Finally, I have launched the new version of my blog, moving from WordPress to a static website version generated by a static site generator. Visit https://oscarhkli.com/ for details.
Recalled two years ago, I relaunched my blog. I tried both WordPress and Medium and eventually landed on WordPress. A friend suggested I host the blog in GitHub with Markdown syntax. I was unsure whether I could manage the setup, so I put this matter aside.
One day, I visited my blog using a web browser without an ad-blocking tool. I realised there are many advertisements embedded in my blog. I was annoyed because I did not intend to put these advertisements. Furthermore, some of them were scams. That led to my decision to relocate my blog.
Of course, there are many other reasons for this decision. I wanted to learn a new technique. I use Hugo as the static site generator, which I have never used before. Learning new tools is always challenging. It also refreshes my memory, like setting up GitHub and the background of Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).
Editing in WordPress is a nightmare. The Block Editor is not as user-friendly as the one in Notion. It often makes editing more difficult. For instance, I occasionally ruin the format of my Reading Log. On the other hand, maintaining blogs under Hugo is simply working on a list of Markdown files. If I want to edit multiple blog posts on my site, I can use the batch find and replace function in my text editor. After a Git Push, the continuous deployment mechanism refreshes my site content seamlessly.
Today is the initial launch of my blog version 2.0. I now feel like regaining control, instead of being uncontrollably “hijacked” by a third-party platform. It, of course, has many places for improvement. But I cannot wait until it is perfect. There is no perfect product. I will continuously improve it by frequently releasing it.
TODO:
- Showing header images
- Re-linking all the blog posts
- Hosting images
- Showing tags and sections
- Showing reading log
- Adding SEO-related stuff
- Relocating my original blog written in Chinese
- and more!