Regarding websites and writing
This is a disorganised list of ideas about websites and publishing.
- I like the idea of static site generators, but they seem to add some complexity that a blogging site like Pika just removes.
- I like the service that Pika offers, but I don’t use the web editor. This is the main feature of Pika, and what makes it so appealing to so many people.
- I really like Markdown, and Pika’s editor doesn’t support all the features of Markdown. Specifically, the CommonMark standard has features like multiple heading levels that Pika’s editor doesn’t support.
- The editor is Rhino and it’s based on Action Text - a text editing standard that predates markdown and is worse for it.
- If I want to switch away from Pika, I have to learn a lot about web development as I currently know nothing. Eleventy seems like the best option as it loads fast and is based on node.js, unlike Jekyll.
- I use Obsidian to write all my post with, mostly because it’s the best markdown editor I’ve found. I’m considering restructuring it to be more like kepano’s because I like that way of working.
- Ultimately, I want a custom domain. Running my own websites make it easy to do that.
- Self-hosting my blog is an interesting idea, and it’s something that would be very easy to do with Eleventy. It’s not something I’m able to do now though.
- Eleventy can pull all my blog content from GitHub.
- My last experience with GitHub went horribly, and I lost some work. I need to learn how to use these tools better
- Obsidian can push directly to GitHub using plugins. This is something to investigate
- I want a page where I can put up photos that I want to showcase. Again, this is fairly simple with Eleventy.
- Pika really is the best blogging platform out there right now. If you’re thinking about building a website for your blog, try Pika first.
- Currently, I’m copying and pasting my writing from Obsidian into Pika. It needs a lot of reformatting because of that, and any images that I insert need to be re-attached in Pika.
- This is incredibly frustrating to work around and is my main reason for wanting to move away
- Pika is web based and required an internet connection to use. As a surveyor, I often find myself in situations where I have limited or unstable internet access, which means I’m unable to publish or edit my blog.
- Obsidian can be used offline, and I can push to GitHub when I return to a stable connection.
- Using iCloud, I can sync my Obsidian Vault between every device I own, even my Windows machines. This means all my writing and all my attached images follow me wherever I go. iCloud as a sync engine is stupidly good.
I’ll make a second instalment of this list if I have any other ideas.