In my previous post, I shared my journey from WordPress to Ghost, navigating the ever-changing landscape of blogging platforms. WordPress seemed to have lost its way, like a compass that only pointed to confusion. Writing on it made me feel as comfortable as a penguin in the desert.

In search of simplicity, I turned to Ghost—a platform that promised a clean and straightforward experience. While it mostly delivered, it still had a few bells and whistles that felt a bit excessive for my needs.

What are my needs?

  • Just simple writing
  • Code highlighting
  • A straightforward blogging layout
  • Simple RSS integration

But Ghost is a bit too generous for me. It offers subscription features (which didn’t work for me because I needed to set up an email server), themes (some of which are paid options), and a statistical dashboard.

Maybe I’ll need those extra features someday, or maybe I’ll be perfectly content living in the simplicity of the present. The point is, I had to put on my explorer’s hat and venture into the depths of Ghost’s settings to unlock and exorcise the annoying clutter.

Déjà vu. I’m afraid Ghost might be following WordPress’s direction.

Enter Jekyll on GitHub Pages

However, there is a shining alternative. Jekyll on GitHub Pages.

Jekyll is a static site generator that supports blogging, offering a straightforward and peaceful experience. Imagine yourself in a calm meadow, writing your content in Markdown, inspired by the gentle breeze. It’s a serene and refreshing way to create your blog.

What’s even better? Jekyll doesn’t need an admin panel to hold your hand. It trusts you to unleash your writing prowess in a plain old text editor. No hand-holding necessary!

And guess what? The code highlighting is superb without needing any additional plugins.

Ruby

(1..5).each do |counter|
  puts "iteration #{counter}"
end

Typescript

class PointPerson implements Person {
    name: string
    move() {}
}

Clojure

(defn hello3
  ([] "Hello World")
  ([name] (str "Hello " name)))

Kotlin

fun not(f: (Int) -> Boolean): (Int) -> Boolean {
        return {n -> !f.invoke(n)}
    }

It doesn’t stop there. Jekyll’s static nature means you can bid farewell to backend maintenance headaches.

Happy coding, happy blogging!