I like to complicate things.

It starts with an idea. One of those "wouldn't it be cool if I did..." Then I do some research about the thing (I generally enjoy researching things). Then over the next few days, as I learn more and add on to the idea, I turn something that was once simple into a complicated mess of a project. It no longer feels fun. It becomes a daunting chore full of unnecessary requirements I've placed on myself.

That's how this project started.

For a few years now I've wanted to start my own blog. A blog to house the random thoughts or ideas I had, but also a blog that would teach me a thing or two about static site generators (SSGs) and modern web development techniques along the way.

It wasn't until this summer that I finally got serious about the idea. I started planning a simple site that had a few basic requirements. I had my SSG picked out. I had some basic style ideas I would implement. Then I started doing some research.

It went something like this:

Oh, I should get a headless content management system so I can have a cool authoring experience. Let me google the best ones.

Well this one is rated well, but isn't free. This one is too complex. This one is too simple. The editing experience on this one doesn't look that great. If I decide to switch CMS's will all my content be stuck on that platform, or can I migrate?

Do I even need a headless CMS?

...

Maybe I should make a mockup. I wonder what tools exist for making mockups? I've heard figma is used a lot in the UI/UX design space.

Do they have a free option? Is it even the best tool out there anymore? It's kind of getting old. And Adobe tried to buy it but the deal hasn't gone through yet. What else is out there?

Penpot is open source, but other people say it's missing some features.

...

What's the best way to organize my CSS stylesheets? What's standard practice? Let me watch some videos on this.

And so on...

Just like that...

I'd spent weeks of my spare time researching content management systems, pretending I needed to learn a new design tool, spending hours on YouTube watching web development techniques, continuously adding complexity. Not all of what I learned was useless, but most of it wasn't contributing towards my goal. Instead it made me tired. It didn't sound fun anymore, but more like work.

I was eventually brought back to reality by a Kevin Powell video. To paraphrase: You can spend all this time watching YouTube videos, but at some point you have to start making something.

Properly called out, I took a step back, simplified and refocused my efforts around the original intent, and got to work.

What you see is the current result. But it's a living work in progress and will probably change over time.

Anyway. Expect posts about anything and everything in sporadic intervals.