New blog; who dis?

31 Dec 2024

Time for a refresh! I’ve migrated this blog from Octopress to a clean Jekyll setup using the Hyde theme. Here’s what changed and why.

The Migration

The old blog was running on Octopress, which served me well but was showing its age. I decided to simplify things by moving to a vanilla Jekyll setup with the Hyde theme. Here’s what we did:

1. Theme Selection: Chose the Hyde theme for its clean, minimal design and great typography. The blue color scheme (theme-base-0d) gives it a calm, professional look.

2. Content Migration:
   • Preserved all the old posts
   • Maintained the same URL structure (/blog/YEAR/MONTH/DAY/title/)
   • Kept the excerpt functionality using <!-- more --> tags
3. Layout Updates:
   • Simplified the sidebar with Home, About, and Archive links
   • Added a “Recent Posts” section
   • Maintained the clean, readable typography
4. Features:
   • Archive page showing posts grouped by year
   • About page with all my social and professional links
   • Pagination on the home page
   • Proper excerpt support for post previews

Why the Change?

1. Simplicity: Jekyll’s straightforward approach means less maintenance and easier updates.
2. GitHub Pages: Direct deployment through GitHub Pages without additional build steps.
3. Modern Stack: Up-to-date dependencies and a more current development experience.
4. Performance: Faster build times and better page load performance.

What’s Next?

With this new setup, I’m looking forward to writing more regularly. The simplified workflow means I can focus on content rather than maintenance.

The source code for this blog is available on GitHub if you’re interested in the implementation details.

Here’s to the next chapter of Two Minute Spates! 🎉