/blog

This time last year I was working on displaying 'revisions' for Garden pages using wp_get_post_revisions() and wp_text_diff() from WordPress. It showed a comparison between the current and previous versions of a page just in case "I accidentally save something incorrectly" and needed to revert the change.

Did I ever use it? Nope.

I wrote that it was "a typical example of how I work" – I have an idea with no clue as to how to achieve it then set about making it a reality – but this was definitely more an example of me overenginneering something and building it just because I could. It served no real purpose.

Getting away from WordPress has forced me to take a step back. Because I have been building everything myself (barring the libraries for things like Markdown and webmentions) my knowledge and skill has tempered what features I can implement. Yes, building (b)log-In has taught me things I never knew, enabling me to create things I would not have thought within my grasp, but the approach has been far less frivolous. Everything I've added has been more considered – with the probable exception of the Dictionary. That was definitely a 'nice to have' rather than a necessity.

However, within the new confines, my approach has remained the same: think of something then dig around looking for a way to make it happen; I've just had to be a bit more realistic and patient. Saying that, it has often been surprising how quickly some features have come together.