Today is the day I dump WordPress for a custom-built, Django-powered platform. The site look and feel has changed, so click through from your RSS reader (if you're reading from one) to see the new look. In addition, comments are now enabled on all posts. I'm using an interesting spam mitigation technique that will hopefully keep things clean. Time will tell how well it works.
I made a few design decisions with this redesign and with the platform itself:
- Site search is now simply powered by Google. They do search better than most anyone around, so why reinvent the wheel?
- Posts and pages are Markdown-aware by default. Comments accept Markdown too!
- I'm using off-the-shelf components from Bootstrap, as well as icons from FontAwesome.
- Things should, generally, be responsive and pleasing on mobile.
Working with Django is, generally, a real pleasure. I was able to stand up this platform in just under three weeks time:
If you spot any issues, please let me know; bug reports are a big help. I'm sure there are broken images here and there, especially on some of my older posts. Additional details on this new platform are coming soon, including a pointer to a great article on spam mitigation. I'm hopeful that I will get back into a more frequent writing cadence now that I have a better platform to use.
