Two years ago I was into learning React, since that is what I’m planning to use for a future OctoPrint UI. And when I decided to reboot this webpage, I also figured I would use that as a reason for experimenting with new build tools and techstacks. So I built this site with next.js, Tailwind CSS and a bunch of other stuff, and spent a lot of time implementing basic content management tooling and rendering.
However, once that was done, I realized that while I had learned a lot about React and next.js in the process, I had not really created something that is fun to use, which reflected in my reluctance to actually use it. Writing the post about my custom SteamDeck buttons, yesterday really drove that point home again, and in fact kinda broke the camel’s back for good 😅
So I decided to do what I’d been meaning to do for a long time and finally took a look at Hugo, which I had seen used a lot by others for their blogs over the past years, and also its PaperMod theme that I had seen on Jürgen Gmach’s website (👋).
Color me extremely surprised when I had my page rebuilt within a couple of hours, with all the features I wanted and more, and a way nicer experience for me as the content creator. I didn’t even have to touch my posts that much, mostly some small changes on the frontmatter and boom, done.
So I went down the rabbit hole further, fine tuned some things, customized some others, and now I’m really happy with the result.
And thus, please say hello to a new version of foosel.net, now powered by Hugo and PaperMod.