I wouldn’t go so far as to make this a new years resolution, but this year I think I’m going to try and write shorter, but more regular, blog posts.
Too often last year, I held back posts because I wanted to make everything into a really detailed piece. But that can hold me back sometimes.
When I get that small piece of insipiration for a post, instead of letting it attrack dust in the drafts folder, I need to get it written and published. It might mean that some potentially big pieces get broken up, but at the same time, I think it will mean a higher output.
After some final touches, my custom theme is now usable.
I’ve named it Pure, and that’s mainly because I wanted very minimal styling, and to have it be a pure version of a theme. For the benefit of it acting as a “starter” theme for people that want to maybe want to start tweaking a theme but don’t want to start from scratch. But also for people (like me) that sometimes just want a clean and simple blog.
Not that it matters to anyone else, but I specficially structured the HTML so that even without CSS, the site will look correct, and be totally readable.
It’s a single column layout, and it’s very bare-bones, which is by design. However, I’ve tried to style it in a way where it still looks relatively modern, while keeping a minimal feel.
Some more tweaks and I think my theme is coming along nicely.
The only things I need to add now (hopefully) are pagination and comments. But those will have to wait until tomorrow, as it’s 3 am and I should go to bed.
I’ve added minimal CSS to my new Micro.blog theme that I’ve started to work on.
It adds:
Better spacing for most elements.
Single column layout.
Stylised hr elements to split header and footer from main content.
Sets font-family to sans-serif.
Dark mode support.
Horizontal menu with spacer between items.
Lefthand border for blockquote elements.
Styles all links with an accent colour and no text-decoration.
In it’s current form, I’m happy with everything except the link colours. For those I’m conflicted whether it should be one colour everywhere, or the default browser colours.
It should be ready for use, but before I start claiming that it’s officially ready, I just want to test a few more things like photo pages, code blocks, and maybe comments.
I’ve built a very minimal Micro.blog theme, as in there is absolutely no CSS.
I’m happy with it. But I think I’m going to try and add just enough CSS for things like spacing, sans-serif font, etc. but still go with the pure look.
This may be weird, but I like it when websites work without CSS or JS. I reallyĀ like it when they also make use of the intended HTML tags and it being structured cleanly.
For example, using elements such as header, footer, article, nav, etc. instead of a hundred div’s.
Iāve got it into my head that I want to get some of my writing over the last few years printed into a book, as a sort of preservation mechanism.
Iām not sure how best to organise or curate it, Iām sure will become clearer once I go back through the many blog lists Iāve written.
One thingās for sure though, ever since I watched Patrick Rhoneās talk at Micro Camp, Iāve felt like I should be finding a more permanent form of archive for my ābetterā pieces of writing.
I think Iāll start some initial investigation tomorrow, but I think it would be a pretty cool idea to get a personal volume printed of my favourite pieces so far. And then having a regular volume would be nice.
Although this would be primarily a self-preservation exercise, making a digital copy available to others could also be a possibility.
After building a PC and getting back into World of Wacraft, I’ve set myself a little challenge: To start a new character and have a single aim of never dieing. As soon as I’ve died once, I’m going to delete the character.
From what Iāve seen about the new iOS photo sharing app, Glass, it could become the platform that I wanted Instagram to be.
Iām #2352 in the queue, so hopefully I get in soon!
It’s the 13th! Which can only mean one thing, the next issue of my free monthly newsletter will be going out today. It’s just a place where I send out one long-form piece of writing on a subject or idea that I’m interested in.
One thing I’m glad of, now we’re getting a patch of good weather in the UK, is that my girlfriend gave me a haircut a few days ago.
It was getting pretty long, and I was torn whether to grow it really long this year. Luckily I didn’t go for that option, as I would be dead by now.
