Blog: indieweb

My Site Redesign is Good Enough - IndieWeb Carnival April 2024

2024-04-30 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

Pablo Morales

I recently redesigned my website and let me tell you, It was long overdue. The redesign was on my to do list from a long time a go. Things were a mess in the code. It's still a work in progress. I was using multiple style sheets (I'm still reducing this). I was using a theme I had modified and I was using Tachyons, a CSS framework. Having to add more CSS classes for specific purposes was getting overbearing. Sure my blog posts were getting pretty with various designs and looked a little nicer. I hate to say it, I was often more worried about what my website looked like instead of focusing more of the quality of my posts. An RSS reader simply pulls the content and none of the styling that comes with CSS classes.

I was starting to lose it. I simply needed to strip my website of any unnecessary CSS and classes. I was also limited on time so I couldn't commit to something from scratch. I found a simple CSS framework that provided me the bare minimum that made my website look very simple but more put together.

The name of the CSS framework is...wait for it... called, simple.css. It's a CSS framework that has no classes built in. Simply load this and boom! Your website is mostly organized without the "extra" stuff. It's super simple to override the CSS code to add something specific.

Using simple.css was good enough for me. Simply, it was a no brainer. It allowed me to address the issues, and it was good enough to implement. simple.css is simple and fast. At this time, I don't feel the need to commit to designing from scratch the CSS to make my site pretty. Going minimal is good enough for me.

This is why 'Good Enough' is enough to get things done.

This blog post is in response to Aaron's, known as RisingThumb, IndieWeb Carnival April 2024 post on good enough. Thank you for hosting this month's carnival. Everyone and anyone is welcome to host an IndieWeb Writing Carnival.

How I Want to Write

2024-04-08 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

This blog post is my participation to Homebrew Website Club - Writing Edition hosted by Sara Jakša. Thank you so much for hosting! You should read Sara's blog!

I'm writing this post on topic mentioned on the event description.

Any topic connected to writing can be covered here. Some of the possible topics include the process of writing, the joys of writing, the frustration some could have, how to improve it, what to write about or people can just showcase what they have written (or see it written on the web) and why they like it. You can also bring your own questions about writing that we can discuss or even trouble shoot. Or you can just listen to other people's ideas. All ways of participating are alright.

The joys of writing.

Writing helps soothe

My (sometimes) chaotic process

Since I started to write again, my writing has improved significantly. I've been more expressive as I share with the reader. My writing journey is only just starting. I've broken a few barriers with myself. I still feel that I need to break another layer of myself. Often, I find myself holding back. What am I holding back? Honestly, I over think things too much and that is frustrating. That leads to me sitting on a post for a few days before I touch it again. That if I am determined to finish it, even if it takes me a while look at it. Here is the typical stage of what my writing process goes.

  1. write a few words
  2. Delete
  3. Overthink
  4. scream
  5. walk away
  6. try again,
  7. repeat
  8. eventually finish the post.

I will admit my writing process is a bit chaotic. Not all of my writing is like this, Only a few posts. This is only one part of my writing process.

One Year of Me Joining the IndieWeb

2024-03-23 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

Hooray!! I joined the IndieWeb a year ago! I'm really excited and happy that I joined this community. By joining the IndieWeb, I've increased my presence on the internet and have slowly been retreating from using centralized media. It's just a good time. I'll keep my excitement short!

Things I've done or participated:

  • Met so many amazing people
  • Hosted an IndieWeb Carnival
  • Attend Homebrew Website Club
  • Started Blogging again.
  • Started more development

What is the IndieWeb?

The IndieWeb is a people-focused alternative to the “corporate web”.

It is a community of independent and personal websites connected by open standards and based on the principles of: owning your domain and using it as your primary online identity, publishing on your own site first (optionally elsewhere), and owning your content.

Building an IndieAuth Extension for Datenstrom - IndieWeb Create Day

2023-12-25 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

IndieWeb Logo Datenstrom Logo

RSVPs yes to RSVP IndieWeb Create Day

Today I am attending IndieWeb Create Day to create something today for my website. I want to build an extension for Datenstrom, a flat-file CMS I currently use for my website.

The extension I'm starting to build today is an Extension which would introduce the IndieAuth Specification. I would like to get pretty advanced with it but for now I want to implement the basics of the specification. Just to get it "working." I will build this using PHP which is the language the CMS and the extensions are built on.

I will post an update on any progress I get.

I Have a Blog Roll on My Website

2023-12-21 by Pablo Morales

This post was written in en

I've heard of blogrolls on and off. I didn't really think much of them until recently. I saw Tracy's post on Building community out of strangers. I really enjoyed this post and it got me really interested in exploring the idea of blog rolls. I really enjoy the focus on community and connections. I'm always trying to learn from others and see how I can make deeper connections with others even if they don't know it. It's a different way of connecting with other humans.

I like how Tracy writes what I think often when I read people's blogs

Yes, I want to see what you ate for lunch.

Yes, I want your snarky take on this week’s tech culture kerfuffle.

Yes, I want to hear the song you’ve had stuck in your head all week.

I really want to know what exciting things you are doing!

So I created a blog roll! This is how I did it!

I exported the OPML file downloaded from FreshRSS to convert it to a CSV file. I converted the file and removed unnecessary columns. These are the fields I kept in the CSV file:

  • Name of Feed
  • Site URL
  • Feed URL

Then I used the concatenate feature in Excel. I don't mind practicing the use of Excel formulas. It was actually fun to create and format the links in markdown in the way I wanted. If I decide to change the formatting later, I could always change up the concatenate formula I have setup. I used this formula to create markdown from various fields into this format:

=CONCATENATE("* ", "[", A3, "](", B3, ")", " ", "[(RSS)]", "(", C3, ")")

An example of this would be:

* [Alex Sirac](https://alexsirac.com/) [(RSS)](https://alexsirac.com/feed/)

Which gives me a list item:

My blog roll is available here. I will make it prettier later. I might try to implement a database version so it is easier to maintain. That's another thing to add to the to-list.