This is the fourth iteration of this site. I'm not exactly sure, but I think I'm coming up on roughly six years of having this thing online. When I was writing the first version, hand-coding everything in HTML and CSS, Game of Thrones was still on TV. While I don't think I'd design it the same today, I was pretty pleased with it at the time.

But man, it was hard to update. Every new post required a new HTML page, which is kind of insane to think about today. A couple years ago I switched to Wordpress, the idea being that if the site was easier to update, I might do it more. Partially this plan worked out, and yet I never really felt at home with the design. The themes were too limiting, the options to edit specifics too restricted. Most problems seemed to require a plugin to solve. Each plugin added to the list of ways the entire site could theoretically be compromised. Tutorials constantly tried to shill paid classes, paid themes, and paid plugins. Wordpress never felt like a place I wanted to spend time in, never felt like a place where I could make what I wanted.

Which brings us to version four. It's now a static site, made with Eleventy, which will hopefully draw the right balance between customizability and ease of use. Right now it's pretty bare bones; the design isn't finalized and I have a long list of features to implement and posts to write. But I'm optimistic. It feels right leaving behind the databases and pre-made templates. I get to code all the features I want and can write posts easily in markdown.

More than that though, it feels right having a place to post things away from all the platform-acquisitions and moderation-decisions.

Welcome to the new site!