Setting things up...

After reading up on Jekyll, a 'simple, blog-aware, static site generator', and a brief review of Markdown syntax, it's finally time to actually pick some topics and write about them.

Though completely customizable, Jekyll makes it very easy to simply jump in using the default settings and start blogging. Given the option, I opted not to spend time playing around with styling Jekyll at this point, (thought it sounds like a great excuse to avoid writing that I may resort to in the future).

For the same reason (incredibly simple to get up and running)

In the spirit of focusing on content over presentation, my first post seems like a great opportunity to document my motivations and goals for this blog.

The reasons I decided to start writing this:

  1. To practice conveying technical/complicated concepts as simply as I can

  2. To improve my writing skills overall

  3. As a personal technical journal, to document things I've learned or thought about, and make it available to others who are learning the same things

This feels like it covers most of it. Essentially 2 parts self-improvement to 1 part self-documentation.

While typing up the above 'reasons', I started thinking about what else I should keep in mind as I approach this ongoing project. The result:

Rules of the road, or, things I will try to keep in mind

  • I will try to write regularly, ideally at least one post per week.
  • They don't have to be strictly code-focused, but should generally deal with my experiences as a developer.
  • Don't be too concerned with perfection, simply try to be straightforward, reasonably accurate, and honest in your handling of the chosen topic.
  • Addendum to the above, generally leave posts alone once they're published, unless correcting technical inaccuracies.
  • Lastly, focus on the writing over presentation.

Closing thought

Time to add this to my posts, make sure everything works correctly, update a few of the layouts, and post.