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New blog

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Blogging
A view of some craggy rock formations. There are a number of different types: flat-faced, squat, square ones; tall, angular, smoother ones; some jagged and foreboding; others rounded and smooth; and a few more like rolling dunes. Some of the larger formations have windows and doorways carved into the side, hinting at some former habitation. In the distance the horizon is dominated by what appear to more cliffs. The foreground is arid, dry, but dotted with green bushes and a few spindly green trees. There is a dry dirt path leading into the rock formations.
Kapadokya, Türkiye
Table of Contents

This is my new blog. I’ll use it to write about things that interest me in some way.

Platform #

I’m using Hugo for the actual blogging, with the Congo theme (in sapphire). Assuming this actually works, it’ll be self-hosted on a tiny VPS (web server) from Ionos, running Alma Linux, and served by Caddy.

How did I decide which platform to use? I suppose that’s as good a place as any to begin my first post.

What about Ghost? #

To be honest, if you’re after blogging software, probably just go with Ghost. It’s pretty great.

It’s a solid platform, lots of themes, built in email newsletter and payment options (if that’s your thing). Crucially, it’s open source software and can be self-hosted too, so you can truly own your work. They do of course have managed plans if you don’t want to do it yourself. The wonderful Elena Rossini is showing just how much control we can take back with a little effort, and that there are tools out there making this a reasonable prospect for anybody.

Not only that: they’re helping build the new social web, allowing people to simply follow your blog from their social feed. Check out 404media for one of the pioneers; you can already follow @index@www.404media.co on any modern social platform to see their articles directly in your home feed. This is how we can clean up the web and make it work for us, not for the enrichment of the wealthy.

It’s also reportedly much cheaper than the main competition.

So why not Ghost then? #

I mean if it’s that good, why aren’t I just using it? A few main reasons:

  • Simplicity. Ghost is a really capable platform, but it’s also quite heavy. I wanted something lighter, more minimal. Mostly just plain text with a nice theme and maybe an image or two from time to time. The minimal style is just more my thing.

  • Learning. I want to learn and become more fluent with some tools (such as git); a platform like Hugo will allow me to do this in a way that Ghost doesn’t.

  • Ease of getting started self-hosted. I really don’t know what I’m doing, but I know that Hugo is a lot easier to just put something up somewhere without agonising over loads of details. Just pick a theme, get writing. The more complexity, the more likely I am to just delay longer and never actually do anything.

  • Portability. Hugo is all just plain markdown files. Easy to edit, easy to format, easy to backup. And, easy to just move my writing to any other platform if I decide something else is a better fit for me in the future.

  • Fun. I want this to be enjoyable. I like using Neovim for writing. The workflow of just making a page in my editor, building the site with Hugo, git for version control, simple files - it’s just nice and feels good to me.

Why Hugo and not something else? #

There are lots of other great platforms. Vuepress; Jekyll; Astro. The list goes on. No real objective reason for me choosing Hugo over something else. Mainly just everything else seemed to use npm or something else I don’t know yet.

Yes, I should probably learn those things too, but Hugo just appeared easier to get started for me personally. Lower initial cognitive load means I’m more likely to actually get writing rather than feel paralysed by all the choices and do nothing. I’d probably still be trying to decide which is ‘best’ now if I hadn’t just picked the one that looked easiest.

Also, I came across the Congo theme on Major Hayden’s blog and just really liked it.

…OK but what’s that name all about though seriously #

In Season 5 Episode 2 of The Next Generation, Darmok, Picard is called to make first contact with the Tamarians. An alien race whom the universal translator cannot understand. The words translate, but the meaning seems to be nonsense. Picard comes to realise that the species communicate in allegory and metaphor; in memes, essentially. It’s one of my favourite episodes. Maybe I should write about it some day.

In Tamarian culture, there is a legend of two great figures, Darmok and Jalad. How they slew a great beast, on the island of Tanagra, by working together. In their language, this “beast at Tanagra” represents a problem to be overcome by cooperation. I like the symbolism. I’m a big proponent of collaboration, and oppose silos. Plus, I just like the name. I think it’s a good name for my blog. And maybe that’s the most important reason.

Cover image #

Just an old photo I took on a trip to Kapadokya (Cappadocia), Türkiye. Somewhere east of Göreme, near Swords Valley. Not really any relevance to the post. But it’s a place I enjoyed visiting and has some unique views.

Some of the rock formations were inhabited in earlier times; you can see the windows and doorways that remain. We did see one formation elsewhere that was still occupied.