The Core Dump
It updates the blog, or it gets the hose again.
Closer to the metal
If you’re reading this site through an RSS reader, you all of a sudden had a bunch of old posts show up as new. Sorry about that. The reason is that Captain Can’t-Leave-Well-Enough-Alone had to go and switch to a new blog engine.
And yes, reading bloggers talking about their blog systems is often the same kind of fun as reading about somebody’s dreams. “Ooooh, the doll was really me, but with a machete for a hand…” Splendid. Do tell me more.
So the rest of this post is for people who care inordinately about blogging systems. Everybody else can move along and enjoy their day.
The problem with WordPress
I’ve powered this blog with WordPress since 2006, when another content management system had a rather spectacular meltdown—the kind of meltdown that takes a few days of non-stop effort to restore and in the end only validates that you made a bad decision.
Oy vey.
But let it be said that WordPress has served me well. At this point WordPress is a mature and solid content management system. It’s the first thing I recommend to people who are new to blogging—a fantastic system for people who aren’t nerds. Hell, I built a news site on WordPress, one which is run by students on a day-to-day basis, and works shockingly well.
But for myself, I don’t enjoy blogging with WordPress any more. It’s big. It’s slow. It has the kitchen sink built in. The abstraction chain is too great—I looked at the HTML my blog outputs the other day and was stunned at the sheer amount of JavaScript and HTML my plugins were pushing out. In short, there’s too much magic, magic of the bad kind. I need to be close to the metal and know what’s going on.1
Being the paranoid kind, I also have this kind of subroutine running in the back of my mind all the time saying, “Your blog is going to get hacked! Did you install the latest security patch? Did you? Did you? Larry? Larry?”
That little voice is no fun at all.
Making the move
Prompted in some part by Brent Simmons, who rightly finds it unconscionable that blogs in 2011 are still keeling over from a fireballing/slashdotting, I wanted to find a system that would allow me to serve static HTML and not have to worry both about performance. As a side-benefit, I wouldn’t have to worry about security as much either.
Jekyll fits the bill. What we have here is a system that allows you the flexibility of a content management system, but serves up baked HTML. It’s the best of both worlds. I, for one, am signed up.
Apart from the Wiki at GitHub linked earlier, there is an indispensable guide to migrating to Jekyll from WordPress. If you want to follow me into the wonderful world of baked blogs, please read it. It’s wonderful. Kudos.
At this point, I feel liberated. It’s a good, good thing.
Posted Sunday, 01 May, 2011 by Nic Lindh
For your enjoyment, the 10 latest posts
Book roundup, part eleven
Another book roundup, including some stellar athletes and soldiers, what might be the most jaded, soul-weary protagonist ever, and some grimdark fantasy.
Paywalls and tinfoil hats
The Internet is getting creepy, and Nic is breaking out his tinfoil hat after newspaper paywalls push him over the edge.
OK then, Mr. Gekko
Nic is tired of tech sites obsessing over Apple’s financials and business strategy. So very tired.
Read this book: Salt Sugar Fat
Nic reads a book about the processed food industry and is incensed.
The cargo cult of technology
Computers are complicated. This brings out the irrational in people.
Seen a Rechthaberei lately?
Nic proposes the loan word Rechthaberei be incorporated into American English.
Book roundup, part ten
The Core Dump is back! Books were read during the hiatus. Includes The Coldest Winter, Oh, Myyy!, Tough Sh*t, The Revolution Was Televised, The Rook, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, Gun Machine, Fortress Frontier, Standing in Another Man’s Grave, and The Memory of Light.
The Core Dump is hibernating
This site will return in February.
Book roundup, part nine
From a true patriot to a world-weary detective, a dead god, and a civilization about to sublime from the galaxy, this book roundup spans the gamut. Includes Where Men Win Glory, Wild, Inside the Box, The Black Box, Three Parts Dead, Red Country, and The Hydrogen Sonata.
Ode to joy
Springsteen gives a concert in Phoenix. It’s fantastic.
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