To experiment with new technologies
CSS develops extremely fast. Flexbox, Grid, CSS Animations, SVG, and much more. But unless you choose to neglect legacy browsers' users, you can't use some of these technologies in their full potential. That was my case.
I tried to be up to date with what's going on in the web development world. And I couldn't try it at work. Legacy stuff, duh.
So I came with the idea to create my own page, where I can test new frameworks, new web designs, new tools. That's why I ditched WordPress, which I'd never enjoyed. It was too clumsy, too wrapped up, and I didn't want to learn PHP.
I chose GatsbyJS instead and adored the opportunity to build my blog from scratch. Not in terms of technology, but anything else depends on me.
To mention a few things that I had a chance to try out recently:
- I upgraded my deployment process from manual FTP upload to CircleCI integrated pipeline
- all my styles are created with Styled Components
- I learned how to make magic with GraphQL
- I introduced custom Open Graph meta tags. Now, my pages meet requirements of Facebook Sharing Debugger
- and more
To jot down anything about work and tech
I have mentioned it already. My blog serves me as a handy journal, where I save anything I discover during work. Whether it's tech detail or workflow and productivity tip, it's worth to note it and keep it as a reminder. Somehow, I prefer this platform than Evernote or Notion, or browser's bookmarks.
So, why YOU do run your blog?