It happens a bunch of time every other day (or week, or even month, depending on how active and lively I am) that I face some new stuff that I have to look them up and learn about them. Either when I'm working, reading, or watching an episode of an old favorite show. Often, the first thing I tell my self after learning about the unknown thing is "will I remember it tomorrow?". Of course the answer is not always the same, experience proved, but fortunately it has not stopped me so far from learning. Although, unfortunately, regardless of remembering the new knowledge the next day or not, I will most definitely not remember it after a few days, if I don't face the issue again, AND AGAIN, for at least a few times.
Here's another thought that occurs to me right after gaining the new knowledge: I should write this shit down, somewhere. Well let me ask you something my friend. Where the hell?
I'm sure there are a lot of different platforms and applications that can be used for this purpose. But guess what? I'm a software developer. This seems like something that can easily turn into a weekend project. Although do I need that? Of course not.
Why a blog at all?
Most of my learning happens while:
- working on a problem
- relaxing and reading/watching/interacting
And in most cases I don't get to write down what I've learned. Writing forces clarity. If I can’t explain something clearly, I usually don’t understand it well enough. My ambitious is to write what ever I remember at the end of the day. It wouldn't always work, but life can go on with those missed stuff, as long as I try to be committed whenever I have the time.
This blog is mainly for:
- future me
- other developers who think similarly
- anyone curious enough to read
What is this all about?
The idea here is to make a simple tool for myself that is:
- fun enough to work on as a side project
- simple enough to not give up on it
- practical enough to make writing simple and fast
For the fun part I chose Next.js, because it's been a while that I have been wanting to start learning it. For simplicity I skipped building the backend or using a CMS. At least for now.
I don’t need:
- a web editor: since I want to keep it simple
- a database: I can host the content simply on a private git repo
- authentication and an admin panel: It's only me who is going to write here
I need:
- files for content
- version control
- a fast way to publish
Markdown + Git already solve those problems extremely well. If writing a post takes more than a few minutes to publish, I simply won’t do it.
Why static?
This site is built as a static site on purpose. That means:
- no backend
- no runtime server logic
- content is generated at build time
The benefits are boring, which is exactly what I want:
- fast
- cheap
- secure
- very little to maintain
I can always add more later. I can’t easily remove complexity once it’s there.
Closing thoughts
This blog is intentionally simple. If it turns into something more, that’s fine. If it stays small and quiet, that’s also fine. The important part is that it exists, and that I actually use it.