2021-09-15 (original) / 2023-07-16 (revised)
Asking the Fediverse
Some time ago I asked the Fediverse for their recommendations on blogging software, most people recommended either Hugo or Jekyll. While these seemed like great options with a lot to offer, I wanted something that was a bit more barebones, that way I could understand it and tweak it as I see fit. Out of all the recommendations (10+), somebody eventually recommended Blop.
Introducing Blop
Blop is an extremely simple static blog generator that easily integrates with my existing website. All I had to do was add my CSS stylesheets and slightly tweak the various *_template.* files, and I was on my way to blogging! It uses markdown, so I downloaded a markdown editor (ghostwriter), and I must say everything so far is extremely easy to use. There’s really not much to it, which is part of the beauty.
How it all works
I submit markdown files (.md) to a folder called /markdown. When I run the command “blop” on my server, it generates all of the files required based on index_template.html, archive_template.html, post_template.html, and rss_template.xml. I can modify these 4 files as I see fit, and it will change the way my blog and RSS feed look, without having to modify each individual page. They’re all set to use the same stylesheet, which makes visual changes very easy.
My setup
I have the “blop” folder from my server synced to my devices, where I can make visual changes to my blog, as well as add posts and images. Everything is updated once a minute through a few crontab entries on my server.
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