Some of the more established bloggers are doing a series of questions about blogging and I’ve been tagged. Well kind of. Thanks David Bushell for opening it up to everyone! I’m also going to use this post to announce that I have finally set up a blogroll on my home page, which you will of course find him on.
Why did you start blogging in the first place?
I had a web server (read: old iPhone) and nothing to do with it. A blog seemed an obvious use for it and setting it up was a fun project.
What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?
The blog is created using Jekyll. I chose it because it looked the easiest of the static site generators. When I have some time I might switch to something else (11ty?) because the liquid templating language is kinda terrible. Just have a look at how much I have to write for the related posts section.
{\% assign has_heading = false \%}
{\% for post in site.posts \%}
{\% for tag in page.tags \%}
{\% if post.tags contains tag and post.title!=page.title and post.previous_in_series!=page.title and page.previous_in_series!=post.title \%}
{\% if has_heading != true \%}
<h2>related posts</h2><ul>
{\% assign has_heading = true \%}
{\%endif\%}
<li><a href=""></a>{\% if post.favourite \%}<span class="star">★<span class="small">favourite</span></span>{\%endif\%}</li>
{\%break\%}
{\%endif\%}
{\%endfor\%}
{\%endfor\%}
{\% if has_heading \%}
</ul>
{\%endif\%}
Have you blogged on other platforms before?
No.
How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that’s part of your blog?
I write in markdown although I end up writing more HTML in it than I would like because markdown has frustrating gaps in it and Jekyll is really hard to extend.
When do you feel most inspired to write?
Usually when I feel particularly strong emotions about something or when I disagree with what people often say about a topic and want to express my point of view. I also write when I think that I might have something that could help other people such as my UCAS statement.
Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
I almost never publish immediately, mostly because of the strong feelings thing.
I also usually make lots of format changes before publishing because I don’t think that my writing is usually very good the first time around. I often leave out important information because I forget that not everyone is inside my head.
What are you generally interested in writing about?
I don’t have a set theme for this blog, it’s just an outlet for whatever I’m thinking about.
Who are you writing for?
Myself and my singular reader. Hi!
What’s your favorite post on your blog?
Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?
Move to a better templating language and static site generator, maybe webmentions. I don’t really have a plan beside that but I’m sure I’ll decide to add something at some point!
Tag ‘em
I’m going to follow David’s lead and tag You. If you don’t have a blog, looks like your going to need one. Have a look at how to get started with a website or just go with Bearblog.