Maestro
If you read my about page, you already know why I created this website. This post chronicles how I did so.
Where did I get the idea?
I was doom scrolling YouTube as is my habit, and I came across a video titled “why you should have a website” or something like that, and in that video, they mentioned Neocities and showed off some of their favorite websites. I was immediately enamored. The blend of technical skills with creative expression was compelling. I claimed my Neocities domain, and started learning HTML. At the recommendation of Neocities I started following tutorials at HTMLdog to learn more about HTML and CSS.
HTMLdog is a great website and resource. If you’re just getting started, please go check them out. I followed their beginner and intermediary tutorials for HTML and CSS and then started cobbling together some of their examples and demonstration code to pull my imagined website out of my mind and into reality.
It was taking way too long.
Generally, I only had time to work on my website during my ride home on the train, which is a little less than an hour a day. But other responsibilities also contend for that time so it wasn’t a regularly process. Combine the limited dedicated time with needing to learn a new skill and technical difficulties that are never mentioned in the beginner tutorials, I was realizing that I was spending a whole lot of time not doing the thing that I actually wanted to do: write out my thoughts.
HTMLdog near the beginning recommended not using any special software or plugins while learning HTML and CSS. Such tools could leave gaps in your understanding of how the two languages work or over complicate an otherwise simple process. I am all about simple-not-easy principles, so I embraced that bit of advice for a while. But as I continued to learn, I was already planning in my head how I could simply or automate the process. I generally take my notes in some form of markdown, and a lot of the styling I had in mind was repetitive. Ideas on creating markdown to html conversion tools and templates kept rattling around in my head. It was at this point, I decided to switch to a static website builder.
I settled on using jekyll since it was also what was first mentioned by Neocities, and I haven’t felt any need to try something else. All the ideas I had for automation? Jekyll does it all and then some. For the basic website I have in mind, I think it’s perfect for now. I very much appreciate what HTMLdog taught me, and I understand their focus on really understanding what’s going on under the hood. I also am of limited means and just want to write.
Currently, I use the LightSpeed theme created by tajacks, and use Jekyll to take my hodgepodge of markdown essays into something resembling a website.
Update 2026-02-24
I was trying to use LightSpeed, and just couldn’t get it to work. There’s probably nothing wrong at all with the gem or the files on GitHub. More of me putting the cart before the horse. Jekyll and gem themes was getting too complicated and I found myself blindly copying and pasting stuff. That’s no good. Half the fun here is putting the website together!
I’m still using jekyll, but I found this tutorial on their website on how to convert an existing html website into something jekyll can work with. It’s from 2017, so I think it’s skipping over a bunch of features that have since been added, but I am okay with that. I like simple. One of the issues I think I was having with using gems was that it hid the _layouts folder and other such things away in some other directory. I want everything right where I can see it.
I did discover Web Design in 4 minutes by Jeremy Thomas, which Tajacks credited in his LightSpeed repo. I’m hoping to start there to improve the look of my website. Thomas does a great job of making it look easy. BUT! In the first twenty seconds of those four minutes, Thomas points out the importance of content first. Then style. Admittedly, my website is rather gross without content. I would put up with bad design if it was at least good reading.
With the importance of content in mind, I think I’m going to shift to adding and fleshing out some of the little essays I have running around in my mind and to-do list. My focus on the technical side will shift towards just getting it to work.