it that it's almost completely different! 😅
Now I use Netlify to host my blog (also free), but the code is still taken from the GitHub repository.
That's awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Hmm.. Are you trying to change templates and such? If not, Jekyll should not be so difficult to start with one of its many themes :).
The only reason I had chosen Jekyll was github.io. Later, I saw that effort as futile and moved to Hugo and Netlify.
Shameless self-plug: github.com/prashanth1k/levelup-you...
One thing I do think Grammarly is great at is removing local jargon from text. A lot of what I write is Pittsburghese which doesn't help globally with people learning proper British English.
For instance, saying something
needs fixedvsneeds to be fixed. I will never naturally say the to be, but that's proper English.Interesting read. It is pretty much exactly the same as I am doing it :)
Certainly Reddit can bring a lot of views. As can a post on the front-page of Hackernews.
For anybody who reads stuff regularly, posting what you like to Reddit, Hackernews, and other places, can help the authors a lot!
You use a proportional font and line wrapping for programming? I don't know if I'm impressed or horrified.
The line wrapping depends on the code actually. If a project has a lot of API docs I'll have it on to write those docs easily inline. Other code, like the Leaf compiler, it'll tend to remain off.
But yes, I've divorced myself from monospace fonts. I only ever see those ugly things in places here, like this edit box! Why on earth do comment boxes on the web use monospace fonts?