Tim Harrison

I Think Your Holding It Wrong!

Ok! So I've started a blog....now what? Well if you haven't noticed this very minimalist blog was built using Eleventy or 11ty for short. It's a static site generator, that makes developing a static site easy.

"So...work out what you want to write and just use this generator thing and out pops a website?"

Well I thought it would be this simple as well.... Please don't let me put you off! it is a lot easier than learning to code HTML, CSS and Javascript to create a simple site, but a little research is needed to really get started. Now a little bit of backstory is needed here, I always start a project, no matter what it is, with simple intentions. What I mean by that is I only set off, with the idea that I'll do only the minimal amount of research required to get started and hopefully not either

  1. Get lost down the rabbit hole and end up researching more and more, losing sight of said project.

or

  1. Get overwhelmed, put the project off, possibly indefinitely and move on to another project or idea.

Well both happened, as you can imagine when starting this blog project. Don't get me wrong knowing a bit of HTML, CSS and Javascript will really help when starting your own website. However taking a 20 hour HTML and CSS youtube course, probably isn't what's needed to start with. What I would recommend is, at the very least learning a bit about how you want to host your shiny new site. I chose to host mine using Codeberg.

Similar to Github or Gitlab Pages, you can build your site using a static site generator, locally on your desktop PC. 'push' the generated contents to said repository and the new site can be viewed, using the sub domain provided.

I would also recommend knowing at least the basics of git. Git is used with online git forges like Codeberg to 'copy' you empty repository, make your changes and then 'paste' the new files and amendments to the online code repository.

As you can see I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about....Well after 10 hours of said HTML and CSS course and several weeks procrastinating, almost being put off starting the project, looking up other Linux distros to switch to, researching about building a loft extension. I finally have a very basic grasp of Git, a slightly improved knowledge of HTML and CSS, the same Linux distro I started with and have moved on from the loft extension project to something else.

But the site is here!.... for all to see!

What I will say, is don't give up, it doesn't have to be as convoluted as I decided to make it.

It always makes me think, when I make things harder than they should be.

"Mmmmmm! I Think I'm Holding It Wrong!"

Looking for comments? There are no comments. It's not that I don't care what you think, it's just that I don't want to manage a comments section.

If you want to comment mention this post on Fosstodon and I will reply there.