This will be my last post on tumblr. I have decided and have been working with Jekyll and some more tools, to move, to something self hosted and easier to manage.
Jekyll was chosen because:
- Everything ever uploaded, is plain HTML: This makes page-loads faster. Makes it very easy, to change web hosts, if/when that will be required/warranted. Since all pages will be plain HTML, it will be very easy to adapt to newer HTML standards, not that, when I first switch over to Jekyllrb, the site HTML will be W3C valid. But this would be one of the goals to attain, to become standards compliant. No database(s) to worry about, backup, etc.
- Backups become very easy: I use backblaze for backing up everything, and I mean 5TB of everything - Backblaze is just awesome. Since there’s no database to backup or any dynamic scripts to use and everything is just static. This makes everything, very easy to backup; backblaze will do the job just fine. MEGA will be helpful in syncing everything between my devices, also acting as a second tier backup - I love backups. This will make it possible to write and publish from any device, and will copy over any changes made to anything. Git is being used for version control.
- Awesome community: Most of the blogging modules are, already, written and available withing jekyll or as extensions/plugins. Anything else I may need, I can code. Being able to code and tell jekyll what to produce as a blog, is just plain awesome. It Opens up space, for a lot of experimentation, creativity and options for writing blog posts on my experimentations with Jekyll.
- Jekyll uses Liquid: Liquid is a templating framework that, I am used to. This makes it very easy to change the UI and design elements of the blog.
- No bloatware: This point is synonomous with pt. 1 above. Static HTML, so no scripts running, no crons to process, and I still retain the ability to write something now, and publish in the future.
- More focus on writing: Again since nothing like Ghost/Wordpress is being used, writing is given more focus. No need to add plugins/change themes. Since everything, mostly everthing, will be done by hand, this will dissuade and make me think twice, before I install any plugins/extentions to Jekyll. At the same time, Liquid will help in getting the look and feel just right over a period of time.
- Almost no work involved, in importing posts: Importing posts from tumblr is a breeze with jekyll-import. With wordpress, etc. this would be possible, but the HTML tags would come with the import and any theme would have some problem with the HTML used. Since the posts have tailor made HTML/CSS attributes and classes used in conjunction with Minelienda.
- No need of adding more HTML/CSS tags: As I mentioned before, I am used to publishing from desk as a draft to tumblr, then working/adding HTML/CSS attributes to make the post look just right. This will not be the case with Jekyll. I will be using Desk’s and exporting my posts as HTML.
- Publishing online: Publishing and deploying will be, very easy, especially when I setup continuous integration.
Downside of using Jekyll:
- Limited integration with Desk: I use Desk for writing, everyday. Using Desk, will be limiting in terms of saving/exporting a post directly as a markdown file. John has plans, for integrating this feature, but it will take time. ’til then I will have to copy paste or export my posts as HTML.
- Everything is HTML: Because jekyll generates static HTML, any correction needed will require the entire site to be regenerated. This is not a big issue because, the regenertion/building will be done offline. Given that, I have to think about this too, because, one of my goals is to better my grammar and language use. And this point w.r.t to any corrections, will make me read my writ four times over, and check my writing for mistakes.
- Unique modifications, will take time: Adding a module, unique to my needs, will take time to code, test and deploy.
- Getting comfortable publishing: I will take some time to become comfortable with using Jekyll to publish my posts.
Further Changes to the structure of my blogs:
Going ahead with jekyll, I have decided that, I will be integrating some blogs, and thus posting on fewer blogs. Poems.sojourner.co, design.sojourner.co, code.sojourner.co and travel.sojourner.co will be integrated and assimilated into one blog - blog.sojourner.co. Sojourner.photography and blog.writingprom.pt will remain independant and music.sojourner.co will remain on tumblr, since I use that site as a personal playlist of sorts.
Cheers!
