/blog

There's a joke about bloggers building a custom CMS or devs trying to make an RSS reader.

It's actually become less of a joke recently. Or, maybe, more of a joke depending on your point of view.

Kev, fresh off the back of building Pure Blog, linked to a post from Amit Gawande: Built for exactly one.

Amit has built his own CMS, called Jot, because, in his words:

I got tired of almost. Almost the right editor. Almost the right publishing flow. Almost the right feature set.

That's exactly why I first went down this route, even though it was initially a custom overlay on WordPress. We are all different, we all have different wants and needs and preferences. If you're serious about writing or blogging, it's only natural to want something to fit your particular style.

Amit gave Hyblog ¹ a try a few years ago. While he liked some of the ideas, it didn't truly work for him. Completely understandable, I appreciated him giving it a go.

As for rolling your own? Here's Amit again:

But isn’t maintaining software more work? Shouldn’t I be more interested in writing words than code? What does owning this plumbing give me that the convenience of letting someone else own the troubles takes away?

It's the knowledge that it all works just how you want it with only the features you choose to add.

Yes, it can be a lot of work. It can be frustrating when you have an idea but hit the limits of your knowledge, having to learn as you go. Writing a blog is a huge personal investment – building one even more so. This only serves to increase the appreciation for what you have built, and your connection to it.